Well, today’s walk brought me to Erickson Park in Ledyard, hoping to catch Providence & Worcester train NR-2 heading south along the swolen Thames River somewhere mid-walk, and before the nasty looking skies above opened up. No such luck in the train department, but I did catch the New England Central and a bit later, a submarine (no, not of the sandwich variety) heading south, and the rain held off, most of the time.
I got to Erickson Park in Ledyard at my usual time, which typically preceeded the arrival of P&W train NR-2 by about 15 minutes – enough time to let me get some of my daily walk in. Well, today I grabbed my scanner & camera and did my normal walk. Only this time, there was no NR-2, nor any scanner chatter on the P&W frequency. At about 10 minutes of walking, I heard a horn – but it was an odd sounding horn. A minute later, I heard the NECR frequency come alive on the scanner – train #610 was switching the AES Thames power plant, across the Thames and a bit north of me. So I continued my walk until the chatter ceased, and the horns sounded again. This meant the train was now southbound, heading for New London yard. A couple minutes later, 610 made it’s appearance across the river, today simply as light engines.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:2810] [cpg_imagefixthumb:2809]
Just as 610 was heading out of view, the P&W frequency finally woke up. It was the dispatcher acknowledging that NR-2 had just left TAR (the south yard limits in Plainfield, CT). Damn, so that meant they were a good 40 minutes from my position at MP4. So after I finished up my half hour or so of walking, I decided to head back.
After I crossed back over to Military Highway south of the US Sub Base, I noticed something in the distance – an outbound submarine. So I figured I’d try to get ahead of her and watch her head out to sea. I pulled into the parking lot where I usually take my shots of the Thames River drawbridge, and watched the show. Some other folks were there photographing and videotaping the sub heading down the Thames (I spoke with them, but I don’t want to give any details about who they were – better safe than sorry), so I figured I’ll grab a couple shots. All I can tell is it’s a Los Angeles class fast attack sub. No idea of which one it is, though.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:2808] [cpg_imagefixthumb:2807]
[cpg_imagefixthumb:2806] [cpg_imagefixthumb:2805]
And as the boat slipped further south, I headed back to the parking lot and the office. Just as I was walking in, it started to drizzle – glad it didn’t while I was out walking. I didn’t have my umbrella with me!
Thanks for looking!
Tom
