October 1st – An experiment at Stoddard Cove

Last Thursday a new month began, and I wanted to start it off by trying something a little different.  What I had in mind would be pretty easy to do up at Stoddard Cove.  So I headed out a bit earlier than normal to give myself time to make the hike out into position, and to get my gear ready.  Read on for the details…

Well, what I was aiming for was to get a nice blur shot of a truck rolling over a joint bar – don’t ask, but there’s a method to my madness – this is an experiment for another project.  So when I got to Stoddard, I not only grabbed my cameras, but also my tripod.  With all of that, and my scanner in hand, I walked out to the little bridge that spans the inlet to Stoddard Cove.

On my way out, NR2 reported that they were south of MP12 and about 20 minutes from the sub base.  That would give me plenty of time to set up before NR2 traversed the 3 or so miles between us.

I set up on the east side of the tracks, pointing the 50D and 18-50mm lens, all the way out at 18mm at the joint bar sitting there.  Not long after that, horns from the north echoed down the Thames Valley, announcing NR2s arrival into the area.  Soon after that, they appeared to the north in Preston

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After a few moments, they came into view, and just before I started snapping away with the 50D on the tripod, Don gave a hearty wave out of the window as they rolled past me.  And about midway through their train, I got this shot – kinda what I was aiming for.

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After they were south of me, I got one going away shot

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But I wasn’t done with that.  They had to slow down to the south, probably for some fishermen, and as they began to come back up to speed, both engines were throwing a bit of smoke.  The head end

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Then the entire train

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Pretty satisfied with what I got, I walked back to the car, and headed to the office for the rest of the day.  I’d say the experiment was a success – I’ve got a couple more ideas to hopefully perfect what I’m looking to do.  Stay tuned for that…

Thanks for looking!
Tom