Posts Tagged ‘The T’
Ala dextra divisa
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last steps of a fun scuttle, as detailed in prior posts, saw your humble narrator shambling towards mass transit for his ride back to HQ. A swirling confusion of black fabrics wearing an orange ball cap, adorned with a camera, one picked his loathsome way towards the Monongahela River, where egress to that light rail chariot which would carry him back to the vault in which he dwells could be attained.
The humans were avoided, while moving through their infestation.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Smithfield Street Bridge bore my bulk, and provided a path over the waters. Lament and regrets stained my thoughts, with past sleights and insults bubbling up and begging for renewed attention. I was in a mood, suddenly. Hatred and loathing. I think it’s because I scanned through one of several alerts on my phone, regarding the National position.
Everything political is busted, riddled with tumors, and the country on the whole seems to be metastasizing.
What can I do about it? Nothing. All I could and did do was continue on the way, after burning out a couple of hours worth of walking time. Bah!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had hoped that another train might approach, and hung around on Smithfield Street Bridge for a few minutes, in vainglory. Just after I gave up and started heading across the river, however…
…and of course…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX appeared again, this time it was CSX #4766. I’ve noticed that freight trains seem to have been getting shorter in recent months, which is a ‘tell’ for how the macro/non Financial Industry side of the national economy is doing. Back in NYC, my barometer for ‘good or bad’ was always based on activity at Port Elizabeth Newark, rather than the booms and busts on Wall Street.
I asked Google’s AI for some detail on Port Elizabeth Newark:
Port Newark/Elizabeth Specifics
- Economic Engine: The Port of New York and New Jersey, which includes the facilities in Newark and Elizabeth, is a major economic engine. A study released in October 2025 highlights the port industry’s role in supporting over 580,000 jobs and generating substantial tax revenue.
- Infrastructure Investment: The Port Authority has made significant capital investments in the area, including the $3.6 billion 2025 Capital Spending Budget which funds projects like the Port Newark Port Street Corridor roadway network project. These investments are intended to accommodate future growth and maintain the port’s status as a leading maritime gateway.
- Cargo Activity: The port has shown strong cargo activity, recording strong growth in April 2025 (latest data available in search results). In May 2025, it was the nation’s busiest cargo gateway.
- Challenges: The port may face some operational challenges in Q4 2025, including potentially elevated dwell times in Newark and mild congestion, which could slow cargo movement. Low water levels in the St. Lawrence River might also affect inland irregular flows.
In summary, while the regional economy is facing headwinds with slower overall growth and a softer job market, the port operations themselves are stable, seeing continued cargo volume and benefitting from ongoing strategic infrastructure improvements.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the other side of the river, one began picking his loathsome path towards the T light rail station a few blocks away. There’s a series of not exactly pedestrian friendly crossings one must negotiate to get to the relative safety of one of the waterfront trails, which then leads right to it.
I was keeping my eyes open for Day Vampires, Drug Enthusiasts, Pickup Trucks, Canada Gooses, Packs of Teenagers, and all the other perceived threats to my happiness which might light my amygdala afire.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along this path, I noticed a right wing which had been dislocated from its owner. Odd.
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.
Ambulare vel mori
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Exercise day was once more exigent, a schedule which I try to approach with a certain amount of religiosity. The goal set for my day involved working on speed, as in consciously quickening my steps while moving about. One of the things, regarding the ankle situation, that I’m still dealing with, involves ‘pace.’ Walking speed, as it were.
My stride is back, but I often find myself standing at street intersections staring at the ‘walk/dont walk’ sign while reminding myself that ‘you can’t run, Mitch.’ I won’t be jogging, probably ever, but I do need to regain some ‘burst speed’ capability.
One thereby dragged his derrière up the hill in Dormont to the T light rail station at Potomac Avenue, and the train was soon depositing me in Pittsburgh’s Allentown, at a temporary stop which I’ve been using all summer as a springboard for similar pursuits.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was a downhill course for me, which would follow ‘Brosville Street,’ down to the flat land along the Monongahela River. Not as steep as a few of the other branching paths leading from Allentown’s temporary T stop, but still a cool walk that I hadn’t taken yet. I have driven it several times, as this is a local streets ‘shortcut’ I’ll use when the bridges and tunnels are highly congested, in order to get from one side of Mount Washington to the other. Every time I’ve driven through here, I keep on saying ‘gotta walk that sometime.’
