Posts Tagged ‘The T’
Objects in motion…
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s Pittsburgh’s ‘T’ light rail coming off of the Panhandle Bridge, and hurtling towards the Station Square stop on the south side of the Monongahela River. Hurtling is probably overstating it, but there you are. One had used the service to go to that self same stop after a bit of a hullabaloo, ridden the Monongahela Incline to Grandview Avenue atop Mount Washington, and was proceeding on foot down the north face of the landform in a manner diagonal. It was hot in Pittsburgh, with rising humidity, but a pleasant breeze.
A humble narrator was shvitzing heavily due to the ambient dew point and temperature. That’s the suss.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The PJ McArdle roadway, as this ‘truss pontem’ on the north face of Mt. Washington is called, is where one scuttled. This is the “upper” section being explored in these posts, if you want to see the “lower” section – or any of the times that this structure has been discussed – click here.
One had a whole other plan for the rest of the day as it led into evening, of course. Remember that bar I had found, the one with the nearby rail road tracks? Yessir, that’s where I was going.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the same bridge pictured above, which the T is seen riding on in the first shot of today’s post, and is offered for completeness’s sake. “Up, down, all around,” that’s my motto. One navigated his scuttling towards the ‘rails to trails’ pathway.
As mentioned in prior posts, this was a fairly warm day in Pittsburgh. I hadn’t drank anything at all (water, Gatorade, etc.) since leaving HQ about 4-5 hours previously, and one was a bit parched by this point. That’s another big difference between NYC and Pittsburgh – no bodegas to stop into and grab either the Gatorade or bottle of cold water from.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I cannot walk past that rusty earth mover above without taking a shot of it, can’t tell you why. My plan was to spend an actual evening at the brewery, including having dinner there. On my way into Pittsburgh from Dormont, a couple of younger guys on the T were talking and passing a phone back and forth looking at pictures. I overheard one of them said ‘heritage unit,’ and I couldn’t help but but in and ask if they were railfanning.
Somewhat sheepishly they said no, and then ‘kind of.’ I told them where I’d be in the evening and invited them to join in, and eventually they met up with me at the Sly Fox Brewery.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This spot is gentrification, Pittsburgh style. The centerpiece of this spot is a building which used to be the world’s largest terminal warehouse or something like that. A NYC real estate developer bought it and refashioned it as ‘The Highline,’ which is branded with a silhouette of the pre Hudson Yards NYC skyline. Odd choice, that.
It’s quite reminiscent of the Bush Terminal complex in South Brooklyn, but is a little less ‘head up its own ass’ than that NYC EDC clusterfuck in Sunset Park is. The project doesn’t seem to have ‘landed’ well, other than the brewery, and observationally speaking they’ve had trouble attracting commercial tenants. Perhaps, then, it is actually just like the Bush Terminal in Brooklyn.
So, what am I doing, hanging at a gentrifier/yuppie place? Dinner, drinks, and a show. That’s what.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The show got started. I like this spot, in particular, because of the grade crossing, with its obligatory signal bells and barrier arms. You get a few minutes of warning that a train is coming, allowing for the setting up of the camera and positioning of the photographer.
That’s CSX #62 coming into view, my fellow nerds. The first of many, as it turned out.
Tomorrow – an absolute parade of CSX’S Choo-Choo trains on the Pittsburgh Subdivision.
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A light rail hullabaloo
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A ‘long walk’ day appeared again on the calendar, and as is my new habit I took the T light rail into Pittsburgh. The transit agency which operates the service was doing some sort of maintenance at the stop I wanted to get off at, and thereby skipped it. I found myself on the triangle side of the Monongahela River at the First Avenue station thereby, and needed to catch a T going in the inverse direction to get to where I wanted to be.
This sort of transfer works a lot like it does everywhere else in public transit, you head downstairs, then back up to the platform that’s pointed the other way. Why not get a few shots along the way, when you find yourself in the midst of a hullabaloo?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Working escalators and elevators in the transit system are something this former New Yorker is constantly rendered speechless by.
I headed up to the other side. (Note, the shot above was captured before the first one, but this one isn’t a ‘marquis’ image, so there you go)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It didn’t matter which line I took, they would all be stopping at the first station on the other side which is where I was going. Normally, I’m a Red Line kind of guy, but the Silver Line got there first.
When Autumn is turning into winter, I plan on riding the other two lines and seeing where they go. Of course, I know where they go because I’ve got a map, but you know what I mean. You can buy a day pass which allows hop on/hop off access for the T.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back on the south side of the river, and at the Station Square stop. I had a plan for the afternoon, built around giving one of my legacy lenses (the 18-35mm f1.8 Sigma) a workout on the newish mirrorless camera which I’ve never used it on.
I hit the streets, and headed over to the nearest Incline for a ride up the face of Mount Washington.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I love inclines, which has been mentioned in the past. So old timey, and a cool way to get from A to B. I got a free transfer off of the T, as the Inclines are operated by the same governmental agency as the light rail.
Earlier this week, I described walking down the latter half of the PJ McArdle roadway that’s slung diagonally across the cliff face of Mount Washington, and on this day I was going to walk the upper section.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was pleasant in Pittsburgh, with temperatures in the high 70’s. A humble narrator had laid out a series of things to do, with the intention of getting back to that bar nearby the rail tracks, described in earlier posts by around 7 p.m. This shot is from somewhere around 2-3 p.m. so I had a lot of scuttling to do before that. I like to earn a beer.
Back next week with more, and lotsa choo-choos.
