Posts Tagged ‘Seldom Seen Greenway’
Denial of Service
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recently, a humble narrator’s pursuit of exercise and outdoor time found him once again at Pittsburgh’s Seldom Seen Greenway, located in the larger City’s Beechview section. As long time readers will tell you, I’ve been haunting a set of rail tracks here which are infrequently crossed by rail traffic, and then returning home empty handed for the effort.
There’s a parking lot, and the magnificently well appointed brick tunnel which leads you under the rail trestle, and which then leads back into a set of paths that are garlanded along the hills, is pictured above. One of those paths leads up a hill, and carries you to those rail tracks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Boy, that would be a nice shot this would be if there was a train in it, huh? If you like it, I’ve got several shots of these empty tracks I could show you.
A Wheeling & Lake Erie train is said to come through here about four times a day, on an irregular schedule. I’ve put in a lot of hours standing around here and waiting for that to happen at this point. Persistent effort is one of my ‘things’ so it’s just a matter of time until I get it. This spot is about a 15 minute drive from HQ, so no biggie, but it’s frustrating.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After about an hour, one threw in the towel and headed back down the path. I was out for a walk rather than a ‘stand around,’ after all, and the whole point of this exercise was ultimately exercise – so I got back to kicking my feet around in the dirt and mud.
Back tomorrow with the product of a far more successful outing.
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Frustration
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The weather has generally not been on my side during February, and after the trip to NYC, one has found the rubber bands in his legs and feet tightening up and offering generous amounts of discomfort. The only way out of this particular trap for me is to follow one of the mottos which people who know me in real life are sick of hearing repetition of, the one about ‘internally lubricated parts and using or losing them.’
Thereby, any spare minute when I don’t have to be sitting down, I’m standing or moving. It hurts less the following day when I do.
A recent afternoon found me with an opportunity to stand AND move, so I hopped into the Mobile Oppression Platform and headed over to the ‘Seldom Seen Greenway’ trail, which is a quick drive from HQ. I’ve mentioned this place several times in the past.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yes. I was back hunting for a certain shot which I desire to collect.
No. I did not get it, again, even though I stood around like a schmuck for about two hours.
Funnily enough, a few people appeared along these isolated tracks and interesting conversations ensued. One bloke described the problems he experiences running a dairy farm in the 21st century, another one was a genuine young railfan who aspired to achieve a Master’s degree in Urban Planning someday. Really wasn’t expecting to see anybody up here at all.
Man, just look at that composition… if only there was a subject in the shot, huh? Imagine it, a Wheeling & Lake Erie RR locomotive right in the middle of the photo. That would really be something, wouldn’t it?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While walking gingerly and defeated, down the muddy trail leading back to the paved sanctity of a parking lot, a humble narrator was cursing and frustrated.
Two hours I stood there, feet sinking into the mud along the tracks. I mention this sort of thing – and not because I enjoy describing my failures. Instead, it’s to describe that there’s a process behind the camera which you have to oblige and that whereas you can as ready as possible – gear, time of day, light etc. – sometimes you still come home empty handed despite the effort and preparation.
That’s ok too. Part of the process.
Also, I gotta get me one of them railfanning radios at some point, so I can decide whether or not I’m going to spend my time sinking into the mud productively or not. I actually came back to this exact spot a day or two later and did the exact same thing – stood around waiting for a train for hours, but ‘no bueno.’
Back tomorrow.
“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.
Seldom Seen, indeed
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another recent scuttle was undertaken at the ‘Seldom Seen Greenway,’ a trail nearby HQ in the neighboring community of Beechview here in Pittsburgh. This is about a 15 minute drive from home, and one regularly brings Moe the Dog here for his exercises. Moe stayed at home on this particular day, “protecting” Our Lady of the Pentacle.
Me? I was hoping to catch a train. That arched structure supports freight rail tracks up above, ones which are frequented by the Wheeling & Lake Erie line RR. The tracks are a bit of a climb from street level, I would mention.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Thanks to Moe pulling me all the place, in his excitements, I had already found a trail leading up to the level of the tracks. Scuttle, scuttle, scuttle. It was a warm day, but quite temperate and comfortable. ‘Sweat shirt and shorts’ weather, if you will.
The W&LE peeps only seem to roll through this area a few times a day, so I was rolling the dice as to whether or not I’d get any shots up there. It’s always worth doing a bit of scouting, though.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shot above looks more or less eastwards. There used to be other active tracks up here, by observation, but in modernity you’ve got a single set of steel rails. It’s fairly common to see CSX or Norfolk Southern moving multiple trains a day on their private tracks through Pittsburgh, however there are a few smaller outfits which pass through the area but not as frequently. There’s one outfit on the south shore of the Allegheny River, which I’ve been hunting for when I’m in the neighborhood, but they seem to be a ‘white whale.’ I’ll get a shot or two of them eventually.
One hung about for a bit, but nothing was coming my way. I’m led to believe that Seldom Seen Greenway occupies a plot of land that used to be an 19th century unincorporated town or ‘Potters Village.’ Grain of salt there, I’ve only seen one source for that, which is never a good sign as far as veracity goes. Still, interesting idea.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was all lined up for the shot, were a train to suddenly smash into view. These tracks overfly the masonry arch pictured in the first shot, and the Saw Mill Run waterway which flows through the area.
