OK, really, really corny title here, but it was damned cold today! I guess my brain is still frozen… Like an idiot, I braved the below zero wind chills along the Thames River, but I had company to share the stupidity…and trains.
Nick Palazini contacted me a couple days ago letting me know that he and David Telesha would be chasing Providence & Worcester train NR-2 out of Plainfield, and wondered if I’d like to meet up with them at Mill Cove. Well, you don’t have to ask me twice – especially since it’s been a while since I was out to catch NR-2. Nick told me he’d give me a call when they left TAR in Plainfield. That would give me enough time to get up to Mill Cove ahead of the train. Always nice having about a 60 minute heads-up on the train.
Nick made the call to me a little after 9, so I wrapped a few things up and headed out to meet up with them at Mill Cove. The entire trip up, like usual, the scanner was doing its job, but remained silent. That meant that NR-2 was still a ways off. Nick did mention they had a good sized train, so that was probably slowing up their progress…and perhaps they were going to stop in Norwich to do a bit of work before heading south.
I pulled in just after the pair got there, so we all piled into David’s car to get out of the cold and chat for a bit before the train’s arrival. After a little while, we caught a fragment of a transmission on the P&W channel – sounded like a brake test. A couple moments later, NR-2 reported they were south of MP12 and about 20 minutes out of the sub base. Perfect.
About 15 minutes later, the scanner woke up again – this time with the familiar chirp of the marker. So we piled back out of the car. Nick decided to shoot from Erickson Park, and David and I decided to head for the south end of the cove. But he decided to walk…hmmm, not a good move today. I got into the car, and made my way to the south end of the cove.
A couple minutes later, David’s car came around the bend towards me – he reconsidered his decision to walk. Smart kid… So we waited a bit there – still hearing the marker chirp. He spotted the source of it – NECR train 608 was working across the river at the AES Thames/Smurfit Stone complex in Montville.
A couple moments later, NR-2 reported that they were south of MP-5, then sounded for the crossing at Red Top. Here they come.
They rolled onto the causeway along Mill Cove into view.
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And stretched their longer train along the causeway and mostly frozen cove
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Next up was a standard shot at the south end of the cove
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After a bit – the rear power came into view. The crane is still moored at the Harvard Boat House, so I got a shot of it and the trailing power
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And a zoom in tight to get the trailing power, with some of 608’s train across the river.
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Had NR-2 come along about 10 seconds earlier, 608’s power was right there…oh, well, can’t win ’em all. So I got the standard shot at the south end of the cove
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As the train rolled out of view, I told David that I was headed for the overlook south of the Thames River drawbridge. They decided to follow along, and did so, despite a couple bent traffic laws…
We got there ahead of the train, and on the way I heard the Amtrak Shore Line dispatcher tell NR-2 that they’d be following 2159, an Acela. As we parked, 2159 hit the Midway detector a couple miles to the east. We’d only have to wait a few minutes for the Acela’s arrival.
Not much longer, the Acela made its way onto the bridge
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And across the moveable span, which now has nearly complete towers
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Not long after the Acela cleared the bridge, NR-2 made their way onto the Northeast Corridor. As NR-2 rolled across the bridge, I got a couple shots of Nick & David watching the action in the rather chilly conditions.
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Back to the telephoto, I got a shot of NR-2s trailing power crossing the drawbridge.
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At that point we bid farewell – they were going to try to catch 608 at some point across the Thames. And not having enough of the cold, I decided to stop at the parking lot across from Shaw’s Cove to get a few shots of NR-2 rolling through New London.
I got a few shots of the train rolling along across the river, and got a couple of the channel markers in the frame – caked with ice.
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That was enough…it was back into the car, and back to the office for a nice hot cup of coffee…
Thanks for looking!
Tom