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Dormont hullabaloo
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A ‘long walk’ day came along, and has been my recent habit at such intervals, a humble narrator scuttled up the hill here in Pittsburgh’s Dormont section to catch the light rail and travel into the ‘central’ section of the metro area. Along the way, I walked past an absolute cacophony of laboring Yinzers.
Yinzer is how Pittsburgh people refer to themselves, as a note.
This particular outfit has been busily scratching at the ground hereabouts for the last couple of months. Word has it they’re installing some sort of fiber optic dealie, and it’s been a bit of pain in the neck as far as noise and street closures. I’m fairly used to this, of course, as the corner I lived on, back in Queens’ Astoria, was a fairly busy one with lots and lots of this sort of thing going on literally all the time. Usually it would occur in the middle of the night, with the generator or other equipment set up directly under my bedroom window.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is Broadway Avenue in Dormont, incidentally, nearby the Patomac station. There’s several spots along this line where the light rail just rides up to a concrete pad no higher than a standard curb, but there’s several stops where you’ve got ‘high platform’ actual stations. Patomac is one of those. The T, as the light rail is called, has two sets of doors – one for the high platform, and another for the low. The latter exit and entrance is set up like the sort of situation you’d encounter in a bus, with a little set of steps leading out. Pictured above, the light rail set is moving away from Pittsburgh.
As is my habit, when I’m waiting for a train to arrive, the camera starts getting waved around. Some bloke started chatting about photography with me on the platform while I was doing so. Pleasant chap.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My ride into the City showed up more or less at the same time as the one leaving Pittsburgh entered the Patomac high platform Station. The fiber optic project follows the T tracks, more or less, and service has been a bit off for the last couple of months due to this and other projects along the route. Saying that, it usually won’t be more than about twenty minutes before another T comes along. I’d regularly wait longer at Queens Plaza for the R.
The photography enthusiast whom I’d been chatting with, and I, boarded the T and headed into town. More on what I did there, after wishing him a fond adieu and a pleasant day, and all that… tomorrow.
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Smokey Pittsburgh, part 2
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator woke out of his nest around 4:30 am, hastily cooked up a pot of coffee, and was out on the road by 5:15 after inhaling three cups of the stuff. The weather forecast called for a bank of heavy fog to set up overnight, which would be coupled with a pall of wildfire smoke so thick that it triggered a bunch of governmental warnings about air quality being transmitted to Pittsburgh’s citizenry.
One returned to West End Overlook Park, to see what this sort of thing might look like, as the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself rose in the eastern sky.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
When I got there, you could hear the city but couldn’t see it. Heck, I could barely see the cameraman from local CBS affiliate KDKA and he was about thirty feet away from me. It was actually a fairly difficult drive, with visibility of under a hundred feet. Luckily this POV is only about twenty minutes from HQ by car.
I hung around for about thirty minutes, hoping that the occlusion would thin out a bit, but if anything it got thicker. A change of plan was instituted and I packed myself back into the car and headed for a different spot to do my thing from.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, while stuck at a traffic light, the camera was thrust up through the car’s moon roof. At this interval, I had traveled down about 800-900 feet in altitude, and was more or less on flat land and quite near the Monongahela River. The fog – as it turns out – was acting like a low flying cloud, and the West End Overlook Park was right in the middle of the mass. Down here, it was mainly smoke, with heavy fog.
Pittsburgh smelled kind of like everybody in it was BBQing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After getting down to a river frontage of the Monongahela, and having parked the Mobile Oppression Platform in an appropriate fashion, a bit of scuttling ensued.
Pittsburgh’s downtown, where the large buildings are, was fairly invisible. As mentioned above, you could hear the city but couldn’t see it. That was eerie and weird, and worth waking up early for.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The camera was waved about, that’s the T light rail heading out of Pittsburgh on the Panhandle Bridge. The Smithfield Street Bridge is just visible behind it.
One had drank his coffee before leaving the house, but no Breakfast had been endured, and right about here is when I started wishing that Pittsburgh had NYC style bodegas on every corner. An ‘egg sandwich’ doesn’t mean the same thing here as it does in ‘the old neighborhood.’ In fact, when I’ve asked for an egg sandwich in the NY manner here: two scrambles, ham and swiss, on a roll – I get puzzled looks back from the Yinzers with a “you want what now?”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finishing up the morning, with a last couple of shots pointed in the direction of Downtown and the Liberty Bridge. The fog, at least, had begun to disperse. One scuttled back to the vehicle and then back to HQ.
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.
Wound up
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Crossing the Monongahela River, one headed back in the direction of the T Light Rail which had provided a humble narrator with transport from the suburban HQ in Dormont over to the titular center of Pittsburgh.
I was on the Hot Metal Bridge during this particular interval.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Said span is pictured above, and the one in the distance in the first shot is called the Birmingham Bridge. For more, click here.
Rather than sticking to the waterfront as is my habit, this time around I decided to walk down one of the ‘main drags’ in the neighborhood immediately found nearby. This commercial ‘high street’ is called East Carson St., and there’s an abundance of eating and drinking establishments found along it. Apparently this area is irresistible to the younger cohort of Pittsburgh, the sort which enjoys a tipple on a Saturday night, and the corridor often makes the news with tales of mischief and drunken mayhem. For you New Yorkers – think Avenue A between St. Mark’s and Houston.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I grabbed an actually exceptional slice of Pizza on East Carson Street, which I happened across on my way back to the T. I quaffed the thing, and then continued on back to the station.
Back next week with more from Pittsburgh.
“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.
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