Posts Tagged ‘The T’
The day, finally, comes
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last Friday, Pittsburgh warmed up past the freezing mark.
Unfortunately, I had a ‘PT’ or ‘Physical Therapy’ appointment mid afternoon, but I also had a plan. The car was left back home in my driveway, and a cab ride took me to my appointment. After an hour of getting the actual heck beaten out of me by trained professionals, the camera bag was affixed over the filthy black raincoat and your humble narrator embarked on the first actual scuttle he’s been capable of in a very long time.
The plan involved me walking the better part of a mile, to find the terminal stop for all three of Pittsburgh’s light rail ‘T’ lines at the South Hills Village station and then catch an inbound train set. Good news is that most of that distance was accomplished by walking through a heated and evenly floored shopping mall. Part of the plan which I didn’t count on is how incredibly diminished my physicality is, after this whole broken ankle experience.
That first mile was agonizing, despite it taking place mostly on those polished mall floors. Made it though. You have to ignore pain, and then lean into it, otherwise you’re a wuss. Brooklyn!
This is the way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One was quite glad to to see the Pittsburgh bound ‘T’ arrive. It’s immaterial which line you pick up here (there’s three – silver, blue, and red. I normally use the red line from HQ in Dormont), as they’re all -ultimately- heading towards the same place and this is one of the terminal stops. I think the one I boarded, pictured above, was the Silver but I could be wrong. At any rate, I was happy to just be sitting down. I’ve also really missed having this service available to me during all of this disability time.
Since this line was traveling on a set of tracks unfamiliar, I decided to shoot out the windows as we moved along. The ankle was angry.
The PT session had involved a stationary bicycle, weight machine leg presses, and several odd exercises (one of which sees an elastic belt strung twixt the ankles and you ‘crab walk’ sideways with it on and stretch it out laterally. This is harder than it sounds). What emerged during this walk, however, is that my stride length has greatly diminished. Something else I need to work on, I guess.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s suburban in character, the South Hills Village area, and the T runs on a dedicated track which travels past the back yards of mostly one family houses, the odd medical building or warehouse, and then past apartment houses as population density grades higher and higher, and eventually The T runs onto a cantilevered elevated track which is set into the side of a very steep hill as it nears the center of all things in the City of Pittsburgh. It’s all very complicated.
Back tomorrow, with more from this return to a scuttling form of life.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“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.
Coming and going
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey, lookee – that’s one of Pittsburgh’s ‘T’ light rail units on approach to the Red Line’s ‘Potomac Station’ here in the Borough of Dormont. Neat!
Luckily, I was running an errand across the street when the alarms began to sound, and the signal arms came down. I’m really looking forward to riding on this service again, as a note, once I’m able to climb up the steep hill from HQ to the station. This ankle situation is a constant ‘block’ towards me having any fun at all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The unit pictured above, as in both of the shots, was heading away from Pittsburgh towards a terminal stop in South Hills Village. The T runs at street level, in trenches and on bridges, and even underground as a subway for a few stops. In Dormont, they have a dedicated track and a high platform station, but if you head back towards the city just a couple of T stops, in Beechview, you’ll notice that its rails are set into the asphalt, so the thing runs alongside autos and trucks as a surface vehicle. It’s all very complicated, frankly.
The T operates on a catenary system, which provides it with the motive voltage that it consumes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another ‘T’ arrived at the intersection where I was standing, this one heading into Pittsburgh. Under normal circumstance, at least once a week I’d find myself riding this service to ‘head into town’ and execute a long walk from its northern terminus nearby the sportsball stadium which provides a home for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’ve got three routes from that point which have proven productive – photography wise – and also provide for ‘good cardio.’ Ultimately, I’m usually heading back to a T stop along the Monongahela River at the end of the effort for my ride home.
At least that’s what I used to do when my ankle didn’t hurt. I miss doing this sort of thing. Massively.
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.
…and the show must go on
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned yesterday, a humble narrator is back on his feet (somewhat), and raring to get back to his various obsessions.
Saturday last found me at a familiar spot nearby Pittsburgh’s Sly Fox Brewery, and the Highline real estate development it is located in. This structure is a former rail terminal warehousing building, one which offers an elevated POV over both the Monongahela River that overflies a section of CSX’s rail network which I’ve spent a lot of time photographing over the last year. I didn’t stop into the brewery, I’d mention, as I don’t think introducing alcohol into my equation was a smart move at the moment. It was about 25 degrees out, and windy.
The point of view I was enjoying, however, was somewhere I’d been dreaming of visiting during my long recuperation, during the recovery period of the broken ankle. You’d think I was planning something Machiavellian during all of this downtime, but you’d be disappointed. Most of my intellectual voltage was being spent trying to figure out how to take a bath without killing myself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This structure used to be a warehouse connected to the PLERR (Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Rail Road) yard which formerly surrounded it. The rail yard has been redeveloped into a series of condominiums and a large entertainment and restaurant complex (52 acres) called ‘Station Square’ which seems to be on a downward trajectory at the moment, and the operation is currently losing its anchor tenants like ‘Hard Rock Cafe.’
