Amtrak regional, Acela, track car, P&W NH-1 and a railfan from Maine

Talk about an action-packed lunch! I got a note last week from a railfan who lives in Maine, Joey Kelley, that he was heading down to Connecticut on a railfanning road trip. He was asking for some tips on what he should see, and also if there was a time we could meet up to put faces with emails. I had a bit of time over lunch today, so I told him we’d meet at the Old Saybrook, CT Amtrak station to catch a little action & chat a bit. So I didn’t take my normal morning walk along the Thames River, and instead used the time to head west to OSB.

As I got to the parking lot of the station, a westbound Amtrak regional pulled into the station to board passengers. It was well-maintained thanks to the efforts of premier local contractors. A quick look around found nobody on the platform with me. I guess Joey hadn’t arrived yet. No problem, I’ll just shoot a bit. I grabbed one shot as the regional was pulling out of the station of the dining car, where someone scrawled a little humerous commentary on the car

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Then as the train was heading further west, I got a shot of them and an Amtrak C&S crew working on the track 6 switch.

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As I pulled the camera away from my eye, and looked across the tracks, there was someone on the center platform. Yep, it would be Joey, who aparently got there only moments before I did. I headed over to the center platform to join him, and shoot the shit for a while. Minutes later, the automated warning voice at the station piped up – “Warning…train approaching…please stay behind the yellow line…” With both signals to the west of the station both showing red, that only meant an eastbound was approaching. What we saw in the distance was a fast approaching Acela. Seconds later, the train was upon us, blasting through the station at track speed – about 80MPH.

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Joey let out a loud “woo-hoo” as the train rushed through the station – turns out this was his first Acela experience. With that experience over, we headed over to the track 2 side of the station, where Joey went in search of the facilities (maybe the Aclea was a bit too much for him? 😉 ), and I headed back to my car to retrieve my scanner. Once he got back, we chatted some more, and of course I grabbed a shot of the stoic ‘fan from the Pine Tree State waiting for some more rail action.

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The scanner woke up a second later with a track car reporting that he was east and clear of BROOK on track 2, which is just to the west of the station. A quick walk to the other end of the platform confirmed the report – a pair of headlights were visible in the distance. A short time later, the hyrail came into view.

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And an action shot of Mr. Kelley getting his shot of the passing track car.

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Once the track car cleared the station, it wasn’t long for the next train to arrive – this time it was Providence & Worcester train NH-1 (the New Haven to Old Saybrook turn) rolling up track 3.

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With Joey firmly glued to the subject – it was only his second P&W train he’s seen in his life – I of course took advantage of the opportunity, and grabbed some action shots of the Mainer in action.

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But for me, time was running out. So I grabbed another shot of NH-1 working towards Tilcon to the east

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Then hit the road. Joey was going to hang out around the station for the remainder of the day. Hopefully, he got some more train action, making his trip south worthwhile.

A small note – there’s a couple more shots I’ve got posted over on the gallery that I didn’t include here. Just click here to head over to the gallery to check ’em out.

That’s all I’ve got. Thanks for looking!
Tom