Adventure is Where You Find it!

The day was done. I had spent a fair amount of it working in the yard and as far as I was concerned, it was time to relax.

    Sitting down, I picked up the current book I was reading. Turning to where I had left off I read a chapter or two before dinner.  Afterwards I cleaned the dishes in the sink and went back into the living room to read some more. After a few pages, I started thinking of other things. Reading wasn’t in the game plan for this evening. The TV didn’t interest me. Having spent the day cutting grass and trimming hedges, I wasn’t in the mood for anything strenuous.

    With a trip planned for the next morning, I figured I could go and top off the gas tank. While I was at it, I could take the camera along just in case I saw a train. While tying my shoes, the idea slipped from “just in case” to “I should look for the train!” I slung my camera around my neck and as an afterthought, grabbed the film camera bag as I ran out the door.

    An adventure! Chasing a train is always fun and will get me outside for a while. I usually have a good idea of where the train will be, and I also have a pretty good idea of where it will be stopping. The Carload Express train often stops in Etna to pick-up or drop off cars before continuing north towards Mars and Evans City.

    I am never exactly sure when the train might be coming through my community. It is almost always in the evenings. During this time of year, the summertime, the sun is often still up as it goes by. As the year slips into the winter months and darkness starts coming earlier, the opportunities to catch it lessen.

    I’ll sit beside the tracks in Etna and read a book while waiting for the train. Rt.28 is right above the tracks and the sounds of the trucks, motorcycles and cars pretty much drowns out any other sounds. The road noise is a white noise, after a while it disappears.

    On this evening, I sat for 10 or 20 minutes before the greatest photographer’s skill, patience, left me. I started the car and went to look for the train.

    I joined the traffic on Rt.28 and drove towards the city.  Crossing the river into the far end of the Strip District, I pulled onto a street that parallels the tracks. A signal tower sits alongside the rails and I was happy to see, the light on it was green. The train would be coming soon!

    I parked the car and found a good spot for a photo. Using the film camera, I checked the lighting, set my aperture, focused and composed my shot. Then I waited.

    It didn’t take long, within a few minutes I heard the rumble of the engines, a deep noise you might not notice unless you were listening for it. Then the headlights of the front engine came into view.

    The adrenaline started pumping into my system. I waited until the train was in the proper spot and carefully depressed the shutter button. Quickly winding the film and refocusing, I managed to get another picture before the train was past me.

The train was on tracks that were above me. The locomotives and cars behind them could be seen, along with the Bloomfield Bridge which sat off in the distance. 

    I got into the car and went to another spot, a place I had considered on my way over. At this location, the train is starting onto a curved bridge leading to the span that crosses the river. Because of the curve and the bridge ahead, the train goes slowly, enabling me to get into position and to get a fairly sharp picture with the film camera. The setting sun was shining on the train allowing me to use a smaller f-stop and get a little more depth of field. I took two more photos. 

    I drove through Lawrenceville and then re-crossed the river into Etna. I returned to where I was earlier in the evening. It was now past 8 and the sun had slipped below the hills in the west.

    Using the digital camera I was able to increase the ISO to allow a deeper depth of field and a shorter exposure time, not to mention the pictures could be in color! Taking pictures here would be no problem.

    Walking down the line a bit to a spot I hadn’t been to before, I lined up my shot. Then I searched for that all important photographic skill that had left me an hour before, patience. 

    I heard the whistle first and then saw the lights of the engine shining on the rails. The train was slowing, there was no doubt that it would be stopping to exchange some cars this evening. I was positioned just past the siding that they would be using. The engines passed me and came to a stop. After the switchman had disconnected the engines from the rest of the train, it pulled up past the switch and the switchman unlocked and flipped it. Then the engines backed into the siding to collect their cars.

    Watching the train back into the siding, I decided that I had enough of trains for this evening. It was time to head home. This adventure was over. Back at the house I loaded the digital pictures onto my computer. While appraising my pictures I heard the train passing the crossing below my house as it continued north. The rumble of the cars could be heard for a while and then silence returned.

    I was ready for bed now, pretty sure that a good night’s sleep awaited me. There was a road trip scheduled for the next day. We would be visiting bookstores, searching for books rather than trains.

    Remember, adventures are all around us, they are everywhere, all we have to do is recognize them. Who knows where or when the next one will be?  

It Is Getting Closer...

What is it exactly that gets us interested in trains? For many it is the circle of track running around under our Christmas trees. Or maybe it is from looking at our early picture books or the reciting of The Little Engine That Could, night after night before bedtime. Some of our interests stem from our parents or grandparents who lived through the years when trains seemed to be everywhere.

