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!

Pappy's Train Chase

 Pappy was standing at the checkout counter at the library when he heard the whistle. He had been at his book club meeting and had picked up a couple books to take home with him.

    While he waited, a mother took her son out to watch the train go by. Pappy was imagining that the train would be gone by the time he got outside. Finally the librarian gave him his books and he was able to leave. The boy and his mother were coming back in and both of them had big smiles on their faces. When Pappy got outside, all he could see was the very end of the train disappearing as it rode away.

    In his car, Pappy followed the train. Being careful as he drove, he watched the railroad tracks, watching for the train. The road was right beside the tracks, but he couldn’t see the train.

    Coming to a stop sign, he waited for a couple cars in front of him to go. When it was his turn, he heard the whistle again! He couldn’t see the train, but he knew it wasn’t far away.

    He finally caught up with it. It wasn’t moving very quickly. It was a short train with two engines in the front, a boxcar, seven hoppers and a third engine at the end.

    He came to a spot where he could pull over and got out of the car and watched as the train went by. The engines were painted purple with yellow stripes. Even though the train was going slowly, it was LOUD!  From where he was standing, he was able to look down at the train. The river could be seen behind the train. He got back in his car and drove a bit further down the road.

    He stopped at another spot and watched it passed by. The engineer waved when he saw Pappy.

    The road was a long one and he easily passed the train again. Coming to a crossing, Pappy pulled over to wait for the train.  This time, since he was at a crossing, he heard the trains whistle. The engines were loud, but the whistle was even LOUDER!

    The engineer waved again and smiled as the train rumbled past. The engineer was probably happy since Pappy was standing well away from the railroad tracks. It can be dangerous standing too close to the rails!

    Pappy watched the train get smaller as it continued down the tracks. He got back in his car and headed for home. As he drove, he thought about his morning and smiled. He had spent some time with his friends talking about books, he had brought a couple books home with him and, he had chased a train.

    He hoped that he had gotten a couple good pictures but even if he hadn’t, he had enjoyed watching the train go by. Maybe he’d send the pictures to his grandsons, Mateo and Nico!

    Pappy was happy, what a great way to start his day!

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. 

An Amtrak Journey

This may not be exactly what you were expecting... let me tell you a bit more.

    I’m not sure what it was exactly that brought the idea into my head. I was thinking about photography. This moved into catching a picture of a train coming through the city, with the buildings behind it glowing from the rising sun. “There had to be a spot where this could be caught!”

    I started by consulting my maps and a web site called “The Photographer’s Ephemeris”, a site that shows the direction and times of sunrise. I found out that Amtrak has a daily train to NYC, leaving the Pittsburgh station six days a week, leaving at 7:30! Looking at the maps, a couple spots presented themselves.

    During the upcoming days, I visited them. Some appeared better than others, there weren’t as many as I had hoped. My first attempt was from a parking lot beside the tracks.

    I had to wait for a good morning; wanting the sunrise reflecting on the buildings meant that I needed a day without rain or heavy clouds. This can be difficult in Pittsburgh. Finally a day arrived that met my criteria. I got there early, the parking lot was empty. I parked near a set of signal lights, hoping to catch the engine coming between them. The camera was set on a tripod, the scene was framed, all I needed now was the train.

    Just before it was due to leave the station a car pulled up, the window rolled down and a security guard asked me what I was doing. I explained and was told that I was on private property and would have to leave. I talked and maybe even begged a bit and was granted 5 more minutes. Just as this was given to me, the train came into view. I snapped my pictures, thanked the guard and tore down my set-up. I won’t be returning to this site again!

    The pictures were OK but I felt as if I could do better so… My next spot to attempt my picture from was a bit further away. I figured I could get a sharper image by adding a bit of distance from the train, making the speed of the train less noticeable, showing less blur.

    The sun was rising a bit earlier each day making the chances of sunshine on the buildings a little better but as I already said, the weather always plays a part in any outdoor photo shoot.

