Rainy day on the rails

On rainy days, quite a few rail photographers would rather not leave the house instead of getting out and shooting. Well, I’m not one of them – the railroads run in all weather, and I shoot in all weather. This past Friday (April 4th) was no different – the only thing different about it was instead of my usual vantage point of being trackside, I was riding along with the train crew for a portion of their shift.

I was lucky to ride with the crew of New England Central train #610 for a few hours on Friday afternoon. I got down to the new crew base in South Windham – known as “Falluja” to the crews since the site is a former sand pit and loosely resembles the Iraqi desert – with the engineer Joe. After slogging through the mud, and into the crew office, we chatted for a bit while waiting for his conductor to arrive.

A few minutes later, Eric stepped into the trailer, and after introductions went around, the pair got to work preparing for their evening on the rails.

As Eric was going over the paperwork, Joe and I headed out to the train. Joe unlocked the cab, and we put our gear in the dry confines of the GP-38’s cab. After that Joe began his initial inspection of the power, and I started doing my thing – taking pictures.

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The power today was the NECR 3853 – the aforementioned GP-38 – and the RMPX 9457 – a former Canadian National GP40 widecab. First up a few of the 9457:

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And now the NECR geep:

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A little while later, Eric finished up in the office and joined us on the train. Then it was time to contact the dispatcher to get the paperwork set up for the trip north. 610 usually works from South Windham to Palmer, MA and return, handling the P&W interchange in Willimantic, and all customers between South Windham and Palmer. Here’s a couple shots of Joe copying a Form D from the dispatcher.

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Once the paperwork was completed, we got under way. First up was to switch out the P&W interchange in Willimantic yard. But first a few shots along the way.

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And here we are in Willimantic yard, where Eric gets off to direct the moves.

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Looking back along the train

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And getting artsy-fartsy as we roll past the cars that P&W train NR-4 left Thursday night

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Approaching Bridge Street

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And looking back at Bridge Street

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FYI, the tracks coming off of the main is the lead to the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum.

OK, now another odd shot of the conductor’s paperwork hanging on his side of the cab

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And looking back down the train with the Windham Town Hall in the background

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Now shoving back into the yard, and across Bridge Street

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After cutting the cars off, Eric brought us back onto the P&W track to grab one last car

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For the next few minutes, we continued to switch out the interchange traffic, and prepare the train for the trip north. Once everything was done, we headed north. And on the way out of Willimantic, we of course passed by the CERM. Here’s a shot of us rolling past the museum’s ex-New Haven FL-9

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Along the way, I got a few different angles, from within the cab, to outside in the rain. Here’s a few between Willimantic and Mansfield.

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And a couple near Eagleville Dam

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As we rolled past DiSiato Sand & Gravel, I got a trio of number board shots. The last two of the three were done with a longer exposure to blur the background as we rolled past.

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A little further north, we rolled through Mansfield Depot, and I got a shot of the old caboose that’s still standing at the site of the old Mansfield Depot Restaurant, which burned down a few years ago.

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And a series of shots along the way between Mansfield Depot and Willington

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Next up was Stafford Springs, and a series along the river

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Then down by the Speedway

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Heading further north, I got a shot of the old trolley bridge abutments in the woods, which with the gloomy day, have a kind of Cambodia feel to them…

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And finally we get to where I’d be getting off – State Line siding. Along the way, there’s a person who has a bunch of old junk vehicles in his back yard along the tracks.

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At that point, I got my gear together, bid the guys farewell, and stepped off of the power. As Joe prepared to head out, I grabbed a shot of the train.

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And a final going away shot of the train crossing Route 32, now on the Massachusetts side.

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As the train rolled past, I got in the car and headed out to dinner with my wife & daughters. Not a bad afternoon in the crappy weather.

Thanks for looking!
Tom