In a fog Monday morning

Pea soup on Monday morning. Yep, a foggy start to the week, but that didn’t really keep me from heading out and trying to catch some rail action. I did get lucky, though – caught New England Central train NERWNE heading back north in Waterford & Montville, then bagged Providence & Worcester train NR-2 rolling through Ledyard. And of course I threw in a few shots of the work still going on at the Thames River drawbridge. Yep, they’re still taking apart the counterweight on the old bascule span – the replacement of the span is on hold indefinitely due to the problems they’re having, according to Amtrak.

The trip out of the parking lot started like usual, with the scanner doing its thing watching the P&W, Amtrak & NECR frequencies. As I left the parking lot, something odd happened – I started hearing traffic on the NECR frequency. Was NERWNE down this way? It kinda sounded like it, but was NR-2 in the area too?

I started up my usual route, heading north on Military Highway along the P&W, still listening to the scanner. NECR was definitely switching over in New London, but the P&W frequencies were still silent. By the time I got to the Sub Base, I decided to turn around and head for New London. At least I’d get a couple shots of the NECR.

After crossing the bridge, I set my sights on the yard in New London. But as I was making a turn onto Crystal Ave. I heard the train tone up the dispatcher. Damn, that only meant one thing – they were northbound out of the yard. A moment later, St. Albans answered NERWNE, and the crew gave the dispatcher their times and car counts in and out of New London. Came in with one load, and were leaving as light engines. Hey, at least it was something. Some quick math in my head told me my best bet for a shot was Smith Cove in Waterford. So I headed up Route 32 and waited a minute or so before I heard horns to the south. A moment later, a pair of NECR blue & gold GP38s rolled onto the trestle spanning the inlet to Smith Cove. You can barely make out the US Navy Sub Base through the fog in the background.

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With nothing still on the P&W frequency, I figured I’d bag WNE one more time – at least I’d come away with a few decent shots of the engines rolling north.

That one time would be at milepost 5, a bit below the AES Thames power plant, which is where they were most likely working next. I got there a couple minutes before the train, so I looked around a bit. I figured first a telephoto was in order, then as the train passed by, I’d switch to the wide angle for a shot with the Montville Generation plant in the background.

A couple minutes later, a trio of headlights appeared from the treeline in the distance. NERWNE pulled up to a slight grade.

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Then another tele shot as they passed by MP 5

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Switching to the wide angle as the train rolled past me, I got a going away shot with a reflection of the trailing unit in the puddle

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And the final shot with the power plant in the background.

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Not too bad.

At this point, the P&W frequency was active – it sounded like NR-2 was working Norwich yard. OK, they were in the picture now, but it didn’t sound like they were on their way quite yet. I thought it was worth a shot to get back across the river and over to Mill Cove to catch them rolling south. So it was back to the Gold Star and Groton.

As I pulled off of I-95 and onto Military Highway, NR-2 reported that they were done in Norwich and south of MP12, putting them 15 minutes from the Sub Base. Perfect timing! That should get me to the Cove a couple minutes ahead of NR-2.

Right on cue, a couple minutes after I got to Erickson Park, NR-2 reported that they were south of MP5. So I moved down to the south end of the cove to get into position.

As I got there I noticed a rather large gaggle of Canada geese walking near me. Hmmm, would they stick around so I could incorporate them into a shot? We’ll see…

First up was a standard shot of the train coming around the bend at the north end of the cove

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The switching to vertical, I managed to get one shot of a couple geese with NR-2 in the background.

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Then the leading and trailing power crossing the inlet to Mill Cove

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Just a note – it took a while between these two shots. They had a good sized train – I didn’t count, but I’d guess a good 25-30 cars.

On my way south, again listening to the scanner, I heard the Amtrak Shore Line dispatcher notify NR-2 that they’d have to wait for a couple regionals before heading west. A look at the watch told me I was pretty much out of time. So I got a couple quick shots of the work on the Thames River drawbridge before heading back to the office.

First is the west tower, which is where the holdup is happening. They’re still having issues removing the old concrete counterweight.

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Then a closeup showing the excavator working on chipping away the counterweight

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And a bit wider

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And finally a shot of the heavy lift crane barge waiting in the wings, or in this case, the fog

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Then it was back to the office for the day.

Thanks for looking!
Tom