Pittsburgh with LPCM
– Part 2 –
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Back at Sojourner House after lunch, Spencer and Nicole ham it up for the camera with the Rug Doctor machines.
A strange sight! The building next to Sojourner House had tires placed all over the roof.
This was some of our arsenal, as you see three vacuums, Kathleen’s steamer, and a Rug Doctor. Add to this about three more rug doctors and one more vacuum, and you’ve got it.
This is the whole group, posing on the stairs at Sojourner House. From top to bottom, left to right, there’s me, the maintenance guy at Sojourner House, Maggie, Spencer, Nicole, Mary, Mark, Lindsay, Leigh, and Catherine.
After leaving Sojourner House, we went back to East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Meanwhile, I was trying to coordinate our movements with my friend Patrick Jarrett so we could meet up. We ended up driving all over creation to find a place to eat, but met up with Patrick near the Waterfront, which is a mixed-use development, with shopping, movies, and restaurants all together, plus with a number of large smokestacks to remind visitors of the location’s industrial past. After eating dinner at a restaurant across from the coffee shop where we had lunch (the Waterfront was too busy), we returned to the church.
Patrick takes a look-see at a map, in order to help best direct Kathleen to a movie theater that was playing the Luther movie.
“So what are we going to see on our tour around Pittsburgh?”
First thing we did was park, and see the Golden Triangle from above. It was quite a sight, it was. Pittsburgh is such a wonderful city, and so much different from Virginia cities in so many ways. The tallest building in Pittsburgh is the 62-story US Steel building.
After seeing the skyline, we took the Monongahela Incline down to the bottom, which put us at the edge of downtown, right near Philthy McNasty’s and the Station Square light rail station. For more information about the inclines, go here. We rode the incline with Patrick (at left), Leigh and Mark (at right), as well as Spencer and Nicole.
The inclines in Pittsburgh are funicular railways, meaning they are inclines (duh). The car for the incline is stepped to follow the level of the incline. We sat on the upper level, and this view looks down to the lower level and further down to the city, after I did a massive touch-up on this picture.
This is the Monongahela Incline as seen from the bottom of the track. The incline car is moving on the left track. The incline is also perfectly safe, with backup cables should one break, as well as bars to catch the train in the event that all the cables fail.
After riding the incline, Mark, Leigh, Spencer, and Nicole went back up the incline and back to the church. Patrick and I went and rode The T, which is the name for Pittsburgh’s light rail system. This was quite an interesting experience for me, with this being my first time riding an urban rail system that’s not the Metro. Seen above is the system map for the T.
This is the Station Square station for The T. In Pittsburgh, all the stations are side platform, since the trains only have doors on the right side. One thing that distinguishes The T from Metro is that The T, being a light rail system, receives its power from overhead wires. This point was driven home when Patrick and I walked across the tracks next to the station to reach our platform. This was not a hazard, since The T has no third rail to get zapped on.
The T uses articulated light rail vehicles. Each light rail vehicle is two “cars”, connected by a hinge in the middle (I’m oversimplifying, but you get the idea). Additionally, the lights go out for a few seconds inside the cars when the trains change wires. Only the blue lights stay on during these changeovers.
Inside some of the underground stations, passengers disembark, and trains sit idle on a side track.
Riding the Pittsburgh light rail system, aka The T, live and in person. I definitely love the “railfan window” on these cars! Big and large, and easy to see out of, even while sitting halfway down the car.
The next day, Spencer, Maggie, and Catherine left early to get to other commitments. The rest of us first went to the previously mentioned Samaritan service, and then headed to the Lutheran University Center for coffee and a worship service. The Lutheran University Center is in downtown Pittsburgh near the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon campuses. Pitt’s Litchfield Towers can be seen in the distance in the left photo. The right picture, an LPCM file photo from March, shows the lower level of the Lutheran University Center.
Afterwards, on the way back, we again stopped in Breezewood, to go to a Dairy Queen. Here, Nicole, Kathleen, Mary, and Lindsay strike a pose.
This is the big Muhlenberg van! 15-passengers. Originally, I was supposed to drive it, but Kathleen ended up taking the reins after Spencer took his car. Just as well, since Spencer was better at keeping up with Kathleen than I would have been.
Back at Canterbury, we unloaded, and let me tell you… we don’t travel light! This is about half the luggage, so you can imagine how much stuff we took with us. The award for most luggage goes to me, as I had my regular bookbag, a large suitcase, my toiletries basket, Big Mavica’s bag, and the tripod bag.
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