P&W by day, CNZR by night

Was able to get a two-fer in on Friday – one under daylight, and one under cover of darkness.  I caught Providence & Worcester train NR-2 in the morning, then later that night, I shot the Central New England Railroad’s equipment in Scantic, CT, of course with the help of my Lumedyne flash setup.

Friday morning started out a bit rough – I ended up getting up late and heading out of the house behind schedule.  But as has happened before, sometimes the timing works out to catch NR-2 on the way into work.  So this time I opted to head into work down Route 12.  But as I was heading out of Lebanon, and into Franklin, NR-2 reported that they were southbound out of Plainfield.  OK, so they were running late too.  I’ll stick with the Route 12 plan.

The entire trip south was met with silence from the scanner – not even the usual acknowledgment of the Jewett City detector.  Odd…but still it was worth the extra couple minutes drive time to head down the east bank of the Thames instead of the usual run down the western side and Route 32.

By the time I got to Groton, I still hadn’t heard a word from NR-2.  So I figured I’d swing by Burger King, grab a bit of breakfast, and head into work.  Well, after I got my meal, and started back down the road, the scanner woke up.  NR-2 reported that they were south of MP12 and about 15 minutes from the base.  Cool, I think I can make it back up to the cove for a couple quick shots before I head into the office.  So back up Route 12 it is…

I got to Mill Cove just as NR-2 reported that they were south of MP5 – perfect timing!  So I grabbed my cameras – the 40D with the telephoto, and the 20D with the wide angle – and got a series of shots as the train rolled past.  A couple interesting things though – first, Rod was back on the job, and second, the train once again had power on both ends.  The past couple months, the power had been up front only – not sure why the change.  Anyways, here’s the shots.

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And that was it.  As I passed by them at Fairview, they were starting to switch Spicer Gas, so there was no sense in me sticking around.  Especially since I was already behind schedule…

Fast forward to late evening.  After we put the kids to bed, I had to take a ride into Manchester to pick up some feed for the horse.  Since the grain co-op where I get the feed from is a customer of the Connecticut Southern Railroad, and they sometimes switch them at night, I brought the camera and Lumedyne gear with me.  Hey, you never know what you might run into…

So I get to the mill, and there’s no train in sight.  So I get my feed and start to drive out.  Well, I figured that since I already had my gear loaded up, I might as well take a quick ride to the north west and shoot the CNZR in East Windsor.  So off to Scantic I was.  Hey, I just picked up a 200 watt/second booster for the Lumedyne rig, doubling the light output of what I’ve got.  So I had to break it in properly, right?

I got up there, and the usual was there – the pair of RS-1s.  So after putting things together, and donning my gloves, I headed into the darkness.  I tried to mix things up a bit and not shoot the same stuff I did when Nick Palazini and I headed out there a few weeks ago.  So here’s the shots I came away with Friday night.

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After a couple hours there, I packed up and headed back to the house.  Hey, that grain in the back of the truck wasn’t going to unload itself, and it was near midnight by the time I got home.

Thanks for looking!
Tom