Breaking Rocks In The Hot Sun

Leedsworld, Upper Burrell, Pennsylvania, January 15, 2015.

I Hear You Knockin', But You Can't Come In

It says 'Welcome' on the exit. Why does it say 'Welcome' on the exit?

This Is Not 38, This Is Old 97

All of a sudden, I've been surrounded by Norfolk Southern heritage units. Until last Saturday, the only ones I'd seen were the Nickel Plate Road, Conrail, and Pennsylvania units, all with Nickel Plate Road 765 on fantrips; and one sighting of the Lackawanna unit when I didn't have my camera.

Well, all that changed after last Saturday. I happened to be heading home through Creighton, after hanging out at a friend's house. As I was headed towards the C. L. Schmitt Bridge (known to locals as just the 'New Ken bridge'), Norfolk Southern sent an oil train up the Conemaugh Line. I'm headed the opposite direction, and I take a peek at the power. At first, the two black-and-white locomotives didn't seem all that special...until I realized that the trailing unit was the Penn Central heritage unit. I swear I did a double-take, cartoon-style. So I banged a u-turn and did my best to follow the train. He was going fairly slowly for some reason. I tried to get a good picture, but it was too dark and I couldn't hang around.

Worst. Heritage unit picture. Ever. 

Next morning, after meeting my family for breakfast, my sister and I ran a quick errand and then took the scenic route home, up the Kiskiminetas River. We caught up with a train heading east (this is further east on the Conemaugh Line, for those wondering) and I decided to try a new photo spot on the Vandergrift Bridge. As the train came around the curve, I realized that the second loco in the consist was the NS 'Honoring Our Veterans' unit! I was so surprised, that Brie had to remind me to take pictures. I was hoping for a better picture, so we tried to chase to Apollo and Avonmore, but to no avail. He was moving like he was late for a hot date.

We salute you. 

And then, yesterday happened. I just wanted to go out for a little while and clear my head. As I was headed towards the city, I checked the heritageunits.com site. I discovered that the Southern Railway and Erie units were converging on the city! I had a moment where I thought I had missed the Erie unit, so I beat feet to Rochester, parked at the bowling alley, and got there just in time to catch the Southern unit on an intermodal train headed west. 

The Southern serves...southwestern Pennsylvania?

Figuring that I'd done well enough for the day, I took a brief cruise back up PA-65, and passed the Conway locomotive service terminal. And to my surprise, there was the Erie unit! It took a slight hike across busy, four-lane 65 to get a good photo, but here it is!

It's not easy being green.

As a bonus, while I was across the highway, I noticed the unit I'd been wanting to see the most - the Wabash! Unfortunately, it was dark enough I had trouble getting a good photo, and she wasn't well lit, as well as hidden behind that BNSF GEVO. But hey, it was there.

Follow That Flag!

I did previously get photos of the Nickel Plate Road, Pennsylvania, and Conrail units. Here's the NKP unit with 765 out by Leetsdale back in 2012.

Nickel Plate High Speed Freight Steam Locomotive On A Passenger Excursion Service

And here are the Pennsy and Conrail units, also with 765, on a chartered excursion over Horseshoe Curve. I got this photo from downtown Altoona.

Don't Stand Me Still? Or Keep It Moving With Conrail? How about both?

And that may not be the end of the story. Back in 2013, my friend Matt and I happened to catch the Lackawanna unit after hanging out at Primanti's in Harmarville; but that was in my pre-smartphone days and I didn't get a picture. However, as of three hours ago, she was due west out of Harrisburg on an oil train and I may have a chance at catching her today!

Also, there's the other 12 heritage units and a few other special locomotives to look out for. I'll just have to keep an eye out.

Also also, I signed up for a spotter account on heritageunits.com. If you see a spot listed by LL1060, that's me.

But I Guess Until I Get MY Car Back This Will Do

Self-driving cars suck.

No, I mean it. I guess I'm officially some kind of luddite for this, but a future of Google-type self-driving cars sounds like the most sterile and soulless thing I've ever heard short of Communism. Either that, or it sounds like the revenge of the Parry People Mover. (Note to self: great movie idea right there.)

And yes, I can see some advantages to self-driving cars. People who need to get around, but have a disability that prevents them from operating a conventional vehicle, or an elderly person who may have to give up their license could benefit from such a technological advance. But you will never see me pop into one of these things. I object to the idea from beginning to end. 

For starters, just look at this thing. 

It looks terrible. It looks absolutely derpy. This is the Nerdmobile 9001, even more so than Rick Moranis' solar powered van from Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. Google has other prototypes based on the Toyota Prius, and Audi and Lexus vehicles as well, but I'm still not impressed. Principally because the goofy thing you see above is supposed to be the production model. The modified vehicles have, so far, been used as system testbeds, rather than representing any self-driving version of their manufacturer's product. Of course, one would wonder why Google hasn't decided to try modding a Tesla electric sports car, or dare to automate a '68 Dodge Charger. 

