P&W NR-2 in the Noreaster – 3/16/07

With the March nor’easter bearing down on us, I made sure I got out to catch Providence & Worcester train NR-2 running through the falling snow – while it lasted. The forecasters were saying it would be changing to sleet/freezing rain sometime later today, so the morning would be the best time to grab some final wintry shots of the train.

Today I got out a bit later than normal, hoping that the train would be close to their normal time. If that was the case, I should be able to make it up to Mill Cove and get some shots of them coming across the causeway in the snow. As I drove down Long Cove Road towards the water, I heard NR-2 call the Worcester dispatcher to report that they’re south of MP5. Damn, they were close, and I was behind a recycling truck on a windy road. Finally I was able to pass him and take a left onto Military Highway, heading to my overlook spot. As I turned, I looked up the tracks past Red Top and saw a trio of lights piercing the snow – talk about timing, they’re right here!

I pulled the car over, and got to my spot just as the train was hitting the curve to the north of the causeway, then passing the Harvard Boat House:

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But the odd thing today was the train was slowing down. They kept slowing down until they came to a complete stop at the inlet to the cove. This gave me a chance to get change lenses and get a couple different framings in the falling snow:

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Then I got back into the car and heard why they stopped – aparently there was a hyrail in front of them, so they only had permission to travel to MP3. As I got in the car, NR-2 was just getting a revision to their Form D as the hyrail had just arrived at Fairview, leaving the track ahead clear. So I turned around, and decided to head to the south end of Fairview Yard to grab some longer telephoto shots through the snow.

I got to Fairview well ahead of the train, and judging by the disturbed snow on the rails, the hyrail had also already passed. I made my way to my spot a bit north, and by the time I got there, the train was starting to enter the yard limits to the north.

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Then pulled past my position to do a little switching in the south end of the yard before heading onto Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. So I grabbed a shot of the trailing power, and decided to call it a morning

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Not a bad 20 minutes…

Thanks for looking!
Tom