CSO switcher in East Hartford

I had the day off from work today (we were getting a furniture delivery at home), and I had to run a couple errands around Manchester and East Hartford later in the day. After I finished up with my errands, I figured I’d swing by the Connecticut Southern Railroad’s East Hartford yard to see what was going on, if anything. While I was in Manchester earlier, I thought I heard some horns down by the grain co-op, but after investigating, it appeared I was wrong. I figured I missed them, and they were back in EH, so a short trip over was in order.

I decided to pull into the north side of the yard near the warehouses to see what was going on. As I crossed over the tracks, I got my answer – here came the CSOR’s switcher, CSOR 2340, with a cut of cars up the East Windsor branch. I got out in time to get a going away shot of the train heading into the curve.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:4485]

Since they were heading north, I headed up Route 5 to get ahead of them. They had a couple centerbeam flat cars of lumber, and a boxcar – that meant that they were servicing a customer, and not going all the way up to the CNZR interchange in East Windsor. I got up to Strober General Building Supply well ahead of the train. That gave me enough time to park, get my gear together and get into position. Just as I got situated, the crossing signals activated, and the train came into view.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:4484]

Then one of the two conductors got off, and waited for the train to clear the switch to the customer. This shot begged for a wide angle, so off the telephoto came, and on went the 18-50mm lens.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:4483]

As he lined the switch for the customer’s track, I moved into the roadway to get a shot of the switcher crossing in front of traffic. Hey, I wasn’t going to get run over, that’s for sure!

[cpg_imagefixthumb:4482]

Next a shot of the conductor waiting for the cars to be tied down, and the power to be cut off, with the switcher in the background struck my eye.  With the higher contrast in the scene (mainly from shooting into the sun), this one screamed black & white to me.  So of course, I obliged.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:4481]

Moving to the other side of the tracks, I got another angle of the train on the customer’s siding.  Another B&W shot here.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:4480]

Back on the west of the tracks, the train – or more specifically the locomotive – headed off of the customer’s track, and across the crossing to clear the switch. After a friendly wave from the engineer, I got a shot of him heading back to the south.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:4479]

And finally a shot of the locomotive heading south towards the yard

[cpg_imagefixthumb:4478]

Satisfied with what I got, I climbed back in the truck and headed home.

Thanks for looking!
Tom