“What the hell is he talking about now?” is what you’re probably thinking. Read on and you’ll find out for yourself.
I headed for Erickson Park for my walk today, so I took my usual route up Military Highway along the Thames River. As I was passing by the parking lot to the Nautilus Overlook Park, something caught my eye. It was the Nautilus itself, except it wasn’t obscured by branches and underbrush. Yep, the Town of Groton decided to clean things up at the scenic overlook! I pulled into the lot, parked & had a look around. Yep, the northern end of the park was looking pretty good. I guess I’ll head back here for my shot of NR-2 after my walk. The silence of the scanner infered that I’d have enough time to do just that. So it was back into the car for the short ride to the Gales Ferry section of Ledyard.
During my walk, my scanner and camera came with me. A couple flowers grabbed my attention, so of course I snapped some pictures.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:3372] [cpg_imagefixthumb:3371]
As I was finishing up my walk, the scanner woke up with the sounds of P&W train NR-2 getting their Form D extended from MP6 to Fairview. OK, so that put the train a couple miles north of me – that should give me enough time to get back down to the Nautilus park before the train arrived.
Well, it did – I got to the park a couple minutes ahead of the train. I picked out a spot where I could use some of one of the freshly pruned trees as a frame around the scene. A minute or so later, the crossing at the Nautilus activated, and NR-2 appeared.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:3370]
Then I moved a bit south for another similar angle of the trailing power
[cpg_imagefixthumb:3369]
And a quick swing around got a shot of them heading through the uncut portion of the park.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:3368]
I’m not sure if the town is done with their work, or they intend to keep at it. I’ll have to check back on Monday.
Anyways, as I headed south on Military Highway, NR-2 contacted the Amtrak Shore Line dispatcher and informed them that they needed to grab a car from Fairview and would be ready to head west to the NECR in about 15 minutes. The dispatcher infomred NR-2 that they may be able to squeeze in ahead of a track car heading west and an Acela heading east. So I figured I’d head for my overlook south of the Thames River drawbridge.
When I got there, a family of Canada geese were by the edge of the parking lot out for a stroll and a little breakfast. So I grabbed their pictures. I’d like to think that this first one the goose is wondering when the train is going to show up.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:3367]
And a couple of the family
[cpg_imagefixthumb:3366] [cpg_imagefixthumb:3365]
Then a fisherman came speeding up the Thames
[cpg_imagefixthumb:3364] [cpg_imagefixthumb:3363]
Just then the scanner came alive again – NR-2 was ready to head west. The dispatcher then called the track car to get their position. They were about a half mile east of Groton interlocking, so Shore Line informed NR-2 that they’d have to wait for both Acelas before heading west. Oh, well, I didn’t have time to wait for that to happen, so I called it a day.
But before I actually hit the road, this little gosling walked past, so I had to take his portrait.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:3362]
Thanks for looking!
Tom
