Huh? Yeah, the GE and EB references are probably pretty easy to figure out, but the defense contractor Raytheon? How could that fit in? Read on and you’ll find out what I’m talking about…
I got out this morning at my usual time, and made my way north for a walk and possible catch of P&W train NR-2. I was aiming for the usual Erickson Park/Mill Cove area, but of course things sometimes don’t go as planned.
As I pulled onto Fairview Ave in Groton, NR-2 called the Worcester dispatcher to inform him that they were south of milepost 4. Well, that only meant one thing – the USS Nautilus was the only thing in range for me this morning. So up Military Highway I went, and pulled into the overlook park parking lot about half a minute before NR-2s arrival.
I threw the wide angle zoom on the camera, and put my fisheye in my pocket just in case, and made my way to the fence line. One thing that caught my eye that was different with the view this morning had to do with the angle of the sun this time of year. Now that it’s begun its wintertime slide to the south, the side of the Submarine Force Museum’s building is lit, and you can see some of the exhibits through the glass walls. One of them is a Tomahawk cruise missile (made by Rayethon) hanging over the rear door leading to the Nautilus exhibit. I figured that would make a neat photo with NR-2 rolling past.
A moment later, the gates dropped and bells began clanging at the pedestrian crossing, and NR-2 could be heard sounding for the crossing. At last, NR-2 came into view, and I grabbed a shot of the lead locomotive and the missile in the same frame.
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The lead power was a General Electric B39-8, so there’s the GE part of the title. Then a wider shot with the Sub Force Museum, and the Nautilus (the Electric Boat reference – she was made just down the river at EB) with NR-2 rolling between them.
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Then a pair of similar shots of the power on the tail end of the train
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And one final shot through the trees of the trailing locomotive slipping behind the treeline.
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From there it was off to get a shot fo NR-2 crossing the Thames River drawbridge. But I had to make a stop first to the north of the bridge. I noticed something last night on the way home – the large crane that is being used to position the structural steel for the Thames River drawbridge project was moved to the west pier of the drawbridge. So I had to check things out – maybe they were starting to erect steel on the west pier.
Yep, they put up the first piece of steel of the western tower last night! So I got a couple shots from the north side of the bridge.
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And headed back to the car. As I climbed in the car, I caught the Amtrak Shore Line dispatcher telling NR-2 that he was giving them the green light ahead of 171 to head over to the NECR yard in New London. So I hightailed it down to the overlook across from the State Pier to get a few shots of NR-2 on the bridge.
Today I went with a little different framing, using the boats and docks again, like in this post, but instead of the wide angle lens, I stuck with the telephoto for all the shots. First up was the head end power with the moored boats near the bridge
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Then a slightly wider shot, getting some of the docks closer to me in the frame
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And then to the 200mm end of the lens, a shot of the lead power passing by the new steel
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Followed by a zoom out to get the tail end crossing the drawbridge
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And one final shot of the trailing power passing the new west tower in its infancy
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With the gusty breeze coming off of the water, shots across the river weren’t really worth it – they’d be too distorted to be of any real use. So I packed the gear up and headed back to the office for the remainder of the day.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
