I managed to make a little time this morning to get out and try to photograph a little bit along the Thames River. But it was later than usual, so I wasn’t sure what, if anything I’d catch. I was encouraged by the fact that on my way into work I heard a Providence & Worcester track car at Norwich looking to get the track all the way to Fairview. So that meant that NR-2 would probably be a bit later than usual. So my late start shouldn’t have made a difference…if anything it should help.
Like I mentioned, I got out later than I typically do. I decided on heading up to Stoddard Cove in Ledyard to see what I could see and decide what I would do from there.
I got up to Stoddard, parked the car, grabbed my gear and made my way trackside. On my way up, I heard NECR train NERWNE switching in Montville, so maybe I’d get lucky and bag them as well. First things first, though – I wanted to check the tracks to see if NR-2 had been by yet.
When I got down to the tracks, I was greeted by the first encouraging sign – wet rails. It looked like the track car came through, but not a train. So that was good – now the waiting game started.
While waiting, I was looking around the old bridge girders that are sitting next to the tracks. One thing caught my eye that I didn’t notice before – the bridge’s builder plate. So I got a couple shots of the 90 year old plate.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:11036] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11035]While I was doing that, the scanner fell silent – no more NECR chatter. My guess is they were now northbound.
That suspicion was confirmed when I started hearing horns to the south. But as soon as I heard that, I heard one from the north, which only meant the P&W was on their way! OK, NR-2 was running late…
Time went on, and the NECR job came into view. So I got my usual shots of the train (about 30 cars long) progressing north along the Thames River.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:11034] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11033] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11032] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11031] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11030] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11029]Then I caught a glimpse of the P&W to the north – it was in fact NR-3, and not NR-2. I wonder if NR-2 went out to Willimantic today? Anyways, I figured I’d use the old bridge girders as a prop and got my shots of NR-3 progressing south past me from that perch.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:11028] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11027] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11026] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11025] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11024] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11023] [cpg_imagefixthumb:11022]And decided to call it quits at that point.
But on my way back to the office, I still had the scanner on. The NECR dispatcher had to shorten up WNE’s paper because, as the DS put it, “the P&W was on the scene in Willimantic.” Looks like NR-2 did in fact go out to Romantic Willimantic. At least I didn’t miss them in Ledyard.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
