No, I’m not talking about Nickelodeon’s nighttime show lineup, but rather out shooting with fellow rail photographer Nick Palazini. Nick & I are working on a joint project for a magazine, and needed to go over some images on Sunday night. So after we were done, we figured we’d brave the weather (cold, windy with a mix of rain & snow) and head out to see if we could catch Providence & Worcester train NR-4 coming into Willimantic. Also in the picture should be a tied down New England Central NERWNE in South Windham – a prime subject for the Lumedyne. So we loaded up the gear in the car and hit the road to Willi to see what we could see in the dark.
On our way into the bustling metropolis of Willimantic, the scanner was dutifly listening to the P&W and NECR frequencies. As we drove along Pleasant Street, nothing was on the scanner at all. Since it was only about 7:45, we figured that NR-4 hadn’t come into town yet. So we headed down to South Windham to see if there was an NECR train tied down there.
Pulling into the driveway, we were greeted by the headlights of an idling NERWNE waiting for the NERWPA crew to come and take the train north. Well, I had the Lumedyne with us, so we figured it was worth the walk in to shoot the train idling away while its hedlight burned into the falling rain/snow mix.
The first shot, though, was completely absent of any flash. Just really struck me…
[cpg_imagefixthumb:8520]Then we let loose with a series of Lumedyne lit shots.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:8519] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8518] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8517] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8516]Satisfied with what we got there (and the fact that I forgot my gloves in the car, and it was pretty cold), we packed up and headed back to warm up, and to try to find NR-4.
So we headed east down Jerusalem Road, heading for the Scotland Dam to see if we could come across them. The first couple miles we could still pick up the marker on the stationary NECR train. But as we got to within a half mile or so of the Dam, we started picking up a marker chirp again – this time, getting progressively stronger on the scanner.
I figured a quick stop at the Scotland Dam was in order to see if we could spot the train skirting the Shetucket River to the west. But nothing was doing. As I walked back to the car, Nick opened up the window and said he heard another loud chirp on the scanner. Just then, I looked to the west, and saw the distinctive trio of headlights through the trees. After a quick decision, we both headed down towards the dam to try and get a quick shot. Well, that didn’t work out as planned, but at least we knew where the train was! Time to hightail it back to Willimantic.
After dismissing a couple of shots (one because it was boring, and another due to overhead wires), we set our sights on the spot by Pleasant Street, just south of the Frog Bridge. After setting up our gear, we only had to wait about 10 minutes for NR-4 to show up. Those didn’t turn out as well as I had planned so you don’t get to see them…heh…
While they were finalizing their switching in the yard, I got a shot of them pulling out from under the Frog Bridge with the Lumedyne, stopping the action.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:8515]Then we set up for another shot. But things were taking too long, so we figured we’d call it a night. As we were packing up, NR-4 rolled past us, and into the darkness. We did the same, and headed back to my house, where Nick began his trek back home. Overally, a pretty damned good evening, despite the cold, wind, snow & rain.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