    The next site was on a bridge that spanned the railroad tracks, about 1000 feet further away from the last site. The day I chose was cold and the ground had a light layer of snow on it. Clouds were in the sky. I was glad I had brought gloves! The train came right on time but the city wasn’t lit up. My best picture from that day showed the snow blowing off of the top of the train; the city wasn’t in it.

    I returned a week later and tried again. While I got the city in the picture this time, once again the morning sunlight I had hoped for never developed.

    Looking at the pictures intrigued me. I decided to forget the city and go for another location. Out came the maps again. I found what looked like a good spot in-between Shadyside and Homewood. I took a ride to scout it out and it showed possibilities. A signal tower sat on either side of the tracks; maybe I could capture the train between the pair. The sun (if there was one) would be illuminating the front and side of the train.

    I returned with the camera to see what I could get. The sun was up, things were looking good. I decided to skip the signals since the lights wouldn’t be visible in the picture. The train came and a couple pictures were taken.

    These pictures were starting to become an obsession now! I decided to try again with my 4X5 camera so 3 days later I returned. I caught it between the signals this time, but the train was blurred, the shutter speed was too slow. Drat, always something!

    I started looking further out the line. Looking at the maps I noticed the tracks went underneath the George Westinghouse Bridge in East Pittsburgh. Oh it takes so little to grab my attention!

    My buddy Frank and I planned a trip out to where we thought we’d get a good view of both the bridge and the tracks. We had found a geocache a few hundred feet away a couple years ago. A bridge once crossed the tracks here and the pier provides a wonderful view of the valley. A section of the old brick road leading to the bridge is visible poking through the dirt and weeds. Stepping over a broken wooden roadblock takes you to a comfortable spot complete with a concrete shelf to put excess camera gear on and provide a windbreak.

    While we were setting up and then waiting, we watched a westbound freight pass by. Ten minutes later the Amtrak train came, about 20 minutes after it left the city. High hills are on either side and the light wasn’t the greatest…so we decided to come back another time.

    A week later, we were back again. The sunlight was just hitting the top of the bridge. We surveyed a few other sites in the area before we set up. Frank decided to go a little lower down the road while I stayed on the bridge pier. We got some nice shots including a few with the moon in them but we still weren’t satisfied. Was I pulling Frank into my obsession?

    We returned one last time. (at this writing) It was eleven days later on a Saturday morning. There were occasional drizzles as we drove back to East Pittsburgh. We brought Kelle and Ann Marie with us this time, for company, perhaps good luck and to share the excitement of the hunt.

    This time we set up underneath the smaller bridge in front of the Westinghouse Bridge. While the on and off rain never came down hard, the bridge provided a cover for us.  It also gave us a different view of the train and the bridges.

    I brought my 4X5 camera along and I set up a bit closer to the tracks than Frank. The women hung out beside the car. We heard lots of train whistles while we waited but none of them were from the train we were waiting for. Then we heard it, there was a definite difference in its sound! The headlight first appeared between the branches of the trees and then there it was, speeding towards us. I took a few shots with the digital camera and then depressed the shutter release on the bigger camera. A couple more digital shots of it as it raced away from us and then I started tearing things down. All that preparation for only 10 or 20 seconds of excitement, was it worth it? As far as I was concerned, it was!

    We repacked the car and headed for a place to get some breakfast to celebrate a successful trip. Even if the pictures don’t come out as we planned for them, we were still happy!

    Thinking about the various shots I’ve taken, I figure this will probably be the last time we come out to this spot. I can let this series go now. I developed the 4X5 negative, it came out OK, it’s the photo at the top of this story.

    I don’t think I’ll be chasing this train any further. It was nice knowing when it was going to pass as compared to just standing trackside and hoping a train goes by. Should it pass me again, I’ll take another couple pictures of it. I’ve been taking shots of this train long before this year.  

