This past Monday morning I was able to get out for a nice walk under some beautiful blue skies. And as things worked out, Providence & Worcester train NR-2 and a loaded coal barge were in the mix as well. Everyone says Mondays suck, but with a Monday like this past one, I don’t agree. Well, OK, Mondays may suck a little…
So I got out at pretty much the normal time and made my way north to figure out where I’d head out. My schedule dictated that I couldn’t go much further north than Stoddard Hill in Ledyard, so I aimed for that area. While driving, of course, the scanner was doing its thing, and was being quite silent for most of the trip. But as I passed by the MP7 area, it came alive with NR-2 reporting that they were south of MP12 and about 15 minutes from the sub base. That meant I could make it to Stoddard Hill in time!
I did get to Stoddard with plenty of time to spare, so I hiked out to a little spot that juts out into the Thames, giving a nice view up the causeway that seperates the Thames from Stoddard Cove. After about 10 minutes, a trio of headlights twinkled through the trees to the north, and was followed by horns echoing down the Thames Valley. Not long after that, NR-2 came into view a little more than a mile up the river, in Preston.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:8982]And now with most of the train in Ledyard, they appeared from behind Stoddard Hill
[cpg_imagefixthumb:8981]Then finally across the causeway
[cpg_imagefixthumb:8980] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8979]After a little while – the train was a good 30-40 cars long – the tail end rolled over the causeway
[cpg_imagefixthumb:8978]I figured what the hell, and I stuck around for another couple minutes as NR-2 continued south. I got a really long shot of the tail end of the train rolling along the Thames
[cpg_imagefixthumb:8977]With that shot in the bag, I made my way back to the car. I figured I had my fill for the morning – well, that and I had to get back to the office fairly soon.
But of course, something caught my eye on the way in. No it wasn’t a train. It was a loaded coal barge heading north to the AES Thames power plant in Montville. So of course I took a few minutes and photographed it heading north past the Garbo Lobster parking lot.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:8976] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8975] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8974] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8973] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8972] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8971] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8970] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8969] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8968]A quick check of the watch told me I was still good to go with my schedule, so I packed things up and headed back to the office for the day. Most definitely not a sucky Monday.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