    I believe my own interests come from a combination of all of the above. Trains were a part of my family in more ways than one. My grandfather worked in the Pennsylvania Railroad roundhouse in Verona, PA. He later drove a streetcar on the rails through town. My father and my brother made an HO train layout of the Kiski Junction, a location across the river from Freeport. 

     My father had taken many pictures of trains during his lifetime. In 1924 he had the opportunity of riding in the cab of a steam engine, an event he documented in one of his albums. “Over sixty miles an hour!” Some of his pictures grace the walls of my library.

    I imagine that it was inevitable that I would become a rail-fan myself. Being a photographer, I fell right into the hole. There is an anticipation I feel while waiting for a train to come. The feeling rises as the engine comes into sight. The noise increases and the train seems to get faster as it nears. The loud blaring of the whistles sends a shiver through me. It is a rush I feel, one that continues to draw me back time and again. The "pictures" may only be an excuse to hang out at railroad crossings…

    The Union Pacific’s Big Boy, steam engine #4014 has been taking up a lot of space on the internet. Facebook’s algorithms put numerous postings on my pages daily. The train is in the second half of a cross-country trip. It has been to the West Coast and will soon be entering Pennsylvania. It is scheduled to be in Philadelphia for the 4^th of July, our country’s 250^th birthday. It will be returning to its home base later, going through Pittsburgh in the process. (July 11^th)

    This steam engine is a monster! Weighing over a million pounds, it is 133 feet long. It has 16 driving wheels and because of its length, the frame is articulated to allow it to round bends. It was built in the early 40’s, engineered to pull very heavy loads. The 4014 is one of 25 engines built by the American Locomotive Company. (ALCO) Only eight of these massive engines remain and only the 4014 is still in operation.

    The engine worked until 1961, twenty years and during this time it covered over one million miles before it was retired. It was eventually rebuilt, converted from coal to oil and then returned to the rails in 2019.

    Needless to say, there are many, many people looking forward to seeing this engine, myself included!

    While we wait for this monster engine to steam into Pittsburgh, I have been searching for a spot to photograph it. My rail-fan friend Frank and I have been scouting out various places, checking out the lines of sight, the ease of access and whether or not there are any nice background buildings or rail signals. (Having a nice background can make or break a picture!)

    We are looking for a spot where there will be a minimum of people. Spots where the train will be stopping or where it goes through towns and cities will probably be overrun with spectators. Granted, no matter where we see it, it will be worth it, BUT, we would like to get some good pictures at the same time!

    This coming Thursday, we will be going out again on another scouting trip. The weather forecasters are predicting a day of clouds with minimal chance of rain. Hey, we’ve been out in the rain before, a little rain never hurt anyone. Hopefully, rain on the 11^th will be non-existent.

    While I am waiting, I go out and take more pictures of trains, practice, practice, practice! I also search the maps, imagining how shots from along the lines might look. I find that as I sit and watch the TV or read my book while lying in bed, a portion of my brain is thinking about camera speeds, locations to visit, B&W or color, or both, what to bring along and a multitude of other things. I’m not complaining, it’s all part of the fun of being a rail-fan photographer!

Searching for Who Knows What

 

This morning my buddy Frank and I took a ride. As is always the case, we were armed with cameras and GPS’s. We had a rough idea of where we were headed, and our purpose was to find some interesting things to photograph. Nothing in particular, we'd know it when we saw it. Our destination was the Turtle Creek and Braddock area.

    The day was perfect for photography. The sky was a deep shade of blue dotted with puffy white clouds. The polarizers on our lens made the sky appear even darker.

    We did a cache in Wilmerding, (You know, “There are no Winky’s in Wilmerding!”) across the RR tracks from an old building that Frank used to work in, many, many years ago. We were right beside the tracks and sadly, saw no trains go by.

    Since we were in the area, we stopped to take a few pictures of the George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge. The conditions were perfect!

    Opened in 1932, it was then regarded as the longest concrete span bridge in the world. It is approximately 240 feet from the deck to the valley below. After we took some pictures from one side, and watched a train go by, we went to the opposite side to see what it looked like from there.

    While the shots from this side were nice, they didn’t compare to the view from the opposite side. While we were there, we watched a set of 4 Union RR MP15 locomotives pull a line of cars into the mill, crossing a long bridge. Next, we decided to see what the view was like from on top of the Westinghouse Bridge.

    To do this involved a bit of walking. Naturally, we couldn’t stop the car on the bridge, so we had to find a spot to park and then hoof it to the center. We strung our cameras around our necks and started walking. Ten or more minutes later we were nearing the center. The sun was hot overhead and cars and trucks were zipping past us just a few feet away. Thank heavens there was a sidewalk! The noise was loud to put it mildly, but it was definitely worth it once we got out in the middle of the span.

