Another hazy & humid day in southeastern Connecticut today, but that didn’t stop me from heading out this morning for my usual. A couple things, though, would veer today off of the “usual” path – no, I didn’t have any run-ins with any sort of law enforcement over photography in public places. Just a good morning, of course including some decent photography.
Last night I got an email from Adam Twombly that he and his mom Kathy would be heading out to Mill Cove this morning to shoot Providence & Worcester train NR-2, then head to New London station for a little more photography. So that would be my destination for my morning walk.
I got there a touch earlier than normal so we could chat a bit before the trains arrival. As I pulled in, the Twomblys were already there eagerly awaiting the arrival of NR-2. We talked for a bit, then were interrupted by the scanner – NR-2 was south of MP12 and about 15 minutes out of the sub base. That gave us about 12 minutes before he got to our position – plenty of time to find an angle. So we went and picked our spots around Erickson Park. I opted for a shot looking up the eastern shoreline with the causeway carrying the tracks behind a moored boat. Adam & his mom opted to head to the boat launch for a water-side shot. As NR-2 sounded for the crossings at Dow Chemical, we went our seperate ways in anticipation of the train’s appearance.
Moments later, louder horns were heard – this time for the crossing at Red Top, and then NR-2 appeared from behind the foliage at MP4
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And a shot with the trio of GEs on the point
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From my position about halfway down the embankment, I headed for the top and got a going away shot of the train heading for the south end of Mill Cove
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Seeing where the Twomblys were standing, I figured on a shot with them in it as the train passed by. So I quickly walked down to the boat launch, all the while swapping out the telephoto in favor of the 15mm fisheye. I snagged a shot of the two, while Adam was getting his shot of the passing train.
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After I bagged that one, I threw the telephoto back on for a final shot of NR-2s trailing power at the south end of the cove.
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At that point we bid farewell – I was heading back south, and they were aiming for the New London Amtrak station for some more railfanning.
On my way south, I decided to head to the parking lot on the river to see what’s going on. Listening to the scanner, NR-2 was about to head over to Midway with 20 loads for Tilcon, and the drawbridge was open to sea traffic. But the one thing that caught me as odd was something on the frequency that the bridge tender uses to communicate with the marine traffic. A sailboat to the north of the drawbridge told the bridge tender that he’ll wait to the north of the bridge for the northbound traffic, and will wait for the next opening. I looked around and saw nothing in the river – well at least down to just north of the Electric Boat shipyard, which is about as far south as I can see from here. Odd – no northbound traffic. My gut said “hang around.” So I did.
Not more than 30 seconds later, a US Coast Guard patrol boat – complete with a manned (and presumably locked and loaded) .50 caliber machine gun on the bow – came tearing up the channel to the drawbridge. That meant only one thing – an inbound submarine.
A minute later a slow-moving Virginia class submarine, with two tugboats helping her along, came up the channel. What was out of the ordinary was that there was scaffolding around the sail, and over part of the bow, and she was running on diesel power. That meant that she was most likely the newest Virginia class sub – the USS North Carolina (SSN 777). So I snapped a series of shots as she headed north past me, and through the open drawbridge.
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As the sub quietly headed through the drawbridge, I packed up and headed the rest of the way south to the confines of my office. Let me rephrase that – I headed back to the confines of my nice air conditioned office. 🙂
Thanks for looking!
Tom
