The Newtown Pentacle

Thursday

– photo by Mitch Waxman

While a humble narrator was checking out a section of the Montour Trail in Pennsylvania’s Cecil Township, a ‘rail to trail’ public space which follows the right of way once enjoyed by the now defunct Montour Railroad, the still active rail tracks which mirror the trail’s path suddenly sprang to life.

That’s the Wheeling & Lake Erie RR’s #6353 pictured above. It’s an EMD SD40-2 model locomotive, built sometime between 1972-1989 when the model was in general production and apparently it was originally built for the Burlington Northern RR.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Part of my mission here at the trail was to find fresh ground for Moe the Dog to tear across, in pursuance of bleeding off some of his boundless puppy energy. The sections of these trails closer to HQ are fairly well populated with people and dogs, both of which Moe is displaying a high amount of reactivity to.

By ‘reactivity,’ I mean that he loses his damn mind and becomes a snarling/snapping icehole that is very difficult to keep under control. This is a problem we’re working on, and have been since he came to live with us, but it’s a real bugbear. Thereby, I’m searching out relatively depopulated areas within a certain driving distance of HQ to take him to, where we can work on his training.

This section of the trail seemed fairly ideal, as the surrounding municipality is fairly small in terms of population. There were certainly other people on the trail, but nowhere near as many as you’d encounter closer to center of Pittsburgh.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

A couple of days later, Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself had packed our four footed problem child into the Mobile Oppression Platform (our car, the MOP) and headed back to this section for a long training walk with the dog. The little monster did fairly well for most of the excursion, but when somebody passed by with a couple of other dogs Moe flipped out. Sigh…

We had just wrestled him back into the MOP, and I was driving us out of the parking lot when I spotted another train approaching from the opposite direction it had been heading towards previously.

That’s Wheeling & Lake Erie #3048. It’s a (rebuilt) EMD SD40-3 model locomotive, but it was originally manufactured sometime between 1966 and 1972 by the General Electric Electro-Motive division and General Motors Diesel.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

W&LE RR were hauling tanker cars designed to carry hazardous cargo, specifically ‘Liquified Petroleum Gas, Non Odorized.’ My friends back in NYC at the Riverkeeper outfit coined the term ‘Bomb Train’ for this sort of cargo. There’s a largish fracking operation nearby this spot, which the W&LE people were likely working for.

When I saw the train a-coming, I reversed the car back into the parking lot, grabbed the camera, and ran across the road prior to the signal arms actuating. Our Lady was comforting Moe back in the MOP while I got busy.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

At the end of the assemblage, there were two locomotives acting as ‘DPU’ or Diesel Distributed Power Units (addendum added post facto, thx to Michael and Daniel for pointing out error). My understanding of this role is that the engines are essentially slaved to the main locomotive at the front of the train and are there to provide extra ‘oomph’ when needed.

That’s W&LE #6992 pictured above. It’s a EMD SD40-2, and quite similar to #6353 in the first shot. It was functioning as a ‘DPU’ or Diesel Power Unit and controlled by wire from the front of the train.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

At the back of the train, W&LE #6386 was also helping the traction operation move along. I guess that it’s the nature of the cargo of some specific about the location, but this train set was moving quite slowly, which is apparently how you move ‘bomb trains’ around for safety’s sake.

#6386 is the same make and model as #6992, an EMD SD40-2.

While learning about trains, I’ve learned a few things. One is that Hobo’s prefer to ride on the DPU units when they’re catching a ride as the interior cabins are climate controlled and there are electrical outlets which can used to charge their phones.

Back tomorrow with something else.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle

Buy a book!

“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.