Pearl Harbor NR-2

Got out this morning for my walk & shooting, albeit a bit later than usual. I was hoping that the tardy start wouldn’t repeat the mishap of yesterday. Like what happened on Thursday, the radio was quite silent the entire trip north to Mill Cove. Not a word from the train, nothing from Worcester, not a marker chirp – nothing at all. It was slowly looking like a repeat of yesterday was on tap. So instead of stopping at Mill Cove, I continued north for a bit to see if I could figure out what was going on.

Just as I approached the intersection of Route 12 the scanner finally woke up and locked in on the P&W frequency. It sounded like NR-2 was dropping off NR-3 at Dow and getting ready to head south. A quick (and possibly legal) turnaround and I was headed back to Mill Cove.

I got into position at the south end of the cove just as the train was reporting to Worcester that they were clear of MP5. A couple moments later the train made their appearance at milepost 4, near the top of Mill Cove. First shot was of the train passing the mile marker as some birds set down in the cove

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Then as they came through the curve, the birds that had just landed in the water began taking off

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And a standard shot with the Harvard boat house in the background

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And AES Thames in Montville in the next shot

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A tight telephoto shot of the lead power and first car, along with their reflection

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At that point I swapped to the wide angle, hoping to get a shot of the lead power and reflection going over the inlet to the cove. I swapped lenses effortlessly, brought the camera to my eye, framed the shot and hit the shutter release. But nothing happened. A quick look at the back of the camera told me what happened – my jacket caught on the power switch while changing lenses and turned the camera off! Damn! As I flipped the camera back on, the lead unit went behind the trees. Oh, well, missed that one. Got a shot of the trailing power toting its reflection with the NRG Montville Cogeneration plant in the background.

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Then slightly tighter

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And a shot with the south coast of the cove leading to the train

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A vertical shot of the train heading for the trees

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And finally a tighter shot of the EMD with the last car heading out of view

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A quick trip south to the overlook south of the Amtrak drawbridge was in order. But listening to the scanner, it sounded like NR-2 would be held at Groton for a bit. So I got a shot of the US Coast Guard cutter Tahoma still moored in New London

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And the continuing work on the drawbridge replacement project

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Then called it a morning. Not a bad take for a short time out.

Don’t forget to remember what happened today in 1941 and thank those who gave their lives defending our country.  Same goes for the guys & gals out there now.

Thanks for looking!
Tom