A past shot of the morning Amtrak train coming into the Horseshoe Curve

The search always continues, whether or not I get anything isn’t important, it’s all about the hunt

Reliving the Past

During the past couple weeks I have been limiting my travels a bit due to a pinched nerve in my neck. While the trips I've taken had been enjoyable, I paid for them the next day.

    My friend Frank had recently found a couple pictures from a trip we had taken down to West Virginia a while ago and shared them with me. We both remembered the trip but there were a couple questions we had about it.

    We weren’t sure of when we went and we also were puzzled about the pictures themselves, since they were taken on film. We thought that we had both switched over to digital cameras when we had taken this trip.

    We knew that we had been in West Virginia, that was one clue. We also remembered a geocache we had found while on it, one that had been hidden near a mine and a furnace of some type. Another clue was my Jeep. It sat on the edge of the picture, that fact helped narrow down the time period.

    I started looking through my pictures trying to find some from that day. My collection of photos is organized by the date they were taken, not by subject or location, not much help for this! I checked through my furnace pictures, organized by name. In these photos I found a file titled “Unknowns”. Inside there was a folder titled “Unknown Furnace or kiln in WV 100702”. Ah ha! Inside I found 15 pictures of the furnace I was thinking of. Frank was in some of them also. 

    My labeling system is rather easy. The date is listed by year, (10) month (07) and the by day (02). This would mean that these pictures had been taken on July 2, 2010, about 15 years ago. So, now we had a date.

    Another question was, where are the rest of the pictures taken that day? I went to my external hard drive but those photo files only went back 4-5 years. I needed to go further back. I dug into my older shots, saved on memory sticks, camera memories and CDs. Thankfully they are in order!

    On a memory stick I found a folder entitled “100702 Trip to WV with Frank” Inside this folder was 127 pictures taken that day. Success!

    It is always fun reliving the past, so let me take you along on a trip to West Virginia.

    Stepping back into the past…

Sunrise

    Frank and I always attempt to be on the road early. Should there be a nice sunrise, we would like to be able to catch it! A short distance past Friendsville, Maryland we pulled over on the side of the road to catch the sun coming up over the mountains. We were about a 100 miles into our trip, about two hours away from my home. It was 6:05 in the morning. We had left home at just the right time!

    Moving towards the west we entered West Virginia. One of the places we wanted to visit was a section of RR track that we called West Virginia’s Horseshoe Curve. Now whether anyone else calls it this I don’t know. I’m not sure where this even is other than in WV.  It gave us a spot to aim towards. 

The “Curve”

    We found the spot about an hour and a half after sunrise. We took some pictures, found an old cemetery and waited for a train to go by. After waiting for a while, we decided to call it quits and continue on. 

House exploration

    While exploring an old, deserted house, Frank realized that he had lost his hat. It had his fishing license on it so we headed back to the RR tracks to see if we could find it. There it was, sitting on the road. Just after he picked it up…we heard a train laboring up the hill.  

The train!

Continuing up the mountain

    We caught some nice pictures of it as it passed us. There was a reason that the hat was left behind! The story of the “lost hat” is a story we tell often.  We would have never gotten a picture of the train on the curve if it hadn’t been forgotten!

A cache

Outside the mine

Inside

Cache hidden inside a mill

The Virginia Furnace

    We did some caches as we continued south including one near a limestone mine and a kiln. We stopped at an old grist mill and an old iron furnace where other caches were hidden. There was lots of history that we visited on this trip!

The Grafton Rail Yard

Leaving the yard

    We later ended up in Grafton where we took pictures of the rail yard and the turntable that sits on the edge of Three Fork Creek. We headed back towards home after that. It was almost 7 when we got back to Frank’s house, truly a long trip!

Bob and Frank’s camera

    The pictures we found brought back some good memories and answered a couple questions. We found out the date, and on one of the last pictures, what camera Frank had been using, a Pentax ME Super. He got a digital camera soon after. (Now he is experimenting with film again I’m happy to say!)

    It is always fun reliving the past by looking at old pictures. They help us (especially ME!) remember.