Posts Tagged ‘The T’
316,800 inch long scuttle, part 1
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One has finally managed to break the pernicious five mile walking threshold which has been actively blocking my activity since September of last year, due to the broken left ankle and dislocated foot incident. I know that five miles – or 316,800 inches – sounds like no big deal, and normally I’d be the first one to say so, but it’s taken me months of physical therapy and self guided exercise to get here.
So, huzzah.
The endeavor began when I walked the hill which I live at the bottom of on up to the T light Rail station, here in Pittsburgh’s Boro of Dormont. I did take a picture of the train I actually rode in on, but the shot above is of a train set heading in the other direction made for a better opening shot.
Lighting, yo, lighting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The T was ridden to its terminal stop, which is directly across the street from the actual center of the Pittsburgh universe – Acrisure (Heinz) stadium. On this walk, I was still consciously avoiding uneven or angled paths, as such terrain still gives me a bit of trouble. Instead, I decided to try and work a few flights of stairs into the equation to spice things up.
As I’ve mentioned, a bit of PTSD seems to be floating around in the old Gulliver these days, which is centered around stairs.
Given that the ankle shattering occurred while I was walking down a set of steps it’s fairly understandable, but when confronted with a set of steps these days I freeze up a little bit and get overly cautious. This set of psychological reactions actually endanger me while negotiating a set of stairs, which causes me to move stiffly, in an almost robotic manner, and sets my nervous side on fire.
I’ll get past this because I have to. My whole life has been ‘have to.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, the T station has escalators, which don’t fill me with dread despite being stairs and all the horror stories my pal Hank the Elevator Guy has told me about these devices. Industrial meat grinders use the same design, he opines.
I exited the station and headed north west. I’ve been carrying a little compass with me these days, and like to check in on the cardinal directions periodically to maintain my bearings. Pittsburgh is still very much a foreign place to me, even after a couple of years here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Passing by an abandoned building along the way, one was amused by the ‘SPQR’ graffiti. If you don’t know what that means, you should read more, specifically the classics of the pre modern era. The decline of the Roman Republic is very much a to[ic you should be familiar with these days.
Edward Gibbon… read Gibbon. Marius and Sulla are next, for us, and that’s where it gets bloody. Caesar is absolutely coming, but is still a few decades away. It will be very exciting for people to watch on tv, all this. They will feel things… indignation, fear, anger, pride… all of the seven deadlies. They will microwave burritos and watch.
Me, I’m just walking here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The major crossing over water for the day was Pittsburgh’s West End Bridge. It crosses the Ohio River, roughly at the waterway’s point of navigable origin where the admixture of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers occurs. It’s yellow.
The specific yellow is a color called ‘Aztec Gold,’ which – if memory serves – is manufactured by Pittsburghs own ‘PPG’ or Pittsburgh Plate Glass.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The ankle was behaving itself. I felt no clicking or the sensation of cords being pulled in my heel or on the top of the foot. I was consciously altering my pace and ‘leaning in’ while walking. A couple of times my brain sent orders down the spine for the legs to move as they normally would have prior to all this trouble. I moved quickly!
Couldn’t sustain it for more than a couple of city blocks at a time, but your humble narrator managed to scuttle along a great deal faster and more surely than at anytime in the last six months.
Top of the world, ma, top of the world.
Back tomorrow with more.
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Scuttleburgh
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ok, I’m really starting to lean back into my ‘normal’ things, lords and ladies. I’ve fully convinced myself that nobody thinks I can fully recover from the busted ankle because they think I’m old and weak, and further packaged that up with a lot of of other personal resentments and annoyances, so I thereby have to prove the world wrong. Again.
What? How do you motivate yourself out of the house to enact a forced march when the only thing you want to do is stay at home and whine about how much your ankle is bugging you? Pfah.
The hill I live at the bottom of was vaingloriously surmounted, and your humble narrator then heroically scuttled off in the direction of the light rail station. The goal for the day was a short walk, of about three miles, but the effort would also include walking some of Pittsburgh’s steeply problematic hills.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I made it to the apex of those hills, here in Pittsburgh’s Boro of Dormont. That’s where you’ll find the T light rail station, and it’s where I boarded the carriage to carry me to a more visually interesting section of the metro area. I boarded the thing and it lurched roughly towards Pittsburgh, about 5-6 miles away. For you New Yorkers, think boarding the subway in Downtown Brooklyn or the Northern Blvd. sections of LIC and Astoria for an analogue. Just a few stops and you’re ‘there.’
