Trees, tower, train, tug & sub

My favorite time of year for shooting photos is winter time – cold, crisp air with the pure white snow on the ground, matched with some of it clinging to the bare tree branches, and of course a train rolling through it, giving the scene that New England post card look.  Well, today didn’t have any of that whatsoever – even the “train” was questionable.  While my fellow New Englanders to the north, and the folks to the south are enjoying (well, for some “enjoy” would be too strong of a word) the snowfall, those of us here in southern New England are stuck with rain and wind.  But I decided to make the best of it anyways.  And, yes, I did blow the alliteration in the title with sub – can’t think of a synonym for submarine that starts with a T.  So be it…

On my way into work this morning, I caught a snippet on the scanner – it sounded like P&W NR2 was leaving Plainfield to head south.  Only odd thing was that this was about 7:30am.  The quick exit from Plainfield didn’t really throw me, so I figured usually running time from Plainfield to Groton is around an hour, 1:10 or so, putting them in Groton somewhere around 8:30.  Enough time for me to get to work, get a little done, and head out to bag them somewhere along the southern Thames.

So I get to the office, do what I needed to do, and head back out for a bit.  But on my way up Route 12, right at the Sub Base, I hear NR-2 call south of MP5.  OK, I guess Mill Cove is out.  A quick U-turn, and I was headed to the USS Nautilus.

I get there, park the car, grab my gear and check the angles.  While checking things out, something catches my eye – white signs stapled to a bunch of trees.  And they have across the top in rather large type, “PUBLIC NOTICE OF TREE REMOVAL.” Here, the procedure described at https://atlantatreeaces.com/tree-removal/.

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Well, it seems that they’re removing a bunch of the larger trees from the overlook park, finally opening back up some angles!  Not sure when they’re going to remove them, but the signs said something about 10 days from the date of the notice to file complaints, and the date was the end of January.

Anyways, a few moments later, the gates dr0pped at the Sub Force Museum, and NR-2 appeared at the crossing, with a tug and crane barge in the background.

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But then the rest of the train, or lack of a train, appeared.  Yep, NR2 was simply a pair of light engines this morning.  No wonder why they got out of Plainfield so early.

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And before I left, I got a shot of the Nautilus’ conning tower with the tug & barge in the background

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I figured the next logical stop was at the tower since they’d be heading straight west to New Haven.  When I got there, they were just contacting the Amtrak New London dispatcher, and I got a shot of them waiting at the signal, with a portion of the former NYNH&H SS-119 Groton Tower in the foreground.

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Then a few moments later, they got the signal to head down the west leg of the wye, and onto the Shore Line.  Bagged two shots, again, with the tower in the frame.  One tight:

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And one wider, showing the entire tower

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At that p0int the rain was starting to pick back up, and shots across the river were pretty much worthless.  So I dried off the gear (and myself) and headed back to the office for the remainder of the day.

Thanks for looking!
Tom