I ended up squeezing in a bit of time this morning for my walk & photo session. Got some different stuff – a pair of hyrails (one on the P&W and one on the NECR), as well as catching Providence & Worcester train NR-2.
My first stop was Erickson Park on Mill Cove in Ledyard, CT. As per my normal routine, I grabbed my gear, and headed out for a walk. This time I not only brought my 20D along, I slung the Rolleiflex TLR around my neck. Why not? I just got a load of Fuji Provia 100F in from B&H yesterday. 🙂
As I was walking around the park, the P&W frequency came alive. Instead of the normal NR-2 chatter, there was a P&W hyrail heading south, and they were reporting that they were clear of MP5 and about 10 minutes out of the sub base. OK, that’s worth a shot. So I started looking at the angles around the park. As I was scoping out things, the Worcester dispatcher asked NR-2 where they were south of, and they reported MP17. Some quick math – I should be able to shoot the hyrail and head north to Stoddard Cove and catch NR-2. It’s worth a try…
A few minutes later, the sounds of rubber on steel rails started coming from the top of the cove. There appeared a red P&W pickup truck on the rails.
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Grabbed a shot of them passing by with the NRG Montville power plant in the background.
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I did get a shot with the TLR, but of course that’ll have to wait until I get the film processed and scanned. Stay tuned for that… Right after that, a speed boat was heading south in the Thames River alongside the hyrail.
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As the truck headed beyond view, I headed back for the car and made my way north.
As I pulled into the parking area of Stoddard Hill Park, something caught my eye across the river. It was an NECR hyrail across the river rolling north at near track speed. So I grabbed my gear and headed for the river’s edge. As I got there, the pickup made its way through Fort Shantok in Uncasville, framed by an anchored boat, and the top of the Mohegan Sun hotel.
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As with Mill Cove, I had my TLR with me, so I headed to the south end of Stoddard Cove for a wide view of the train heading across the causeway. Not more than a couple minutes after picking my spot did NR-2 report that they were south of MP11, about 3 miles to the north of me. Not much more time.
For this shot, I planned on doing a telephoto of the train getting onto the causeway, then switching to the TLR for a wide shot of the power rolling around the curve right in front of me. A couple minutes later, NR-2 made its way along the Thames, and into view.
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Then heading for the causeway.
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After this shot, the 20D hit my side, and the TLR’s waist level finder was flipped open. I lined up the shot, and as the train passed through the frame backwards (the image is inverted in a TLR’s finder) I tripped the shutter, barely hearing it. I got and returned a wave from the cab as the train passed by at track speed. I wound the camera and re-cocked the shutter just in time to get a shot of the trailing power rolling past me.
A quick move closer to the tracks led me to this shot to wind up the morning.
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Not too bad. From there it was back to the car and back to the office. I’ve got 4 frames left on the TLR, so maybe we’ll see how those came out next week. Stay tuned!
Thanks for looking!
Tom
