If you can’t tell by the title and the thumbnail photo, I caught some nice reflections of Providence & Worcester train NR-2 this morning. Also, NR-2 hat a flat car with some different markings (at least for this area), and an Acela entered the picture – quite unexpectedly I might add. It made for a nice ending for my usual morning walk and photo session.
With blue skies and calm winds, I figured I’d try to get up to MP7 and the small tidal pool on the eastern side of the P&W tracks. Hopefully it would be calm enough to give me some nice reflections of the passing train.
As I got to the parking area near MP7, the scanner came alive with some chatter – it sounded like NR-2 was doing some switching in Norwich yard. Perfect – that would give me plenty of time to get into position and prepare for NR-2’s arrival.
As I got to the bottom of the hill, a boat was heading south in the channel of the Thames River. So of course, I grabbed a shot of the Fritz heading south in the river.
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Then I started looking around for angles that would work. I was right about the tidal pool – it was as smooth as glass, and reflected the deep blue sky nicely. As I was nearing the water, I noticed that the tide was going out, and was quite low. Maybe I could brave the muck and head out a bit further than normal and get a more broadside shot this time.
As I was heading through the somewhat soft earth, I heard NR-2 sounding for the crossings near the old Norwich Hospital in Preston, just to the north. I settled on a spot, and selected the 18-50mm zoom instead of the 15mm fisheye – I was looking for a couple different framings, and wanted the flexibility of the zoom over the fixed prime lens.
A couple minutes went by, and the rumbling in the distance slowly grew louder until NR-2’s headlights pierced through the early morning shadows. My first shot was of the lead locomotive escaping the shadows of the trees, also with a nice reflection in the calm water
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Then a wider shot of the lead power, and the first part of a string of Tilcon hoppers
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Next up I figured I’d try out some longer exposures and get a blur of a train passing. First up was part of the Tilcon hoppers. I really like the way that the red of the hoppers contrast against the blue sky.
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Then some unusual cars came rolling along. No, not the covered coil steel car, but rather the uncovered flats with 2 or 3 coils of steel on them. So another blur shot of them
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After that I bumped the shutter speed back up, and flipped the aperture back to f/8 to get a shot of the coil cars before they passed. One thing I noticed after I shot it was the final car is an old Detroit, Toledo and Ironton car. Looking back, all of the flats were from CN owned roads – CN, GTW, IC and DT&I.
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Then I got a couple shots of passing boxcars
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And finally the trailing power
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As the train rolled south along the Thames, I carefully made my way out of the swampy area, and up the hill to my car. I caught up with NR-2 as they were entering Fairview yard and contacting the Amtrak Shore Line dispatcher. They were going to Midway in Groton, but would be doing the track 4 two step – heading down the west leg of the wye in Groton, over the Thames into New London, then when clearing the signals at the approach to the drawbridge, heading back east to Groton, and finally onto track 4. Amtrak’s been having problems with the switch on the east leg of the wye, so they’ve made this move a few times before.
I headed for the parking lot overlooking the Thames, and closest to the drawbridge for my first set of shots. With the doubleback move, that usually gives me enough time to shoot NR-2 from two different vantage points. While waiting for NR-2 to get the signal to head west, I got a shot of the ongoing concrete work on the west pier of the drawbridge
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And a shot of the east tower as it stands now.
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Moments after that, NR-2 began clawing their way onto the Northeast Corridor, and across the Thames River. Just as NR-2 got onto the bridge, a security boat from the Electric Boat Shipyard (a mile or so to the south of me) passed under the bridge. So naturally I got a shot with the two. Well, I got two shots.
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OK, I lied, I got three. Here’s a wider shot
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And a shot as the train continues west
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This time, I was watching for the DT&I flatcar.
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And to wrap things up at this location, I got a shot of the trailing power heading past the new tower
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As the train headed for the New London side of the river, I hopped back in the car and headed about a half mile south to another parking lot overlooking the Thames. Not long after I got there, NR-2 got permission from the Shore Line dispatcher to pass the stop signal and proceed east to Track 4 in Groton. As the formerly trailing unit, now on the point, passed by the concrete work on the west pier, I got a telephoto shot.
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And a wider shot of the train moving over the bascule span
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Then a bit wider, including the new tower and crane
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As the GE locomotive was pulling the train east, it scared a bunch of birds off of the eastern most span of the bridge
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Then I sat back and enjoyed the show until the lead power got onto the bridge. But that would soon be stopped – a familiar horn pierced the air just to the east of me. It sounded like a westbound Acela was heading for the bridge! Yep, here comes the Acela onto the bridge. I got a shot of them passing behind the coil cars
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Then of the power passing eachother
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And a wider shot of the two
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Finally a shot of the two trailing units parting ways on the lift span
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With the Acela out of the picture now, I got two more shots of NR-2’s now-trailing power heading for the Groton side of the river
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As the train got back onto terra firma, I got a shot of a ferry heading north past me
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Figured I started with a boat, I should end with one. Once I got that one, the camera hit the bag, and I hit the road for the office.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