Observably, I seem to be the only person in Pittsburgh who shoots photos out of the T’s windows, but that’s a habit I started back in NYC while riding the subways. Helped pass the time during a commute, and you never really knew what you were getting until going through the photos back at HQ. Most of my ‘shooting out of a train window’ ends up getting trashed, but every now and then you get something unique or interesting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That concrete blockhouse looking structure is the entrance to Pittsburgh’s Liberty Tunnel. The terrain surrounding it is byzantine, with multiple arterial roadways leading here. There’s also the T tracks, which are elevated on a causeway here, and there’s also busways, and a couple of heavy freight rail trestles also get threaded through this area. It’s complicated!
One of these days I’m going to debark the T at a nearby stop and try to get some decent shots of the complex. At least until the cops chase me away, or I get bored while waiting for a freight train to cross one of those trestles.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in prior posts, a good amount of construction work is currently affecting the T light rail, and the lines will all be detouring through the Allentown neighborhood until the autumn. Unfortunately, the ‘PRT’ transit agency which runs the show only added a single stop way at the top of the hill for the inconvenience, but there you are.
If you’re curious, the camera formula for this sort of ‘out the window shooting’ involves setting the ISO sensitivity up to nighttime levels (6400 for my camera) and setting the device to its ‘AV’ or aperture priority mode. The camera will then find the correct exposure automatically while maintaining the ISO and aperture settings (which is f8 for the particular zoom lens I was using this day). Normally, I shoot in full manual mode, which allows me control over all aspects of the exposure, but shooting out of the window of a moving vehicle isn’t very normal and the technological assist is welcomed.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the set of tracks which I often point the camera at, the ones nearby that brewery I keep mentioning. My plan for the day involved the relative flatness of this area. The beginning of my walk involved a bit of muscle, in terms of getting to the T via the hills of Dormont. This section was all about exercising the more discrete tissues in the foot and ankle, and getting them moving and all lubricated.
Six months, and two weeks. That’s exactly how long I’ve been dealing with this broken ankle business. As mentioned last week, the Doctors have more or less given me the ‘all clear’ and thusly I now need to seriously work the joint in order to get back to what I consider ‘normal.’ Thing is, ‘normal’ is what it used to feel like, and it’s a pretty different ankle after the injury and surgery. How it works, feels, performs – all different.
The asymmetry is really hard to get used to, but in time I don’t think I’ll even notice it. If only I was born patient, instead of good looking…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The T was debarked at the Second Avenue station, which is fed traffic by the Panhandle Bridge pictured above. The plan was to walk a bit on one of the trails along the waterfront of the Monongahela River, cross the waterbody on the Smithfield Street Bridge, then try and get a few train shots. It wouldn’t be a ‘have a beer too’ day, although my end point for the walk would be nearby that now familiar spot nearby the brewery.
Back tomorrow with more.
“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.
Down, with the T
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I drive through that intersection pictured above, in Pittsburgh’s Borough of Dormont, at least once a day. Every single time, I comment to myself that I should some shots of the light rail there. Instead of parking the car and doing so I always lazy out and head back to HQ about four blocks away instead. Some day, I say.
Get behind me Satan, this day would be that day.
The light rail tracks cross through here, but they leave behind a street running section of the line and proceed into a right of way that clearly pre-dates the real estate development around it. Apparently, the T made use of decommissioned trolley lines when its ’right of way’ was being laid out to take advantage of existing municipal real estate.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A Pittsburgh bound T showed up, catching some nice afternoon light as it did. At my back was the station I normally use, and these tracks continue out several miles to the South Hills Village Mall terminal stop on one side, or continue on to a North Side of Pittsburgh terminal stop nearby one of the sportsball stadiums.
Your humble narrator had taken up station right alongside the intersection in the first shot, if you’re curious.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A South Hills bound T arrived next, and I hurriedly crossed the street for a better angle. I mean, as ‘hurried’ as I can manage these days. One of the parts of my life that sucks right now is that I’m fairly slow moving at this stage of the medical drama, and will be spending the spring season getting my legs all muscled up. My normal walking speed used to be about 2-2.5 miles an hour, these days I’m lucky if I can do a mile in that interval.
