Phew. Between being busy at home and at work, and overcoming my computer issues at home, I’ve been quite a bit behind in my postings here. In fact, I was only able to get out on Tuesday and Wednesday for my walk. Thursday and Friday were nutso at work, so I couldn’t get away. Oh, well, such is life. Anyways, here’s a combined post for last Tuesday and Wednesday. Minimal text on these…I’ll get back to my wordy self sometime in the near future…heh…
NOTE: This was supposed to go out last night, and I thought I hit the publish button before heading for bed, but apparently I didn’t.
September 25, 2007 – NECR 608 in Uncasville and P&W NR-2 at Stoddard Cove
For my Tuesday walk, I headed up to Stoddard Cove and decided on a shot from the south side of the cove. With the lack of wind, the reflection should be pretty nice. Once I got there I was greeted to a very smooth Stoddard Cove. So I grabbed my gear and hiked out to a spot on the south shore of the cove with a nice view of the causeway separating the cove and the Thames River.
Once I got there, I heard a chirp on the scanner from an end of train marker. Hmmm, P&W NR-2 recently reported that they were south of MP13, a good 4-5 miles to the north of me. No way that could be NR-2, so the only other logical choice would be that the New England Central was in the picture. A couple minutes later I got my confirmation – NECR train 608 was heading south along the Thames River.
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Something else caught my eye, and my ear. I had inadvertently left the Amtrak frequencies active on the scanner, which also includes the frequency that’s used by boating and shipping traffic in the Thames. The tug John Paul was announcing that they would be assisting a ship out of Allyn’s Point and head south in the Thames. I got a shot of the tug tied to the bow of the ship at the Dow Chemical plant at Allyn’s Point.
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Then a pleasure boat headed south through the river
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And finally Providence & Worcester train NR-2 made their appearance. In the consist was a short string of OGIX hopper cars.
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But here’s one shot that shows something different.
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Look carefully. You’ll notice a series of ripples emanating from about the middle of the frame. That would be my foot that hit the water as the lead power passed by. I tried to shift my footing and slipped down the bank of the cove, and partially into the water. Oh, well, luckily my boots are waterproof.
September 26, 2007 – P&W Train NR-2 at Mill Cove and NR-2 and an Acela at the Thames River drawbridge
Wednesday was a quicker excursion. I got to Mill Cove just as NR-2 was reporting to the dispatcher that they were south of MP5 – a mile to the north. Not much time to set up, but I did get set up in time.
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Then it was off to the drawbridge. There was a fishing boat working some of their pots in the river, so of course I got a shot.
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And the ongoing east tower work on the bridge
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Moments later, a westbound Amtrak Aclea headed across the drawbridge
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Then another angle struck my eye, something a bit further off – a shot of the train heading off of the western approach to Shaw’s Cove
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After that NR-2 was beginning their move west across the bridge, so they can head back east to track 4 in Groton to switch the Tilcon plant at Midway. Looks like Amtrak hasn’t had a chance to get to repairing the switch on the east leg of the wye, so NR-2 has to keep doing the two step to get into track 4.
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And in the midst of NR-2 making their move, I got a shot of a turboprop aircraft heading for a landing at the Groton/New London airport nearby
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That’s it! Hopefully things will return to normal this coming week.
Thanks for looking.
Tom
