First day of February – NECR and P&W

I had to go into work late this morning, so I had the scanner whirring away on my way in. Maybe I’d catch a little train action on my way, and with any luck I’d catch both the NECR and P&W – both would be in the area. OK, the title gives it away – I did catch both trains on my way in. Read on for the details…

I had some errands to run in Willimantic before heading into work, so I was traveling down Route 32 in Franklin with the scanner doing its job. As I was descending Franklin Hill, the P&W frequency locked in with a crackly transmission – it sounded like NR-2 was southbound out of Plainfield. OK, maybe I could catch them in Norwich. So I set my sights on the area around MP12 for my first stop.

A mile or so further down 32, the NECR frequency began picking up chatter. That meant that 608 was working the Cargill area in Franklin. OK, maybe I’ll make a stop there first to see what’s going on.

Pulling in behind the American Cancer Society showed 608 working Cargill.

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Listening to the scanner it sounded like they’d be there a while, so I figured I’d head out and grab a bagel for a little breakfast. As I climbed back into the truck, the scanner locked into the P&W frequency. NR-2 hit the Jewett City detector. OK, no time for breakfast now. I made a bee line for Norwich Harbor, where the Quinnebaug River empties into the head of the Thames.

I got there a few minutes before the train arrived, allowing me time to scout out the angles. I opted for a spot close to where the train would be rolling past, getting some of the houses on the hill in the background, as well as a nice reflection in the water below. A couple minutes later, I heard horns to the north, followed by the familiar flange squeal as the train rolled through the tunnel under Route 2. Moments later, the train came into view.

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Today, there was a long string of newly painted OGIX stone hoppers on the head end. Well, most were nice and clean – about midway through, some taggers got their grubby mitts on a few cars.

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Jeez, and we railfans get hassled – these guys can spend hours on railroad property, spray painting private property without a problem…sorry, but I digress… Midway through the train there was one tank car – otherwise NR-2 was a unit OGIX stone train! Finally, the tail end came through the tunnel and rolled past milepost 12

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Now the challenge – can I get ahead of the train and nab them at Mill Cove in Ledyard? It would look really cool with a nearly unit train coming around the curve… Hopefully the traffic lights will cooperate.

Today was my lucky day – not only did the slow drivers make turns along the way, but the lights cooperated and got me to Erickson Park a few minutes ahead of NR-2.

As soon as I heard the marker, I headed to the south end of the cove & got into position. A moment later, NR-2 called the Worcester dispatcher, informing him that they were south of MP5. Showtime!

Right after the horns for Red Top, the train headed into the curve at milepost 4

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And the shot I wanted – the entire train bent around the curve at the top of the cove

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Then a bit wider

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And even wider still, this time with the Harvard Boat House in the background, which with the crane barge looks like is having some work done to the pier.

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Finally a couple at the south end of the cove

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And to wrap things up, a couple shots of the trailing power

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After that, I didn’t have time to get the train crossing the Thames – I still needed to get a little breakfast into me before heading to work. So my next stop would be Dunkin’ Donuts for a coffee and sandwich.

Thanks for looking!
Tom