Glorious sunshine. Had another day of blue skies and that bright orb in the sky that has been in such short supply lately. That coupled with a hole in my schedule this morning gave me the opportunity to head out and catch a little action. As things unfolded, I also fit a nice 100 yard dash through the brush into the mix for good measure.
I headed out a little later than usual, so instead of heading up Route 12 towards Mill Cove and beyond, I opted to go up Military Highway along the Thames River, just in case NR-2 was close by. As I turned onto Military Highway from Fairview Ave, I picked up a chirp on the scanner – OK, a train was close by. The question was – is it NR-2 or the New England Central across the river?
As I pushed north, the chirps got louder, but then I started picking up communications on the NECR frequency. OK, maybe it was 608 working their way north.
Just as I was pulling past the USS Nautilus overlook parking lot, I saw that the gates at the Sub Force Museum were down – oh, shit, NR-2 is right here! A quick turnaround in the parking lot, and I was off to my little spot just to the south.
After parking the car, I quickly grabbed my gear, and started sprinting down towards the track level. As I hopped over the guardrail, I could here the droning of GEs getting progressively louder. Will I make it down there in time?
As I rounded the bend, I could see NR-2 coming into view – damn, this is going to be close. Looks like the telephoto was out – the only problem is I just realized I never put the strap back on from last night shooting the fireworks. Once I got down there, I found a flat spot and set the 40D down on the ground and snapped a couple shots with the 20D of NR-2 passing by me.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9367] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9366]With that in the bag, I picked up the 40D and got a going away shot
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9365]Then a tighter shot with the exhaust distorting the view of the Gold Star Bridge in the background
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9364]Not bad for nearly missing the train all together! After that I figured I could wait for them to cross the Thames.
A little while later, they got the signal from the Amtrak New London dispatcher to head west and headed across the river
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9363] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9362] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9361]Just then Amtrak train 190 headed out the station. Since it had an AEM-7 for power (apparently they’re being phased out), I hung around and shot it crossing the river
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9360] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9359]By the time 190 crossed the Thames, NR-2 was already going through the New London station. So I opted for a couple really long shots from where I was standing.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9358] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9357]Then as NR-2 was rolling off of the Shaw’s Cove bridge, I packed up and headed back to the office.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
