Go west Amtrak – Head north P&W

Busy, busy morning around here, so I couldn’t get out to catch Providence & Worcester train NR-2 at my usual spot & time this AM. But I did have a little time after lunch where I could duck out and hope for something. What I got was a nice two-fer in the form of an Amtrak and Providence & Worcester NR-2.

As I was leaving the parking lot, of course with the scanner fired up monitoring Amtrak & P&W’s frequencies, I heard the Amtrak Midway detector go off for a train on Track 1. Typically track 1 carries the westbound trains, so that meant someone was going to be heading by in a couple minutes – that meant the first stop was south of the Thames River drawbridge in Groton. Not more than a minute after I parked the car, the westbound, an Amtrak regional, headed across the drawbridge.

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Not a bad catch for a quick, don’t check the schedule outing. Once I got back in my car, I heard a crackle over the scanner – NR-2 was talking to the Amtrak Shore Line dispatcher. The DS told him he’d have to hang on for a bit before he would let him head east and back onto home rails in Groton. So that was my cue to head north and get them on the Norwich Branch heading for Plainfield. I figured I could get ahead of him at Red Top and get them heading over the causeway between the Thames and Mill Cove.

I got to Red Top just as the train was coming into view to the south. So I picked a spot and bagged ’em heading north with a pair of cars bracketed by a pair of GEs

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As the train passed, a friendly wave was given from the cab, and I headed back to the car as they rolled out of sight to the north. Time to head back to the south and finish up the day.

Thanks for looking!
Tom