“Pennsylvania Avenue Subway” Tunnel, Former Reading Railroad, Philadelphia, 2004.
#photography
Captured with a Fuji GX680 camera, 80mm lens, T-Max 100 film. Some tilt was applied to control focus. It was very dark in there, and focusing required the use of a flashlight.
The Pennsylvania Avenue Subway was built to provide a sub-grade freight connection between the Reading Railroad’s main line and its “City Branch”. It served the Baldwin Locomotive Works’ Callowhill plant and, later, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s printing plant, among other Center City industries. Abandoned in the 1980’s.
The GX680 was a fun but very unusual camera that couldn’t quite decide what it wanted to be. It was a truly gigantic beast of a medium format SLR camera providing (limited) view camera movements. It used 120-format roll film with a 6x8cm frame (so a 3:4 aspect ratio), with a built-in autowinder. It’s sort of what you’d get if you somehow merged a Nikon F4, a Hasselblad, and a Crown Graphic. Definitely not a point & shoot camera.
Fun fact: the Reading was a major northeastern US railroad (made famous internationally by its place on the Monopoly gameboard), which ceded its rail business in 1976 to the newly formed Conrail consortium. But the company kept most of its non-railroad real estate holdings, and today mostly operates cinemas (including NYC’s Angelika) in several countries.
(The Reading Company was named for the Pennsylvania city, and so is pronounced with the past tense of what you do with words on a page).
@[email protected] Reading is pronounced red-ing. I’ve lived near the city for 45 years. If you say read-ing that is incorrect.
@[email protected] Didn’t I say that?
@[email protected] Yes you did. I just misinterpreted.
Maybe use what wikipedia has - (/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ RED-ing; Pennsylvania German: Reddin).
My family is from outside Reading, and I lived there for years around the turn of the century (damn that makes me sound old).
I really miss Icy Tea, Unique Splits, Sheetz, and the Leesport market.
@nokturne213 you can order splits online now. https://www.uniquesnacks.com/
@[email protected] First, it would be great to have access to these places, I assume you weren’t out for a leisurely walk underneath Philadelphia. Second, the Angelika? That seems random, did they purposely invest in art house theaters?
@Star12Mt Apparently when they got out of the railroad business, they were left with a bunch of real estate holdings (offices, train stations, etc). Then they got bought by a real estate investor, who added movie theaters to the mix.
@[email protected] Thanks always for the interesting extra info!
@[email protected] Yep, same pronunciation as Reading in Berkshire, England.
Which is pronounced BARK-shur because the British love making English as confusing as possible for foreigners.
@[email protected]
I got really really close to buy a used one, some years ago. I’ve always been fascinated by that camera.The day I met the seller, we were in a bar, he pulled up a suitcase on the table, opened it and took out that monster of a camera. People around looked at us, not figuring out what they were seeing.
A Star Wars scene came to my mind: “an elegant weapon for a more civilized age”.
Some day, I’ll buy one.
@[email protected] It’s a fun camera (and can now be had for cheap), if you have space!
@[email protected] the first medium format slr i ever saw in person was my friend’s mamiya rb67, and i was shocked at how deep it was. i guess i didn’t realize how tiny 35mm mirror boxes are in comparison. rangefinder seems like a much more portable form factor for 120 film, if less accurate
Really like the pic! Can this place be visited and explored?