One has learned to listen for trains coming. You don’t hear the squealing of the steel wheels on the rails until they’re quite close, but there’s a distinctive vibration and rumbling sound that’s unique to locomotives as they approach.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Y’all don’t suppose that the Queens Cobbler followed me to Pittsburgh, do you? I’ve been seeing a lot of abandoned single shoes, again.
Frustrated, the time allotted for exercising both myself and the camera began to run short, and a trip back down a wooded trail to the entrance of Seldomly Seen Greenway was undertaken.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Of course, just as I was walking under the bridge that I had been walking on moments earlier – the Wheeling & Lake Erie train set come roaring through. Next time, I’m heading up there with a sandwich and a thermos of coffee and I’ll just wait it out. Dang.
Back tomorrow.
“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.
Seldom Seen Greenway, addendum
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yesterday, I described the ‘Seldom Seen Greenway’ trail in Pittsburgh’s Beechview section, and mentioned that there was a second level to the place found above the brick lined trestle pictured above. This second level, as I discovered, hosts active rail tracks. I found that out while doing a bit of research on the place after getting back to HQ from the location.
That’s why I found myself back there a day or two later. I had to take a look at what, where, why, how – all that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It wasn’t that difficult getting all the way up here, but it was a bit complicated getting back down the steep incline while managing my camera and pack. These are freight tracks, ones which are somewhat infrequently used – once or twice a day, I reckon. I’ve seen video of trains moving along the tracks here, which display the polished steel rails you’d associate with active RR tracks. A Wheeling and Lake Erie train set was moving through in the video I saw, but I couldn’t tell you if this is exclusively their right of way or not.
I hung around up there for about a half hour with my fingers crossed, but then I got bored and slid back down the steep hill to the greenway below. I’ll be back, next time with a sandwich and thermos bottle of water, and just wait it out. Trains are a lot like fishing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I shot a few shots down below, with nothing terribly special to show for the effort, frankly. The nearby Saw Mill Run Boulevard, named for this waterway, is a primary arterial roadway that connects to the Liberty Tunnel on one side and the West End Bridge (amongst other destinations in either direction) on the other. It also connects to two other primary arterials called Banksville Road and West Liberty Avenue. These three roadways have secondary and tertiary high volume roads that branch off and lead out into the residential neighborhoods of the South Hills in this part of Pittsburgh.
Back tomorrow with something different at this, your Newtown Pentacle.
“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.
Seldom Seen Greenway
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
About a 15 minute drive from HQ in Pittsburgh’s Borough of Dormont is the neighboring South Hills community of Beechview. Along a very busy arterial roadway called Saw Mill Run Boulevard is found a 3/4 of a mile long trail called ‘Seldom Seen Greenway.’ A recent visit was paid.
There’s a rail trestle at the entrance, and the pathway in from the parking area follows the flowing waters of the Saw Mill Run waterway. Based on olfactory observation, Saw Mill Run receives a bit of wastewater flow from the surrounding residential areas.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The rail trestle at the entrance has a finely wrought brick tunnel, which is something that kind of jumps out at you. A lot of time and effort went into the masonry, and given that what you’d normally encounter in a spot like this would be unadorned concrete, it makes me wonder why the expense was undertaken to create this sort of fascia.
The entire path is graded. Pavement is present. It seems there’s a group who looks after the place, but this is an ‘official’ public place and recreational path.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s opportunity to get down to the water from the path, although in many places that opportunity is either quite steep or obstacles like patches of Poison Ivy occlude one’s intentions to do so. The sloping hillsides leading down to Saw Mill Run are fully wooded.
The waterway itself is largely shallow and only a few inches deep, but there’s a couple of spots where the bottom drops away to a few feet and the water flows quickly across the gaps. My guess is that if you were a teenager in Beechview, this is one of the places where you would go to escape parental or adult oversight and smoke the devil’s cabbage.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Every time I try to say what kind of a bird a bird is, I just get it wrong so instead I make up names for the Avians. Thusly, your looking at a Nine Fingered Radish Hen in the shot above.
I actually do know that’s a duck, so you don’t need to tell me that. What kind of a duck? Ask an Audubon, Bro.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Above the trestle at the entrance there are two other levels of rail infrastructure. After returning to HQ and poking around on the internet, I discovered that the top level tracks are still active. On this first visit though, I didn’t climb up there to investigate.
I’m actually quite pleased to have found this place, so close to HQ. This will be a great spot to take short walks when time is short. There’s also a dedicated ‘Seldom Seen’ parking lot, so double win. As you’ll discover at the end of this post, I’m now seriously in need of this sort of place.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m going to require a portfolio of spots like this one, after all. Near the house, separated from traffic and distractions. There’s lots of training underway here in Dormont. What kind of training, you ask?
Meet the newest member of the family: Moe the Dog. He’s 5 months old, and whereas he only weighs about 35 pounds, he’s nevertheless a ton of fun. That’s my new Pennsyldoggie.
“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.
The Newtown Pentacle 