Sometime is today! There is no tomorrow, only the tyranny of the now. Yesterday has already happened, so don’t worry about it as there’s nothing you can do to change what happened. Start today!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A deer was encountered, but I screwed the shot up while trying to photograph him. Take a look, if you want. Focus was off, and so was the exposure. I have a pretty good batting average when it comes to random stuff encountered, but this particular deer didn’t want to stand there and pose for me. As soon as I pointed the camera at him, he shot off into the woods. Bah!
A long, hot, and fairly dry summer has delayed the autumnal displays, up in the verge, until the very end of October and the beginning of November this year. There was about two weeks worth of orange up in the hills, until it suddenly grew very cold and windy at the start of November. The leaves just browned, and then blew away or dropped. Bah!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
‘Disturbingly heterogeneous’ is how I’d describe the building stock up here. Every plot of land is different in size, shape, and verticality. Each building seems to have unique adaptations to the terrain it squats upon built in. Fascinating.
As I say every time, it must be a real challenge to live in the South aside Slopes area due to this crazy terrain. Particularly so during the snowy months. Yikes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Brosville Street intersects with Pius Street at its terminus, nearby a Catholic Church which has been converted into Condominium Apartments.
Y’know, if I was born rich, instead of just good looking…
Behind that former church building is where you can find a cool pathway along Pittsburgh’s ‘City Steps,’ dubbed ‘the Church Route Steps.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This time around, I wasn’t quaking with fear from the vestigial PTSD left over from the broken ankle. In fact, and in accordance with my stated goal of increasing walking speed – I positively hurtled down the stairs here, or at least comparatively so to other recent scuttles.
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.
Low energy adventuring
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, after leaving HQ, a quick shot from the front yard to figure out a median exposure setting for the camera, and gauge average lighting conditions as a staring point for the day’s subsequence. This shot is looking up the fairly steep hill that I often mention. Shlep, shlep, scuttle, scuttle.
The plan for this walk was fairly wide open, and involved using the T light rail to deposit your humble narrator in an interesting area. I was hoping for serendipity, Y’see.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
HQ is located in Pittsburgh’s Borough of Dormont, and the neighbors really embrace Halloween around these parts. One of them set up a ‘Yinzer Cemetery’ in their front yard. It actually made the TV news.
The T Light Rail station is about a half mile, at most, from my front door. It’s just a bit of effort to drag my butt up the hills and get over there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another Dormont porch display of Halloween paraphernalia was encountered along the path. We get actual trick or treaters in Dormont, which is cool as heck, and the way things are supposed to be.
One leaned into it, and boarded a T light rail unit heading into the city.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This time around, the service was used all the way to its terminal stop on Pittsburgh’s north side, nearby the stadium wherein the Steelers dwell. Your humble narrator vomited forth from the light rail car and onto the platform, a swirling contradiction of black sackcloth and camera gear. The filthy black raincoat, or as I call it – the street cassock – was covering my accursed back. I started moving, which began as a shamble but then sped up into a scuttle.
I was relistening to an old favorite amongst my HP Lovecraft audiobook collection on this walk – ‘The Shadow Out of Time.’ There were a few places on this scuttle where I popped the headphones out of my ear holes, wanting to remain ‘situationally aware.’
In other words, while moving through places where it makes a lot of sense to pay close attention to your surroundings, you should.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A web of high speed roadways, on-ramps and off-ramps and such, are found in this area. There’s also the elevated trackway of the T up there in the vault. There’s a rail shot which I was ‘hep’ on trying to capture this day, but that ended up being a fruitless pursuit.
North, ever northwards.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On game days, tens of thousands of people – all adorned in black and gold – can be observed using these sidewalk paths to get to the football stadium. The cops deploy dozens of officers to handle traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian. It’s really something to see.
Of course, wherever your humble narrator goes, it’s all just loneliness, rejection, and isolation. Crowds of children throw rotten fruit and vegetables, their parents light torches and form mobs. The cats hiss.
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.
Always heading nowhere
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Aimlessly wandering down Pittsburgh’s East Carson street with Our Lady of the Pentacle, in the south side flats area of Pittsburgh, where the ghostly outline of a former structure was spotted on the wall of an 1888 vintage merchant’s building. It made me want to deep dive a bit into the history thereof, but I stopped myself.
Sometime in the future, I’ll use my magnifying glass to study the historic building stock found along this corridor, its story, and learn about all the ‘once, long ago, used to be…’ but that’s not today.
