Well, today I did something a bit different. I headed down to the shore line to catch some AM action on Amtrak. Well, I got an email from a friend that the Providence & Worcester would be running an extra from New Haven to New London with some traffic for the New England Central Railroad. So despite the crappy weather this morning, I headed south for some shooting. Hey, at the very least, I’d get some Amtrak action.
I got on the road fairly early and got to Niantic a little before 8am to see the drawbridge still open to river traffic. Well, I guess nothing was due anytime soon. Listening to the radio, I found out that the drawbridge would be open for about another 20 minutes. So that gave me enough time to finish my bagel sandwich and get over to the drawbridge.
Not long after I got over to the bridge, I could hear faint horns to the east. A westbound was coming across the Miners Lane crossing in Waterford. A minute or so later, an Amtrak regional came across the drawbridge.
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I slowed things down, and got a blur shot of the tail end of the train crossing the bridge
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A switch to the telephoto gets a shot of the train through the mist, rolling along the Niantic Bay Boardwalk
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With the drawbridge still down, I wasn’t sure if another train was due. So I hung around to see what was happening.
In the meantime, a boat was heading out from under the drawbridge
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And once outside of the no wake zone, sped up, heading for the Long Island Sound
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Not long after the boat headed out, the drawbridge began to open. I got a shot of the opening bridge with a spent firework brick in the foreground.
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After that, I headed out to check out other angles around town, still listening to the scanner for any sign of the P&W extra. Still nothing. Oh, well.
While looking around, the drawbridge began to close again. So I made my way back to the beach on the east side of the river.
After the bridge closed to river traffic, that boat from earlier returned.
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Guess it was a short fishing trip…
A few minutes later, a westbound Acela headed for NAN, and I used the spent fireworks as a prop again.
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And the trailing power car
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Then a telephoto shot across Niantic Bay
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About 10 minutes later, an eastbound regional rolled along the Niantic Bay Boardwalk
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Then across the drawbridge
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Not long after the regional cleared, the drawbridge opened for river traffic. But still no sign of the P&W extra. So I figured I might head west to see if a change of scenery would make a difference. I set my sights on the Connecticut River drawbridge.
I got to CONN on the Old Lyme side to the sight of the drawbridge open to river traffic. Also, on the way over, the scanner was silent, and the only train I saw passing by me was an eastbound Acela. Oh, well, I guess you can’t win ’em all. Maybe I’d be able to catch one more train at CONN before I had to head out.
A few minutes after pulling into the parking lot, the drawbridge began to close. So I made my way down the walkway under the bridge, and along the shore of the Connecticut River.
A couple minutes later, I heard the Amtrak Sound View detector go off, and then a westbound regional rolled onto the drawbridge
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After the train pulled off of the drawbridge on the Old Saybrook side of the river, I got a telephoto shot of them scaring some birds into flight
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And one final tele shot of the train heading nearly out of sight, and a boat waiting in the river for the bridge to open.
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A minute or so later, the bridge opened up, so I decided to call it quits on the quest for the P&W. Oh, well, they must have been running quite late. Like I said earlier, you can’t win ’em all…
Thanks for looking!
Tom
