Well, I guess everything does happen for a reason. I couldn’t get out this morning to catch NR-2 heading south along the Norwich branch, so I figured I’d head out over lunch and try to catch them somewhere on the Northeast Corridor between New London and Old Saybrook. By the time I got out, I figured that they’d be on their way back from Old Saybrook after swapping cars with the New Haven job, NH-1. Boy was I wrong…
As I got in the car, as usual I fired up the scanner, and activated the NECR, P&W and Amtrak frequencies. Not much going on, so I figured I’d jump on I-95 and head towards Old Saybrook, most likely stopping around Niantic – maybe getting some shots along the boardwalk. As I headed for the Gold Star Bridge on the Groton side of the Thames River, I heard the unmistakable chirp of the EOT. Hmmm, who could that be? NECR train 610 was typically in the area at this time, but I didn’t hear any chatter from the other side of the river. A moment later the Amtrak Shore Line dispatcher called out “Amtrak Shore Line to NR-2…” I thought to myself, great, at least I’d get to hear where they are and when they’re due to leave. What happened next I didn’t expect – I actually heard a familar voice answer the dispatcher – NR-2 was somewhere around here! The dispatcher mentioned that NR-2 would be heading out after an Acela (2154, if I remember correctly) clears. So that meant one of two things – either they were still on the wye waiting to head west to Old Saybrook, or they were waiting at the Shaw’s Cove signals over in New London, ready to head back up the west leg of the wye and home. Either way, my best bet was to head over the river and get to the station area in New London
As I was crossing over the high arched Gold Star Bridge, I couldn’t see anything down on the tracks on the P&W side – but that didn’t mean anything – I could only see about halfway down Fairview yard, leaving a good 30 car lengths out of sight. So long as NR-2 wasn’t a monster train, they could have been waiting at the signal at the wye. The kicker was when I heard P&W train NR-3 report to the Worcester dispatcher that they had arrived at Allyn’s Point (Dow Chemical) – since they just arrived (they usually arrive mid to late morning), chances are NR-2 was also running late, and they were sitting at the signal on the wye. Passing over the bridge, I also noticed that NECR train 610 was pulling into the yard in New London. That’ll have to wait – my main quarry would be NR-2 today.
I was aiming to get down to the Riverfront Walk along the Thames River, which ends down by the Shaw’s Cove swing bridge. So I pulled into downtown New London, and headed for the Amtrak station, where I took a right onto the one way road that parallels the track. Checking out the signals showed track 1 had a green over red signal. OK, something was in the block and heading this way. As I approached the end of the road, the signals activated – hmmm, here comes something. Was it NR-2 or the Acela?
A few moments later, I got my answer – NR-2 slowly pulled around the bend through the station.
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And as the train passed the crossing, Rod gave a cheerful wave out the window (no picture this time…). Then I set up the next shot – a going away shot that also featured an Amtrak Barricade in the track protecting the work zone on track 2 over Shaw’s Cove bridge.
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And once the train cleared, I decided to check out what was going on with the bridge repairs. From what I can gather, it looks like they’re working on the derails at the approaches to the bridge, along with the movable rails that raise and lower when the bridge is set to rotate. A Pettibone was sitting on the eastern side of the bridge:
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And then the bridge was opening up for some boat traffic to enter Shaw’s Cove. So I headed back to the car, but first snapping this guy’s portrait with his dog, he decided to do a pet portrait from photo, which is done as an oil painting with any photo you like..
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Why not?
And on my way back, I did check to see if the NECR was still working New London. Aparently they didn’t have much work to do, because by the time I got there, they were nowhere to be seen, or heard. Oh, well…
Thanks for looking!
Tom
