First post of 2008 – NECR train 608

For a while today, I didn’t think I’d get to shoot anything on this second day of the new year. I was kind of busy at work today, so I didn’t get a chance to head out to catch the Providence & Worcester in Ledyard/Groton. But on my way home, as the light of the day was fading fast, I came across an opportunity to get a few train shots before the light became completely unusable. But with the lower light levels, that gave me a chance to either use high ISO speeds, or do blur & pan shots. I chose to do both.

On my way home this afternoon, I spotted something on the New England Central tracks in Franklin – a flashing marker as I passed over the tracks on Route 32 after getting off of Route 2. Hmmm, that meant something was going on – probably 608 working the Kofkoff feed silos a mile or so up the road. So I set my sights on Murphy Road.

When I got there, I discovered a pair of blue & gold NECR geeps working the feed complex. So I parked, grabbed my camera and went trackside. First shot I got was a high ISO shot of the train pulling out of the Kofkoff lead.

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After that, I switched to a lower ISO setting, and decided to play with some blur shots. First up was a shot of the cab of one of the units passing the crossing signals. I really liked this one because of the reflection of the crossbucks in the cab window

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Then a horizontal shot of the train, now coming towards me, crossing the road

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As the train began to move back to my left, I tried a couple pan shots. This time with the fisheye on the camera. First up is one of the ITLX cement hoppers as it passed by me

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Then the coupling between the two units

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And finally I moved closer to the road to get a shot with the signals in the frame as the train passed behind them

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But the final shot of the night is something that caught my eye as I drove away. The train backed down the runaround, and the headlight & ditchlights were lighting up the shiny railheads. I did a U-turn, and got this shot just before the train made their move back north

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After that was done, I packed up the gear and continued on my way. Saved the day!

Thanks for looking!
Tom