Well, back to normal on Friday. Spent the first 4 days of the week at an offsite department meeting (yes, a 4 day meeting…at least it was in Atlantic City), so I was really jonseing for some train action. So despite the pouring rain, I headed out to try and catch Providence & Worcester train NR-2 somewhere along the Thames River in Ledyard, CT. But where should I go? Like usual, that would be determined by the scanner. But today, something else played into my decision making. Something that usually doesn’t help me make decisions – flowers.
Walking to the car made me start to second guess my decision to head out in the bad weather, but that thought really didn’t last too long. It’s been a while since I headed trackside for some shots. So I climbed into the dry confines of the car, put my umbrella away and switched the scanner on.
On the way north, I didn’t pick anything up on the whereabouts of NR-2. So I figured they were still quite a bit north of me – I had time to explore and decide where I’d shoot from today. I set my sights for Erickson Park and Mill Cove.
As I pulled into the parking area, the rain began to slow – at least I wouldn’t have to stand in the pouring rain. Well, that is if NR-2 came by. So I grabbed my scanner, and started looking around the park. If I remembered correctly from last year, the park sported numerous dogwood trees, lilac bushes, wild roses and other flowers. Maybe some of these would be in bloom.
While walking around a dogwood caught my eye. So I headed that way to check it out. The angles worked nice, and I could even incorporate a moored boat into the shot, but there was one thing I didn’t like. With the overcast sky, the white dogwood blooms just blended into the sky. Had it been a blue sky, that would have been the shot. So I kept looking.
Just then, NR-2 reported that they were south of milepost 12, and about 20 minutes from the sub base. OK, now the clock was ticking. I figured I had a good 15 minutes to figure out where I was going to shoot from. The walk continued.
At the north end of the park, I found a lilac bush along the water. Hmmm, I could use that, and put the train in the background. But with the drab lighting, the flowers were quite dark. So I headed back to the car to get my camera gear, including a flash.
I took a couple test shots of just the lilac blooms.
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A few moments later, I heard horns to the north – NR-2 was heading through Dow Chemical, putting them a couple minutes from me.
I set the camera and flash, changing to the wide angle, and took a quick test shot. Looked good on the LCD. Just then, NR-2 started sounding for the crossing at Red Top. And at the same time, the skies started to open up – here comes the rain.
A moment later, NR-2 passed behind the lilac bush, so I got a shot of the flowers in the foreground, with NR-2s locomotives blurred in the background.
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Not bad! No power on the back end of the train, so I headed down to Fairview.
I got there just as the train was entering the yard, so stupid me stood out in the rain, getting a few shots of the train rolling through the yard.
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On the way by, Rod gave a wave through the window…at least he was keeping dry.
I hit the parking lot to the south of the Thames River drawbridge, and caught a shot of Amtrak Acela train #2150 heading over the the drawbridge span
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Listening to the scanner, it sounded like NR-2 would be waiting for 2159, which was quite a ways off. So I got a shot of a new family of geese having a morning snack
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And a tugboat heading under the partially open drawbridge.
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After that, I dried off the camera gear, and myself, and headed back to the office for the remainder of the rainy day.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