    Kennywood could be seen off to the left in the distance, its yellow roller coaster standing out against the green hillsides. The huge USS Plant grabs your attention in the center of the view. Turtle Creek was below, lined on either side by railroad tracks. A dam could be seen almost directly below us, with a flood gate hanging over the stream. The Norfolk and Southern RR tracks could be seen going under the Union RR Bridge and the Braddock Avenue Bridge, disappearing into the trees to the right. During the height of the steel boom this area was supposedly the most active railroad area in the county! 

    Back at the car, we headed into Braddock where we stopped numerous times to photograph old, abandoned buildings and Churches. One of the Churches no longer had a roof and the windows were all broken out. Sad how such a nicely built building, once weekly filled with people, now sits empty with only (?) pigeons living in it. We photographed a few houses that were surprisingly still standing, the end of their lifetimes rapidly approaching.

    We passed a train and hoping to catch it further down the line, pulled into a funeral home parking lot. We framed our shots and waited…and waited. After waiting 10-15 minutes we gave up and continued on to where we started our journey.

    Without a doubt, it was a great morning! Trains, caches and decrepit old buildings, what more could you ask for? And, so far no signs of ticks or poison ivy! What a great way to spend a sunny morning!

A Training Day

 It was 5 o'clock Tuesday morning and I didn’t think that I’d be going back to sleep soon. I got dressed and went out to see if I could find a picture or two worth taking. There was no specific plan, I was just going to take a ride and see if anything popped up.

  While driving along I am always watching the scenery, looking at the shadows, the people I pass, the buildings. I’m never sure what “it” might be but I’m always looking. It is amazing how many times I see something whenever I don’t have my camera with me! The chances of seeing something worth taking a picture of increases whenever I leave the camera behind! When I see something, I stop and take a picture. Sometimes they are good, other times, worthy only of deletion.

    I drove towards Pittsburgh going through Lawrenceville. Passing the “Doughboy Statue” and heading towards the railroad bridge, I saw my subject. I saw a line of hoppers slowly crossing the bridge. I turned the car around and started searching for the front of the train.

    It turned into a slow chase. We were both going in the same direction; the train was four or five blocks closer to the river than I was. I could see it as I passed side streets. While I had to deal with traffic and streetlights, the train just kept on going… As I gained on it I started to hear the whistle as it came to road crossings. I finally got ahead of it as we neared the 62^nd Street Bridge.

    While driving, I was mentally going over the various spots I could go to get a picture of it. I decided to go under the Highland Park Bridge for my attempt. Luckily, the train was moving slowly, and I had plenty of time to set up my tripod, frame my picture and take a couple test shots before the train came into sight.

    The headlights were what I saw first. I could feel the anticipation. The Carload Express engines passed followed by a long line of bouncing and rocking cars. Perhaps this was why the train was moving so slowly, the cars were swaying back and forth, the rails weren’t very straight or flat.

    After the train was gone, I returned home. I had gotten some pictures and I was happy. It was now time to get back to the regular day, time to tackle my chores.

    Later in the day after eating dinner, I was sitting at my desk when I heard it, another train whistle! It was still light outside, so I grabbed my camera and ran (?) out to the car.

    The train had just passed the crossing in Lower Glenshaw. Leaving the neighborhood, I heard the whistle as it came to the next crossing, just past the tunnel. As I drove, I started considering the places I could go, along with their advantages and their disadvantages. Some were far enough away that I could easily reach them long before the train did, but I wasn’t sure what the lighting would be like. Another spot was much closer, but the background would be a hillside of trees, in the shadows. The train might fade into the background there.

    I ended up going to my favorite spot, Bryant Road in Hampton Township. There weren’t many cars on the road and so I arrived rather quickly. I went down a dirt road towards the tracks where I could catch the train crossing the bridge over Pine Creek. I set up the tripod and framed my shot, took a couple test shots and then waited.

    A car pulled up and two guys got out. I was wondering if they were railfans or fishermen. They turned out to be the latter. We BS’d for a minute before they continued on to the stream, stopping briefly to touch the tracks to see if they could feel the coming train. The noise of the engines was getting louder.

    Just as they reached the bridge, the locomotive came around the bend. The lights of the engine came first, illuminating the curving rails. As the first engine passed, the engineer gave a couple short toots on the whistle to me as he went by. Of course, I waved back… it is what you do when a train goes by!

    The sounds of a train are always exciting to me; the noise of the engines, the squeals of the wheels on the rails, the knocking and bumping of the cars and especially the piercing blasts of the whistles. I have taken pictures of trains from above as they near a crossing, those whistles are LOUD!!! WOW, what a rush!

    I returned home happy and content. A train started my morning and then one ended my day. I've said it before; it doesn't take a lot to make my day! Some days you just get lucky and this was one of them!

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!