Thames River Draw & NECR 608 led by Barney

Busy, busy, busy. That’s been the word lately. Didn’t get a chance to go out yesterday, nor this morning. But I did have to run down to Lowe’s to check out some roofing material (that I’ll probably purchase at the local lumberyard – O.L. Willards – because, quite simply, they’re usually cheaper than Lowe’s or Home Depot) over lunch, so I figured I’d swing by and check out the progress on the Thames River drawbridge at the least.

On my way back from Lowe’s in Waterford, I of course had the scanner on. Not much doing over the lunch hour, but I did catch the Shore Line dispatcher talking to NR-2 in Old Saybrook. I guess they were out of my range for today. Oh, well. So I pulled off of the highway and headed for the boat launch on the north side of the Thames River drawbridge on the New London side of the river.

When I pulled in, it looked like workers were finishing placing another piece of steel on the west pier. So I got a quartet of shots, both telephoto and wide, of the ongoing work.

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I climbed back in the car, packed the gear away, and started across the river on the Gold Star Bridge heading for Groton. As I was crossing over the bridge, the scanner came alive, but it wasn’t a human voice, instead it was the chirp of an end-of-train makrer. Hmmm, a freight was around. Since I knew NR-2 was still in Saybrook, that only meant one thing – the New England Central was in town.

So I took a small side trip and got off of the highway onto Thames Street, then headed up Military Highway hoping to catch NECR train 608 across the river. As I approached the Nautilus, I spotted 608 across the river, led by the GP-38 known as “Barney” because of its awful purple paint scheme, heading south towards the yard. So I spun around and headed for the bottom of the P&W Fairivew Yard for an across the river perch.

I got there just as the train was coming into range. I got a series of shots as they headed through the US Coast Guard Academy – despite the haze still in the air from the screwy weather.

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And a couple images of the train heading into the yard. In the first one, be sure you check out the full size version. In the lower left corner is a tent city that’s sprung up at the north end of the yard.

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Now with the train in the yard, and out of view, I headed back to work. But one more stop was in order. A US Coast Guard cutter was anchored just outside of the channel, near Shaw’s Cove, so of course I took her portrait.

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After that, the lens cap went on, camera hit the bag, and I passed through the gate to the employee parking lot. We’ll see if things settle down enough tomorrow for me to head out and get my walk in.

Thanks for looking!
Tom