So this morning I had a bit of time in my schedule to head out and take advantage of the nice weather and go for a walk. I decided on trying to get up to a spot a bit north and hopefully catch Providence & Worcester train NR-2 along the way. Well, I did catch NR-2 when I did my walk – and at three other spots along the way. Oh, yeah, and they did a little something out of the ordinary in Groton too. Glad I had the scanner on, or I would have missed it for sure. Keep reading to see what I’m talking about.
I headed out a little later than usual, so I wasn’t sure where I’d be able to catch NR-2, but I set my sights on Stoddard Cove in Ledyard – may as well aim for what I wanted. As I was rolling north approaching ast the Sub Base, I heard NR-2 report to the Worcester dispatcher that they were south of MP13. OK, I think I should be able to just make it up to Stoddard in time to catch them.
A little bit later, I pulled into the parking area of Stoddard Cove and parked the car. Just as I was gathering my gear, I heard a faint marker chirp on the scanner, indicating that NR-2 was a mile or two away. Time to get my ass out of the car and into position.
Next was to decide on where to shoot from. Should I take a chance and walk down the causeway, or stick around the boat launch area? Just as I was contemplating that, I began to hear a growing low frequency rumble. Could that be NR-2? Well, if so, I’d never make it down the causeway, so the boat launch it was!
Just as I found an angle I liked, with a pair of swans in the frame, NR-2 came into view on the north end of Stoddard Cove.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9324] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9323] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9322]But there was something odd – they weren’t going all that fast. Maybe there was still trackwork going on around here, and they were under a speed restriction. OK, if that’s the case, I could probably beat them down to Mill Cove. I figured it was worth a try.
I got to Mill Cove about 30 seconds before NR-2 called south of MP5 – perfect timing! So I rattled off a few shots of the passing freight.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9321] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9320] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9319] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9318]With the train still plodding along, I thought I might as well tempt fate and try to catch them at the USS Nautilus. So back into the car I went, and headed south to try and leapfrog NR-2 again.
Well, I got stuck at the traffic light at the Sub Base & USS Nautilus – as I was sitting at a red light, NR-2 rolled in front of me. So a shot at the Nautilus was out. OK, I could get ahead of them at the bottom of Fairview yard, making that my next stop. So a left onto Military Highway, and I sailed right past the Nautilus overlook park (and Mark Shenking who just bagged NR-2 there) on my way to Fairview.
I got there just as the train was entering the yard limits, but just as I was parking I heard something odd on the scanner. NR-2 was talking with the Amtrak New London dispatcher, and mentioned that they’d be wyeing one engine. Interesting… With that little tidbit of information, I headed trackside and got a few shots of NR-2 rolling past me.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9317] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9316]From there, it was time to head over to the old New Haven SS-119 tower. While waiting there, Amtrak 190 crossed the Thames and headed past the old tower (which is slated for demolition sometime in the future).
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9315]After a bit of a wait while the crew seperated the two engines, one of them came down the west leg of the wye
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9314]Then crossed in front of the tower
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9313]And came up the east leg of the wye (this is from the Fairview Ave. bridge)
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9312]Then Rod lined the switch for them to couple this engine onto the train
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9311] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9310]Then Rod hoped aboard the south facing engine to bring it back to the rest of the consist.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9309] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9308] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9307] [cpg_imagefixthumb:9306]After everything was tied back up, the crew got back on board and headed south.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:9305]At that point I had to bid Mark a farewell and call it a morning – I was running out of time, and hell, I bagged them at four different spots within 8 or so miles of each other. Not a bad morning at all.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