The rest of the walk was uneventful, and then we headed back to HQ, where Moe the Dog awaited.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Separately, we were wandering around Pittsburgh’s Dormont during the evening of a different day, Dormont being where Newtown Pentacle HQ is currently found, and the T light rail suddenly exploded into view.
I cannot stop myself, so… HEY NOW!
Our Lady and myself were going out for dinner at a local burger joint, one which offers a fantastic happy hour menu if you sit at their bar. I had a bourbon/apple cider cocktail that ‘rocked the bells,’ alongside a double smash burger. Yum.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This shot, depicting the Sterling Street steps, which I returned to with Our Lady in tow (she’s caught the bug for exploring the steps), was shot in a manner that attempts to visually describe the PTSD symptoms I’ve been experiencing when traversing stairs, since breaking my ankle on a set of steps at home last year. It kind of looks like this to me, that moment when the blossom of terror opens.
Enough of all that personal terror and weakness, though, it was a beautiful day and that was the focal point.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One truly odd holdover from that experience is that due to all of the opioid pain killers that the Docs were feeding me after the surgery, my memory of this exact period (approx. September to November) from last year is extremely fragmented, or nonexistent. I’m missing about 5-6 weeks of time.
Constant agony, yes. That I remember.
I promise I’ll eventually stop talking about this. Don’t worry, something else that’s horrible or profound will happen to me and then that’ll be my new ‘thing’ to worry about. Sigh.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our final set of stairs for the day were attained, and we returned to more or less flat ground at the bottom of the hill. The rest of our walk would be mundane, visiting shops and eating lunch, along the commercial corridor of East Carson Street in the South Side Flats section of Pittsburgh, which brings you back to the first photo and the end of the the last steps story.
It was nice having company for a scuttle, must say. I used to sell tickets in NYC to groups of people who wanted to walk around with me. Narrators need to narrate, occasionally.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Eventually, we found ourselves at the shoreline of the Monongahela River, nearby the Birmingham Bridge. It was time to head back to HQ again, and Moe the Dog. He’s sort of our constant, Moe.
Back tomorrow 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.
Roadslug, baby, roadslug
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! This CSX train, #2218 specifically, bears a painted cognomen on its side that reads ‘Roadslug.’ I had to check with my ‘rail rabbi’ back in NYC to find out what that meant. His response follows:
“Sweet. Road slug is a locomotive without a prime mover. (No diesel engine to generate power) the electric motors on the locomotive revive power from the “mother.” The other locomotive attached to it. CSX road slugs have a cab for control and the fuel tank is piped to provide extra fuel for the mother unit.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The railfan rabbi continues:
“2218 used to be a GP35 class unit before it was de-engined. It was a cost effective way in the 1990’s to re-use outdated locomotives without needing to buy new locomotives.”
Now… my ‘rail rabbi’ pal… he just has this information floating in his head. That’s what a railfan is, and it’s the reason why I keep on pointing out that I’m not (as I don’t have anywhere this amount of knowledge on the subject) and ultimately – I just like taking pictures of trains.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There were only the two locomotive units on this one. They headed off, ‘towards Ohio’ and I finished my ‘luncheon beer’ at the Sly Fox Brewery. After returning my glass, and then ‘inspecting the porcelain’ again, I adjusted the camera straps and bag, and set off for the last leg of my scuttle.
The ankle was in fine fettle once again, after the 30 minute sit down. Yes, that’s how long it takes me to drink a pint. I’m a nurser.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Along the path, a T light rail was observed exiting the Panhandle Bridge after crossing the river, heading out in the direction of its terminal stop in the South Hills section. Soon, I’d be on a similar train set and heading back to HQ, where Our Lady of the Pentacle and Moe the Dog awaited my return.
I had quite a job ahead of me at home, roasting a pork loin for dinner.
The effort would yield lunch the next day, and a couple of days after that too. I actually had to give some of it away to a neighbor. Meat, in particular, has grown so expensive over the last ten months or so that I’m eschewing ‘cuts or chops’ in favor of large portioned items which are a couple of bucks less per pound.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Smithfield Street bridge was crossed. One last look back at the Monongahela River shoreline and the bike/ped trails which line it.
The last embers of this effort glowed dimly as I made my way to the T’s First Avenue Station on the so called ‘Golden Triangle.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While waiting for my ride back to HQ, couldn’t help but pop out a few shots of the Pittsburgh bound T rail sets crossing the river on the Panhandle Bridge.
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.
The Newtown Pentacle 