Getting better every day, in every way. When I’m whole again…
Back next week 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.
Subdivisions, Monongahela Style
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yes, that is a Rush reference for the title, but Mr. Peart and his fellows have no other connection with this post.
These captures are from midway along a short walk I was taking, after riding on the T light rail to the center of things. Everything just kind of lined up for me when that CSX freight train appeared, just as a T train set was transiting over the Panhandle Bridge from the South, heading toward the so called Golden Triangle of Pittsburgh.
This felt great, especially since I had taken a ten minute sit down on the Smithfield Street Bridge, after experiencing a bunch of discomfort in the healing but still quite tender ankle, and I would have missed the shot if I hadn’t needed to sit down. I’m as sick of experiencing this ankle business as I’m sure most of you are hearing about it, but this injury taken a fairly central position in, and had a substantial impact on my life for the last six months. I try to ‘keep it real’ here, and as the ankle has been and will continue to be a big part of my deal right now… Y’know…
Oww!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
These are the same tracks along the Monongahela River which have become kid of regular players since I moved out here to Pittsburgh. CSX’s Pittsburgh Subdivison is the official name for this infrastructure. The lead locomotive is CSX#789, and it had another ‘DPU’ (diesel power unit) in line right behind it. I had used my snazzy scanner radio to listen in on the fog of radio communications, and when I heard an automated defect detector (which is about a mile away, I reckon) describe #789 as having 335 healthy axles, I got busy figuring out the proper exposure and all the other stuff too. That’s exactly why I bought the radio, darn it!
CSX #789 was built as an ‘SD70MAC’ but was upgraded to an ‘EMD SD70MAC’ by GM’s Electro-Motive Diesel division. It’s all a bit confusing, but as far as I’ve been able to work it out, the thing was created in the 1990’s.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve got a few odds and ends from this walk which I’ll show you next week, but I’m going to end this week on the shot above. Before you ask, automobiles. That’s likely what’s in the train’s cargo cars – automobiles.
Back next week.
“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.
Penn Station, and the T
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Due to ongoing construction in various spots across the line, Pittsburgh’s ‘T’ Light Rail is once again going to its otherwise unused Penn Station stop. This station is kind of a gem, but there we are.
I’ve brought you here before, in the post ‘Hullabaloo, too.’ In reflection, the light was a lot better in May than it was on the day when these shots were gathered. I’ve read that there’s some beef between the Feds, whose white building found alongside the tracks is pictured above, and the transit people regarding use of this station and right of way. Homeland security, security risks, blah blah blah.
I don’t know enough about the situation to have an opinion, truth be told.
After riding into town on one of these T train sets, your humble narrator decided to stick around a few minutes and get a few shots of the milieu.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
They were coming and going, I tell’s ya. A bus shuttle would bridge over the construction work underground, whereupon another T journey to the end of the line could start. Me? I decided to debark the thing and then start walking towards the Monongahela River and cross the waterbody on the Smithfield Street Bridge.
The ankle was giving me problems. The latest wrinkle involves it ‘clicking’ into a posture which is uncomfortable or just somewhat painful, resulting in limping or foot dragging going on. I’ve got instructions from the Doc for this sort of thing, which involves ‘sitting down.’ I’d be able to safely do that about a mile away, and just had to deal with the discomfort while getting there. This section is part of the zone occupied by a crowd of junkies, so any public seating that could be utilized for a sit down has been removed. The Docs have trained me to walk a certain way during these intervals, which involving comically and consciously shooting my left knee upwards during strides. Sigh… my life…
It looks like I’m practicing to be in a marching band, but it works and resets the ankle back to its proper position. A big part of my injury was that I didn’t just break my ankle in three places, I also dislocated my left foot off of the leg assembly. It was just hanging there, all loose.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’d spent a good amount of time under the panopticon of cameras mounted to the Federal Building (there’s a couple of other Fed office building properties nearby, State, FBI, Homeland Security, and Immigration are all in this neighborhood) but there’s likely other agencies based here. There’s also a giant post office nearby, I’m told. I began painfully scuttling towards a known ‘sit down’ spot.
Downtown, yo.
Back tomorrow, 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 