No, I’m not going to bore you with a philosophical diatribe about my reflections about railroading and more specifically the Providence & Worcester railroad. But rather I’m going to be a bit more literal here – Mill Cove in Ledyard, CT was quite calm and gave up some very nice reflections of P&W train NR-2 as they rolled along the causeway between the cove and the Thames River. And as for part two of the title, you’ll just have to read on…
I got out for my walk this morning a bit later than usual, and with no scanner chatter, I took a chance and headed for Mill Cove in Ledyard, CT to try to catch P&W train NR-2. As I got to the bottom of Long Cove Road, the body of water greeted me with a very smooth surface, just begging for a train to come along so it could return a a nice reflection. A look at the trees told me that I might get my wish – there was hardly a breath of air moving, which meant the glass-like water would remain that way for a bit. Well, at least until the sun got a bit higher and triggered some convection.
So I pulled into the parking lot at Erickson Park, grabbed my scanner and began my usual walk around the park. Not more than a couple minutes into my walk the scanner began talking – NR2 was reporting to the Worcester dispatcher that they were south of MP5! Holy crap, they were right on top of me! So a quick sprint back to the car, and a quick ride to the south got me to my spot just as NR-2 was sounding for the crossing at Red Top. I grabbed the camera, and ran up the hillside to get a better angle. I got into position just in time to meter the scene, make a quick exposure adjustment, and begin shooting NR-2 hitting the causeway.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4398]
Then a shot with the entire train visible, and an ever so subtle ripple on the water
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4397]
Next up was a trio of shots, that get progressively wider as the train continues south
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4396] [cpg_imagefixthumb:4395] [cpg_imagefixthumb:4394]
And a staple of mine – a shot of the power crossing the inlet bridge, giving an nice reflection in the south end of the cove.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4393]
That was followed by a couple shots of the trailing power. First was a tight telephoto of the trailing power, and the P&W “supergon”
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4392]
And another of the trailing unit crossing the inlet at the south end of the cove
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4391]
From there, I made my usual move to the south of the Thames River drawbridge. I stopped at the first spot closest to the bridge and got a telephoto shot of the concrete work continuing on the west pier
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4390]
Then a shot of the east tower nearing completion
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4389]
Next the fisheye was put on for a wide shot getting the entire bridge in the frame
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4388]
And back goes the telephoto for a horizontal shot of the concrete work
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4387]
Then a fishing boat caught my eye. He crossed under the Gold Star then the Amtrak bridge, and began to circle around a buoy, then grabbing it to hoist whatever was below into the boat.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4386]
As they were doing that, I heard a familiar rumble – Amtrak train 171 was moving onto the bridge from the Groton side of the Thames. So the natural shot was one of 171 and the fishing boat
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4385]
A closer look at the guys in the fishing boat still didn’t give me a clue as to what they were doing. But it looked like they were cleaning off the line below the buoy.
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4384]
NR-2 still wasn’t moving, so I decided to head to the next overlook just to the south. As I climbed in the car, the P&W channel woke up with a “here we go” call. Of course, as I’m on my way out, they start moving. But I got lucky, the engineer asked the rear unit to give him a push – that should give me enough time to head downriver a bit to the next spot.
I got there as NR-2 was making their way past the signal, so I got a shot of the tower from this more southerly angle
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4383]
Then NR-2 headed onto the bridge
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4382]
And past the ongoing work
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4381]
Of course, I had to work the fishing boat into this shot too
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4380]
And one final shot of the trailing power heading for the work area
[cpg_imagefixthumb:4379]
It was time for me to pack up and head back to the office for the rest of the day.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