And this brings me to my more important point: there are some of us that just enjoy driving. The Telsa roadster and the '68 Dodge are fun to drive, to operate by hand, to actually control with two hands on the wheel. It's that feeling of control that is going to trip Google up, I think. Sure, there are some people who just view driving as a chore, and would probably be perfectly open to traveling by autonomous vehicle. Maybe they will, in fact, be a majority. But there will always be those of us who prefer to drive ourselves. 

Besides, it just might make it harder to take a trip without much of a plan. It certainly seems like the interface is all about plugging in your destination and away you go, end of story. I can't imagine going railfanning in one of these, where the idea is in fact to stop at places along the tracks to watch and take pictures. That's far easier to do manually. A Sunday drive with an impulsive stop at a yard sale or two? Can you just hit a big red button and stop the car? I have my doubts. Try taking a road trip - again, the destination is vague and the itinerary is flexible in the extreme - can the Googmobile handle that? What if Junior has to use the facilities on a longer trip? That's going to be a real problem in more ways than one. The freedom and control of the automobile as we know it even today is a plus, and I worry that autonomous cars will take a big chunk of that away. 

Maybe, though, we're safe for the time being. The Atlantic has a story that details the technology and its vast scope, pointing out that it's not yet possible to plop one of these cars down in, say, Pittsburgh, and have it start driving. And when they come to Pittsburgh, I want to watch one of these things try to tackle Penn Hills, or the South Side on a Friday night. Meanwhile, Slate takes a more pessimistic view; hell, their subtitle even says it 'may never actually happen'. 

I don't know about you, but I'm perfectly happy to sit behind the wheel for the next fifty years. I guess we'll see if they're still making actual cars then. 

From Wikipedia

Sure, why not. 

You Could Have A Steam Train If You'd Just Lay Down Your Track

Nothing like an indeterminate amount of time off work to give the LEGO railroad a bath.

Like Some Doll You Thought You Could Throw Away, I Found My Legs

So my favorite girl rockers of the past few years broke up after a single LP. Wild Flag called it off in early 2014 because of difficulties getting Carrie Brownstein, Janet Weiss, Mary Timony, and Rebecca Cole in one place to record a follow-up. Am I sad? A little, but I feel a lot better after the end of last year. That's when I discovered that Brownstein and Weiss got in touch with Corin Tucker and got Sleater-Kinney back together, and Timony formed Ex Hex with Laura Harris and Betsy Wright. Better yet, both bands had albums on the way! Now that they've both finally dropped, we're blogging about them today.

A reunion album by the last, best-known, and possibly most accessible band of the riot grrrl movement? Tch-yeah! This one seems to have taken the hipster music world by surprise. No record leak, no buzz or hype, almost no hint that the girls had gotten back together to make new music. So let's see what we got!

What I Liked: 

Okay, it's official. The Sickest Riff Of 2015 Award is quite likely to go to S-K for 'Bury Our Friends'. The song is an epic allusion to their comeback; and a blistering, aggressive piece of punk rock. And the ladies don't stop there - the whole album is a rockfest of dramatic proportions. Tucker and Brownstein haven't lost their ability to wield a hard-hitting guitar sound, backed by Weiss' tight drumming. I like how they can make atonal licks sound so good at times. They write lyrics that make you think, give you something to chew on mentally. 'Price Tag' starts the disc with its theme of overextension - or buyer's remorse, more likely. 'Surface Envy' and 'No Cities To Love' both put a troubled and slightly gloomy verse together with an upbeat chorus, to good effect - the former being the more dualistic of the two. I like the super upbeat and poppy feel of 'A New Wave' - which I could actually see being on the Ex Hex disc reviewed below! It's such an energetic song, with a neat vocal hook (...but a fit would be more FIT-TING! FIT-TING!) that I keep getting stuck in my head. The irony of a true rock anthem being titled 'No Anthems' is not lost on me, but it's a true face-melter, and prepares you for the sinisterly cathartic 'Gimme Love'. My personal favorite from the album is, as you probably guessed, 'Bury Our Friends'. It's just so heavy and makes such an impact when it hits you - and I dare say it blows AC/DC's 'Back In Black' out of the water as a comeback statement! 'Hey Darling' brings the mood up again with a touch of melancholy. If that wasn't in there, it'd just be too sugary. And 'Fade' sends the album out on a big rock ballad sound. It has a very Doors-like or Wish You Were Here-era Pink Floyd quality, somehow. It's spacey and dark and delightfully transcendent. 

What I Didn't Like: 

Y'know, this may be as close to a perfect album as I can think of. Nothing truly offends me, although I can see how their occasional atonal moment might turn off some people. 

