Then and Now

 One of the constants of our world is change. Whether it is the price of eggs or the hardly discernible changes in the depth of the Grand Canyon, hardly anything stays the same. The height of the trees in our yards and the richness of the paint on our houses, over time it all changes, often in ways we don’t notice.

    When seeing things day after day we tend to overlook the changes if we notice them at all. They become the “new” normal. This is the way they have always looked, or so we think!

    Photography shows us the changes. Pictures show us the ways things used to be, they are a great memory aid! Looking at pictures from the past show us the changes in clothing styles, the cars that used to be driving down our streets and the buildings that used to sit in the empty lot at the end of the block.

    Looking through a pile of old pictures takes us back in time. We remember the events we were at, the family gatherings, both the good ones and the sad ones. Seeing the people that have passed on keeps them present in our minds. Hopefully the dates and details were written on the backsides!

    When I became involved in black and white film photography, I was rather anal about saving my negatives and the proof sheets. During the past year I have been digitally copying these negatives and saving them to a hard drive. I have been reliving the adventures and trips I had taken 30 or 40 years ago. I have been recently attempting to retake some of the pictures I had taken back in the 80’s and 90’s, to show the differences. Some of the reshoots have been taken with a digital camera and some of them, with a film camera. Of course, I enjoyed taking the film shots more than the digital, even though there was a little more time and effort involved with them.

    Here are a few of the pictures from the 80's, the older picture first and then the current shot afterward. Hopefully you will recognize some of the places I visited around the Pittsburgh area! Sadly, not all of the negatives were dated…

East Ohio Street on the North Side, June 1988 & September 2025 

!0^th Street and Exchange Way, January 1984 & July 2025

Liberty Ave. September 1988 and October 2025

 

Rt. 28 bridges from Sharpsburg 1984 & September 2025

16^th Street Bridge & Progress St. 1986 & September 2025 (digital)

Under the Veterans Bridge 1984 & September 2025 (digital)

Chestnut Street, North Side August 1986 & July 2025 

Gas station on Mt. Royal Blvd. April 1986 & September 2025 (digital)

    As you can see, change happens. Sometimes it is for the better and other times... well, you know. All I can say is, remember to date your pictures so you’ll be able to tell when and where they were taken. Our memories aren’t as good as we’d like to think they are! It’s amazing how much can change in 30 or 40 years, memories included!

A Short Glimpse into Railroads Past

While searching on my computer for some pictures I had taken many years ago in West Virginia, I came across a file containing a small batch of black and white railroad pictures. They were all taken on film, before I discovered the joys and wonders of digital cameras. The pictures were all taken in the Pittsburgh area, mostly in the late 80’s. 

    Trains have always been a part of my life. I think my first memories of trains, after the picture books I had and the train set-up under the Christmas tree, was listening to them pass below the house when we first moved into Shaler. There were two sets of tracks there along with a couple crossings and the trains seemed to go past every 15 minutes or so. As a young boy, my friends and I would walk down to the tracks and watch the trains go by, hoping that the engineer would wave to us and counting the cars. I’d listen to the whistles at night and imagine where the trains were. The love of trains is still with me all these years later.

    This is just to take a short stroll through some of the railroading in the past. A mere 35 years ago the lines often had more than one set of tracks, steam engines still ran excursions through Pittsburgh, and the trains ran more frequently, back in the “good old days!”

    I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did!

Early morning in McKeesport. (1988)

The Pat Train, taken on the morning of its last run. (April 1989)

A Conrail train going through Alleghany Commons Park on the North Side. (1990)

Changing tracks in Sharpsburg. (1988) 

Pittsburgh Railroad Station (1989)

    Back in those days we had a variety of steam excursions come into and through the city. Due to insurance and maintenance costs, they rarely come through anymore. There is nothing like hearing a steam whistle echoing through the valleys as the train thunders past. 

The Nickel Plate 765 crossing the Alleghany River to the Northside

Nickel Plate 765 in Emsworth (1989)

Taken in the Southside

Southside (1993)

Taken from the West End

    Then there were the cabooses. I can remember watching for them as a kid sitting in the back of the car. Slowly they got fewer and fewer until they were almost all gone. I still see one every once in a while, but sadly most of them have been recycled... scrapped. In the town of Sharpsburg there was a scrap yard that did the evil deed; most of them there were Conrail cars.

Taken from the Highland Park Bridge (1988)

Taken from the Aspinwall side of the bridge (1988)

They were lined up all the way down to Millvale at times, like this one. It is a fitting end to this short batch of pictures, the end of the line.