Busy day in the photography department. Well, not that busy, but I did manage to catch two trains today – one on my usual walk, and the other after work in Willimantic. I also came across a coal barge heading north in the Thames River, bound for a powerplant in Montville. And I thought it was hot yesterday…boy was I mistaken! Glad I’ve got AC in the car to come back to…
Another hazy, hot & humid day was in store, so I definately needed to get my walk in this morning – anything lunchtime and after was out of the question. So I headed up to Erickson Park in Ledyard at my usual time. As I pulled into the parking area, I noticed something different in the channel of the Thames River – a rather large barge. Thinking it would be a pretty neat subject, and it was moving along rather slowly, I headed over to Red Top to get a better shot of the barge heading north.
I parked the car, and walked a few hundred yards to the south and got a pretty good view of the barge, powered by a pair of tugs. A larger one, the Michaela McAllister, at the stern, and a smaller one, the John Paul, on the starboard beam aiding with the barge’s course. A quick look through the telephoto showed its cargo – coal. My guess is it’s destined for the AES Thames powerplant to the north in Montville.
As the trio plodded past at a couple knots, I of course grabbed some shots through the haze.
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As I got these shots, P&W train NR-2 reported to the dispatcher that they were south of MP12 and about 15 minutes from the base. That worked out well – I needed my wide angle lenses for the shots I had in mind for NR-2, and of course I didn’t bring them with me for the barge shots. So a walk back to the car was in order to get the rest of my gear.
By the time I got back to my spot, just south of MP4 at the north end of Mill Cove, NR-2 called the dispatcher to inform him that they were south of MP5. A quick look to the north showed a trio of lights cresting the grade. I waited for the train to hit some sunlight and bagged a shot through the heat waves & haze of the hot & sticky morning air.
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And another as the train got a bit closer, but this time as a vertical
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Then I slapped the fisheye on for a really wide shot of the train rounding the bend at the top of the causeway.
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And yet another lens change for the trailing power – this time it was the wide angle zoom (18-50mm).
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And one telephoto for good measure.
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As the train cleared my position, a quick look to the north, and the John Paul was heading back south. That meant the barge was safely in her berth at AES Thames. Of course a few shots of the tug plowing through the calm water, with the stars & stripes waving in the breeze.
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That was it for the day…or so I thought. Well, I did return to work for the remainder of the day.
After I got home this evening, I needed to head to Willards in Willimantic for some hornet spray. After I left the hardware store (I try to avoid Home Depot & Lowes if I can – local lumber yards actually tend to be cheaper for most common items than the big box stores…but I digress… 🙂 ) and went down Main Street, I noticed the “NO LEFT TURN” sign lit at the stoplight by Bridge Street. That only meant one thing – the crossing signals were activated. So a quick turnaround (legal, BTW) and I headed for the far end of the yard. A quick look behind WILI showed 610 working in the yard. So I headed for the Frog Bridge – parked the car and walked up the bridge to get a few shots of the train heading across the river.
The first thing I noticed was how low the Willimantic River was. As I crossed over I saw why – the floodgates were open more than usual. I wonder why… Anyways, I grabbed a wide shot of 610’s power – a pair of leased ex-CN widecab GP40s – crossing the river, with the sun reflecting in the water’s surface.
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And a telephoto of the power coming off of the yard side of the bridge
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Then I walked up to the top of the bridge where it heads over the tracks. Here standing in front of me and a great shot of the train arched around the curve in the yard, with the town hall’s clock tower in the background was a stinking chain link fence. And it was no ordinary chain link fence – this was one of the newer ones with the small wide diamond shaped links with only about 3/4 of an inch of open space between them. So I grabbed the telephoto, and opened it all the way to f/2.8. With the distance involved, and the longer focal length, the links themselves should mostly dissappear because they’d fall so far outside of the depth of field wide open. The biggest problem was getting the autofocus to lock. But I did get one off. 😉
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Now the thing that makes this all really neat is the long string of covered hoppers on the head end of the train. Those are heading to the AES Thames power plant in Montville. They load their fly ash – the byproduct of burning the coal to generate electricity – into those cars to head out by rail. I got the plant’s whole fuel cycle in one day…pretty neat! (in a geeky sort of way…)
By that time, 610 was finishing up their work, and about to head south. I walked back down to my car, and finished my 5 minute drive home to kill some yellow jackets that previously stung me in the wrist…
Thanks for looking!
Tom