An Observation:

I sprang for the deluxe edition of the vinyl, which is pressed in white, has a really nice slipcover and inner package, and a two-song bonus 12". The bonus disc is the songs 'Heavy When I Need It', a sunny ode to adaptability; and 'The Fog And Filthy Air', a spooky, gnarly rocker that sounds just as it's title indicates. 

In Conclusion:

I think I enjoyed this too much. It's one of the best albums of 2015, at least so far. I don't know how this could be topped.

What I Liked:
Side One gave me the impression of a punk cover band for Canned Heat. Every track is so upbeat and sunny - sunny! - that it's got this sunshiney hippie vibe, after a fashion. Much of both sides sound very three-chord caffeinated - there's no lack of energy here. It's largely well-done, simple, stripped-down rock, if not strictly punk. Timony can shred like few I've heard - if all those solos and licks are completely off-the-cuff, I'm impressed, and if they're not, they still sound damn good! The slightly slower 'Waste Your Time' has a nice hook that gets better when the vocals join in on it, and opener 'Don't Wanna Lose' features a delightfully fun chorus. While Side Two slows down at first with the stomptastic 'Hot And Cold' - seriously, the song is all epic, big, meaty 70's hard rock - it's just as good. 'Radio On' is another classic, if comparatively low-key rocker, and 'New Kid' is the closest to punk that the ladies get. It's the only song that I could hear the Ramones cover! Most of the lyrics are pretty clever, if about somewhat pedestrian stuff like parties and overdoing it at same and relationships; but 'Everywhere' seems to hide a transcendent double meaning I haven't deciphered yet. 'Outro' is kind of an opulent almost-arena-rocker with a slow beat leading the album out; I like that it's a little dreamy-sounding. Best Songs: 'Don't Wanna Lose', 'Hot And Cold', and 'Waterfall', although the rest of the album is a great second tier.

What I Didn't Like:
The downside to having the greater part of the album be so upbeat and sunny and fast-paced is that the songs are all very similar. It can be hard to tell some of the lesser material apart in memory. There's a lot of what seems to be riffs all in the same key. Timony wrote much more complex and interesting material, musically speaking, with Wild Flag - where has that gone? Next album please, Mary? The lyrics, like I said earlier, could also use a little more depth, but I consider that a nitpick.

In Conclusion:
While I still think Mary Timony had a sonically better deal in Wild Flag, Ex Hex promises to be an awesome act, and I hope they can stay together for even just a little longer than Wild Flag. This has proven to be an eye-opening debut and an unabashedly good rock album.

There's Not A Hell Of A Lot You Can Do, It's Lights Out For You

Just before I started my week-long break from work, I dreamt of a power outage there. The worst part is that it was as complete darkness as could be without being completely unrecognizable. As though I could see five feet in front of me in black-and-dark-gray, and the rest was a vast bubble of nothingness. No emergency lights, no natural light from the skylights, no smartphone screens used as flashlights. Just oppressive, inky blackness and a mind-numbing panic.

Am I being sent a message?

You Can Fly Anything Right

Ray is a friend of mine. He's also a pilot. I've wanted to get some photos from the air of western Pennsylvania, and he's been dying to go flying. So when the opportunity to go this past Friday came, I jumped at the chance and we went up for a really nice flight. We ended up delayed and the air was more turbulent as a result, but I still think everything went well. Below are the awesome results. 

Taking off!

Hey, there's Lernerville Raceway. 

This is a really nice shot of Freeport, with the Route 356 bridge in the background, the Norfolk Southern bridge over the Allegheny River near the center, and the Kiski Junction's bridge over the Kiskiminetas in the lower right corner. 

Here's Leechburg, and across the Kiski is West Leechburg. Both the highway bridge and the footbridge can be seen clearly. 

We flew as far as Avonmore - here's a good shot of the town with the National Roll aluminum mill quite prominent. The railroad bridge at bottom center is one I didn't even know existed. Unfortunately, it's rather inaccessible.

Here's an empty Shelocta coal train waiting to head back to the mines on the recently-constructed branch line. 

A few minutes later, we happened to see this loaded coal train headed east towards the Conemaugh Dam. A large portion of the railroad line was relocated in the 1960's to accommodate the higher waters east of the dam. 

Shot of the day! We had to circle about four times waiting for the train to cross the bridge, but for this, it was worth it. The stone arch bridge beneath the newer railroad bridge is on the line's old alignment which is now a bike trail. 

Heading back, we passed the mothballed West Leechburg plant, once operated by Allegheny Ludlum. 

By contrast, the Baghdad plant still operates - as a matter of fact, we happened to catch Kiski Junction using their new switcher locomotive to work the plant. It's the red object at the center of the photo. 

The last major photo I took was of Schenley. The KJR bridge over the Kiski is at bottom, Lock and Dam No. 5 is at left,  and prominent in the photo are two of the last buildings from the whiskey distillery that once operated here. 

Our intrepid pilot.

Thanks, Ray!