Who Has Time For Chores, There Are Railroads to Look At

 Note!  Click on photos to view full size.

View Of The Round House Location  N40º 26.068’ W79º 48.127’

April 30

On Saturday, in keeping with the fine tradition of screwing off instead of chores (actually only delaying the chores), I returned to the Union Railroad to have another look at the roundhouse turntable.

May 21

It is in a different position!  They must still use it.  Look at the photos.  For comparison I included a photo from April 30.  In the April 30 photo, the left end of the turntable is aligned with the first set of tracks and the lateral centerline of the black superstructure is somewhat aligned with door 9.  In May 21 photo the left end of the turntable is aligned with the third set of tracks and the centerline of the superstructure is aligned with the left edge of door 11 (Receiving).

Zoom of the turntable's whee

When I was taking the photos, I thought the wheel was toothed which seemed odd because the rail is smooth.  Looking at the photo at home on the computer, the wheel is smooth but has the shadow from the grating above it. 

I took a couple of photos of the woods again from roughly the same spot as before.  Fully leafed and quite beautiful.

Here is a honeysuckle, but for the life of me I can’t key out which species.  It is blooming here in Pittsburgh on May 21.  It was blooming in the middle of March when I was at Augusta, Georgia.

The doors were open on the boxy end of the repair facility so I tried to get some zoom shots in the doors.   

Alas I see no locomotives.

 

A zoom of the roundhouse turntable from track level.

  

I stopped under the bridge again to get some shots of the truss in the sunlight. 

 

I was treated to three Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) performing a behavior called puddling.  

The young males congregate on puddles or mud to attain salts and amino acids.  I have seen this before, but never realized that it was a behavior.

  

 

 Wikipedia, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Wikipedia, Mud-puddling

As I tried to get closer two of the swallowtails flew off, but I managed to get a nice zoom of this guy.  Unfortunately he never opened his wings. 

Here is a shot of the overpass for the railroad over Thompson Run creek.  As kids we used to walk though here to get from our side of the railroad to  this side.  Note the blue cast to the water.  It is partially treated sewage.  It does not stink but it looks like hell.  There seems to be endless sources of this blue water in Allegheny County.

The view up Thompson Run Road toward the Hall Station Bridge. I looked at the leaning pole on the hill and realized I would be gone in a puff of smoke if it decided to fall.

Here is a shot of some of those lousy invasive dame’s rockets with the Hall Station Bridge in the background.

The view down Thompson Run Road.  Near the utility pole, there is a roadside memorial to a young woman whose vehicle slid off the icy road and plunged into the creek last year.  The guard rail appears to have been installed after the fact.

 Moving along I stopped to get a photo of this cliff.  It has the usual rotten Allegheny Count hardened sediment rock and is constantly falling down.  A few years ago there was a tiff between the Borough of Monroeville and the Union Railroad about this cliff, but I never heard what the result was.  The other notable is this is where my father discovered purple flowering raspberry growing with my brother-in-law.  It was one of his major finds.  I have seen it in many places while Geocaching, but in my father’s mind this was a real find.  I will have to return here later in the summer and see if it is still here.

Here is a shot of the overpass for the railroad over Thompson Run Road.   

Click to view full size.

This is the same over pass, although the other side that I shot from high on the hill in Sears parking lot on Easter Sunday.  You can see the cliff behind the overpass in that photo.  Wow that was way back when I was still employed.  I prefer my unemployed status.

 Some more creeping buttercups.   

This shot of the leaves show the blotches which only the creeping species has. 

Toxicodendron radicans

Well one last plant, the national flower of Allegheny County, at least one would think so with the extensive growth found in the county.  Well the fun was over and it was time to go cut grass.