Last week on the first of November I managed to catch New England Central train NERWNE (or #608 going by the old symbol) at a couple spots in southeastern Connecticut – first was with their usual freight in the late morning through Uncasville, and another with some ethanol in the evening light of Norwich bound for the Providence & Worcester. Both times the train had Florida East Coast GP40 #417 for power.
A late morning a hole in my schedule opened up, and not wanting to waste it I headed out to shoot a bit. Only problem is it was past the time P&W NR2 was usually through town, so I decided to see if I could find the New England Central somewhere. As I was heading north on Route 32 in New London I found my quarry over the radio – NERWNE was heading south out of Yantic.
I figured I’d have time to get up to Fort Shantok in Uncasville and get them heading south along the Thames River through the Mohegan Reservation.
I got up there, grabbed my gear, and headed down the hillside to the river and tracks. Looking at the rails, it seemed that they hadn’t come by yet. So I picked my spot and waited.
While waiting, I heard some noise across the river coming from the area of the P&W tracks. Looking over there, I saw a PW MoW crew working just south of the Mohegan-Pequot bridge.
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114803]OK, but where was NERWNE? A few moments later I heard some traffic on the scanner – it sounded like they were picking up a few hoppers up at Thamesville to bring down to AES in Montville. OK, they should be along any time.
After a bit of waiting, NECR NERWNE came into view to the north
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114802]Then I put down the digital, and squeezed off a few frames of Kodachrome (yes, I said K-chrome, as in film – I’ve got to use this roll up before the end of December to make sure it gets developed). With the chrome exposed, I grabbed the wide angle camera, and got a shot of them rolling past me
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114801]And a couple going away shots
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114800] [cpg_imagefixnormal:114799]Then as they rolled along the Thames past an old marina, I got a few more shots with some backlit fall foliage
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114798] [cpg_imagefixnormal:114797] [cpg_imagefixnormal:114796]Not a bad outing! After that I hiked up the hill and made my way back to the office.
Fast forward a few hours – while I’m getting ready to head out of work, someone posted that the NECR was pulling a loaded ethanol south out of Willimantic. I figured the timing might work out where I could catch them somewhere around Norwich. So I shut things down at the office and headed out.
While heading north, I tried to figure out where the best spot would be for me to catch them coming south. I though that somewhere around Norwichtown would be the best bet.
I got to the Benny’s parking lot just as the light was fading. So I grabbed my gear, and just as I was getting out of the car I heard horns to the north. Here they come!
A few moments later, they came into view
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114795] [cpg_imagefixnormal:114794]And a couple wider shots as they passed by me – first one with the Gorin’s Outlet in the background
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114793]And then with the setting sun
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114792]With that in the camera, I watched the tanks roll by, and when they cleared, I headed home.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
