Another hot day was in store today, so I made sure I headed out for my walk this morning, and not over lunch when temps were forecast to be in the 90s. I got out at my usual time and headed back to Erickson Park. I got there in plenty of time – enough time for a good 20 minute walk, and then a quick setup for Providence & Worcester train NR-2s arrival.
With the lack of wind on this humid morning, Mill Cove was quite calm, with only a slight ripple on the surface. A quick look to the south of the cove, and I saw the same gentleman fishing off of the south abutment to the inlet of the cove that was there yesterday. I think a retake of yesterday was in order, except this time I’d like to get the lead power bearing down on the fisherman. So I picked my spot near the bridge that carries Military Highway over the inlet to Long Cove.
During my walk, Bob LaMay gave me a call from a bit further north – he was at Stoddard Cove. NR-2 was heading past him, and it looked like it had NR-3 tacked on the end – there was a pair of locomotives in the middle of the train – right behind a cut of cars for Tilcon. Interesting.
A few minutes later, NR-2 was blowing for the crossing at Red Top, and heading for the causeway between Mill Cove and the Thames River. What was odd is that it seemed like they were getting here awful quick and didn’t stop to drop off NR-3. Hmmm… Anyways, the water had a bit more of a ripple to it, but not too much, and still gave a decent reflection once the train appeared.
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Then I snapped off a frame with the Rolleiflex 6×6, and after winding the film, I dropped that around my neck, and grabbed the 20D with the telephoto to get a shot of the fisherman and the lead locomotive.
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Once I bagged that one, I swiveled back north for a shot of the end of the train. But what was odd was those locomotives in the middle of the train that Bob thought was the start of NR-3 were still there! Two on the point, two mid-train, and one on the rear. Interesting arrangement, which would become clear in a bit, and explains why they didn’t stop at Dow to drop off NR-3 – because it was all NR-2. Anyways, hre’s a shot of the mid-train locomotives.
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And a shot of the trailing locomotive rolling past the fisherman, still holding onto his hat.
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I think I snapped a couple Rollei shots too, but I can’t remember. I’ll find out when I get the roll back from the lab.
So from there, I headed south to Fairview. Maybe I could beat them there and get a few more shots. Well, today I got lucky with the stop lights – I hit green lights at both intersections at the south end of the Sub Base, so it was clear sailing once I got onto Military Highway south of the sub base. I overtook the train just after the first stop sign, giving me plenty of time to set up at the bottom of Fairview.
I grabbed a quick telephoto of the train heading my way.
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Then I snapped a few 6×6 frames of the passing train. One shot caught my eye that would work in black & white.
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After that, I shot the rest of the medium format roll and headed back to the office. And what it looked like happened with the locomotives mid-train is that the lead locomotives took the 20 cars to Tilcon in Groton, then came back light where they joined the rest of the train to head west to meet NH-1 in Old Saybrook. My guess is that some or all of those locomotives were heading for New Haven. But that’s just my guess…
Thanks for looking!
Tom
