Pittsburgh PA 08.15.14: Firmly Entrenched
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- Опубликовано: 18 дек 2014
- This time, we would not take the diverging route to Youngstown. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed last year's trip to see the YMRA layouts (see 'Roomfuls Of Rail' • Roomfuls Of Rail: The ... ), but we failed miserably at hitting our original target of Pittsburgh. This year, we skipped all of the meandering through Johnstown and made a beeline for the 'Burgh. First stop, Allegheny Commons Park West Park, or just West Park for short.
The Allegheny Commons is Pittsburgh's oldest public park, dating from 1867, and the west end provides a picturesque setting to view the action on the NS main that cuts through the park in a four-track, stone-lined trench. In an amazing bit of good timing, the first train we saw belonged not to NS, but the Allegheny Valley Railroad. The AVR operates a network of former Pennsy and B&O trackage in the Pittsburgh area, and interchanges with NS at its Island Avenue yard. Just before noon, the Island Avenue interchange job AVR-1 approached from the south and rolled to a stop just north of Ridge Avenue with three ex-Kansas City Southern GP40-3s in the lead: 4004, 4002, and 4003. With a path lined up into the yard, the trio got their train moving again after a few minutes' wait. As AVR-1 proceeded into the yard, NS joined in with an empty coal train led by C44-9Ws 9129 and 9352. Ten minutes later, the city noise nearly masked the approach of an eastbound baretable train, led by SD40E 6333 and Union Pacific SD70Ms 4642 and 4447.
The vibrations of the bridge were proving to be too much for the tripod, and I wanted more of a side view...but how to do it with a wrought-iron fence in the way? It turned out that my Manfrotto was a perfect fit between the bars with the legs folded all the way in, and once through I could redeploy two legs on the stone wall, with the third back through the fence. The tripod contortions couldn't have come at a better time - at 12:30, an eastbound intermodal marched through the trench behind C44-9Ws 9546 and 8901, SD70ACe 1029, and C44-9W 9808.
It is said that patience is a virtue, and ours paid off in spades a few minutes after 1 when AVR-1 began its return to home rails, this time with the 4003 in the lead. Not a bad introduction to the area at all. 
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Not sure I managed to miss this Dave. Great stuff. West Park is a long time favorite of mine to visit. A great place to kick back relax and watch the trains roll through.
Nice location, nice shots, and nice lash up with nice sound!
Steven Michael Thanks! Hopefully I can get back there sooner rather than later. I'm jonesing for another Primanti Bros. sandwich.
Nice video!
Love it
Nice!
Neat AVR trains looks like EX-KCS Units
Justin Voelker Yes, ex-KCS. They seem to be so new to AVR that I wasn't able to dig up any other details on their heritage.
A nice shady spot. The last side shot was the best way. Excellent video Dave.
***** The road bridge where I was standing was an iron truss with huge crossmembers, and between those and the stone wall I made the fateful decision to leave my vibration damping stuff in the car. The floor of the pedestrian section of the bridge is wood planking, however, and the joggers and cyclists going past behind me were at least as responsible for all the shake as the trains were. Next time, I won't be so overconfident.
***** That is good to know. That's why I'm not fond of the viewers platform in Cresson.
*****
is the "through the fence" shots achievable with a Bogen 3205? pretty similar to a manfrotto when i looked it up on the internet
Darthsimpletext I think the size of the legs is what matters. My Manfrotto 190XB has fairly skinny legs, so when they are folded in it could fit between the bars, and only just. If I had tried the same thing with a 'video' tripod with those big crutch-style legs, it probably wouldn't have worked.
Neat location!
Where do you park? Is the aviary lot usable?
SteamCrane We parked on a side street in sight of the bridge, the street visible in the background to the left in the latter half of the video. The spaces are metered, but the price seemed reasonable enough to me (50 cents per hour or something like that). I'm not familiar with the other parking options available, to be honest. I think the spot is well worth a little change though. I've seen some absolutely stunning photos from here in the fall and winter. The gingko trees that line each side of the trench turn blazing yellow in the fall.
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Thanks for the info. We are overdue for a PRR weekend!