Winter is winding down on the calendar, but today we got a pretty good snowstorm here in southern New England. So after I was at work for a while this morning, I grabbed my laptop and headed home to get ahead of the morons who never seem to learn how to drive in the snow (everyone from the guys in their new 4×4 who think they can tool along at 60…until they have to stop when they find out they’re like everyone else – to the person on the other end of the scale who drives 5 MPH on dry roads). But of course, I took the scenic way home. That netted me a few trains. Well, to be honest one was on the way into work…
My normal commute brings me down Route 87 into Franklin, where it crosses the New England Central just before Route 32. As I approached the crossing, an SUV parked near the tracks caught my eye. The owner of the truck was loading a tripod and camera back into the vehicle. I thought “railfan?” Then as I rolled over the grade crossing, I saw that the flangeways were freshly cleaned out. It looks like 608 is in town! So I fired up the scanner, and I was greeted with the chirp of the marker. Cool! Now where is he? He couldn’t be that far away, if this guy was just putting his gear away.
Now on 32 I was trying to see down onto the tracks hoping to spot 608 somewhere in the woods. Finally, as I crossed over the tracks near Route 2, I saw 608 rolling south past the Yantic fire house. The chase was on…now if only these people who don’t know how to drive would get out of my way.
As luck would have it, everyone in front of me went onto Route 2, and I continued on West Town Street, then took a right onto Otrobando Ave to see if I could get ahead of them. As I pulled onto Otrobando, I saw the train roling past me, and one car caught my eye. A boxcar with NOKL reporting marks. Those are typically spotted at Phelps-Dodge, just to the south. So that meant they were probably switching them first.
I kept driving south, just in case, to maybe catch them by Benny’s. But not long after I heard scanner chatter indicating that they had begun switching Phelps. So a quick turnaround was in order to head back to the scene.
I got there as they were getting ready to shove into the customer, and a different angle struck my eye. So of course I grabbed it.
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A quick look at my watch, and I decided it was time to head to the office.
Fast forward a couple hours. I got out early, with laptop in head, and headed north. But of course, I took the long way home, and set my sights on Mill Cove. But just as I was leaving the parking lot at work, I heard NR-2 report that they were south of MP12 and 15 minutes from the Sub Base. Hmmm, I’d be cutting it close, but it was worth a shot.
As I got to the Sub Base south gate, the radio again locked into the P&W frequency with NR-2 reporting that they were south of MP5. Damn…onto Plan B – Fairview.
I got to the bottom of Fairview well in advance of the train, allowing me to walk a bit down the tracks to get into position. A few minutes later, a trio of headlights pierced the falling snow as the train approached. Into view came a very short NR-2
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Then I got a couple other shots as the train got closer
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And finally a quick change of the lenses for the wide angle, and I got a shot of the train passing my be, as Rod also opened up the window to say “hi”
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I got one going away shot with the trailing unit wearing some snow on her nose.
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The train then slowed down as they approached the Fairview Ave overpass. A conductor got out and moved to the rear unit
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Then as the train moved again to the Amtrak signal, I headed back to the truck. And from the sounds of things on the scanner, NR-2 would be waiting around for a bit before they headed west on the Shore Line. So I headed across the river to see if I could find the NECR again.
First stop, though, was in New London to see if I could get a decent view of the new lift span for the Thames River drawbridge. The only shot I could get was from the F&F Distributors parking lot. So I got a couple shots of the nearly complete span.
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Then I continued north. No luck in coming across 608 again, but while I was in Montville, I did hear P&W train NR-3 hit the Jewett City detector. Maybe I could beat them to Norwich and get a shot of them along the waterfront.
Well, as things would have it, I didn’t catch NR-3 where I had hoped. As I was waiting at a light on Route 2, NR-3 rolled past. But I stuck around and attemted a shot across the water, and through quite a bit of falling snow. It was tough for the camera to get a focus lock, but I managed to squeeze off a couple frames. Here’s one of a short NR-3 heading south for Dow Chemical.
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By then, the snow was picking up again, and I figured it would be best for me to head to the homefront for the rest of the day. So into the truck I went, and I continued my trek north. This time, the direct route…
Thanks for looking!
Tom