The so called ‘Highline’ building, and Station Square, are owned by a NYC based real estate company these days. The terminal building, in particular, has been converted over to residential and commercial usage – they’re very much following the NYC EDC’s failed formula for the Brooklyn Army and Bush Terminals here.
Normally not a place I’d haunt, as familiar fires of gentrification burn hotly here, but there’s beer and seating in an area that’s absolutely lousy with locomotive and maritime sightings.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was cold, I was standing outside for about two hours in a steady wind with atmospheric temperatures no higher than 25 degrees. Your humble narrator had prepared for the climate with long johns and my winter coat, but the ankle was singing its song down below. Saying that, I was pleased as punch to be outside and suffering in the weather again.
Pittsburgh decided to offer me a show at some point, and in rapid fire style – interesting things began to pass through the camera’s frame. To wit, that Towboat pictured above was transporting multiple mineral barges down the Monongahela River. The boat is the Megan Ames, which is – I’m told – based out of Morgantown, West Virginia.
I presume that’s coal in the barges, but I don’t say something is ‘something’ unless I know it is for sure. 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.
Vroom vroom
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My ‘long walk’ day had played out fairly uneventfully, which was awesome and exactly what I was hoping for on a beautiful summery day. No close calls with traffic, random interactions with scary people, or anything like that. Great Pittsburgh day, this.
I made it to the trail along the Monongahela River that leads to that brewery I keep mentioning which sits alongside the CSX subdivision tracks, and was heading towards a bubbly glass of reward for my efforts.
Along the way, I couldn’t help but crack out a few shots of the T Light Rail crossing the river on the Panhandle Bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve been kept busy by the world of late. Lots of stuff to do, obligations to both worldly and ongoing medical drama, and trying to keep my head above water. Busy, busy, busy. It was really nice to not have a time constraint for this walk and I was enjoying every minute of it.
One continued his scuttle, and made it to the brewery where I took up residence at one of the outdoor tables they maintain. Ordered a Pale Ale, which was ice cold, and started waiting for the railroad show to start.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Didn’t take long.
I’m particularly fond of the shot above, which faithful readers of the Newtown Pentacle will tell you I’ve been working on variations of for a while now. There’s a few past iterations of it that I’ve liked, with similar composition and lighting, which I’ve displayed here in the past – but having the T randomly appear behind the CSX #958 as it was negotiating that curve was pure serendipity.
Back next week with something different.
“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.
Catenaries and atavists
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve mentioned that the local transit agency – dubbed ‘PRT’ for ‘Pittsburgh Regional Transit’ – which operates the T light rail service, has been conducting a profound series of repairs and upgrades to the Red Line light rail service which runs through the area that HQ is located in all summer long.
The availability of rail based mass transit is one of the factors which decided where Our Lady of the Pentacle and I would settle, I’d mention.
These repairs have been going on since June, and in lieu of running the T service, rail shuttle buses have been carrying the load instead. Theoretically, the week after Labor Day was meant to see a return of regular T service, but a fallen tree had interrupted things again by pulling down a series of the catenary wires that power the thing. Outbound from Pittsburgh’s center was running fine, but inbound towards the City was blocked by repairs and rewiring.
Sigh. I finally rode on a bus in Pittsburgh, thereby.
The rail shuttle carried my fellow commuters and I via surface streets to the Station Square facility along the Monongahela River, whereupon we were directed onto one of the T platforms to finish our journeys. The other two lines were, and have been, up and running and while waiting for a Blue or Silver line light rail unit to show up at Station Square to carry us the rest of the way, an outbound Red Line caught my eye as it entered the facility.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was a ‘long walk’ day. The Blue Line T arrived, and deposited me at its terminal stop on Pittsburgh’s North Side, nearby the sportsball stadiums. I was eschewing the headphones on this scuttle for some reason, wanting to pay attention to my surroundings with the whole compliment of built in sensory equipment. My goal was to wander back to more or less the start of this walk at the Station Square T facility.
The North Side is absolutely lovely, despite it having a somewhat ferocious reputation. There were a few spots along a loosely decided upon route that I had in mind, but I had planned in ‘serendipity.’
Serendipity is when you happen across something which you didn’t anticipate on a photowalk, and is a joyous sort of experience.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As it turns out, there’s a Historic District tucked into the North Side, full of late 19th and very early 20th century structures, a fact which was otherwise unknown to me. It’s called ‘Allegheny West,’ and it’s one of twelve such historic districts in Pittsburgh which receive special attention from the City and the residents who live there. Neat!
I’ll definitely be wandering back through here again, and checking out what’s on display. How the other half lives, indeed.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 