The timing was on today aparently because I was able to catch Providence & Worcester train NR-2 twice – once in the morning and once over lunch – with only a few moment’s notice. This morning was on the Ledyard/Preston town line at Poquetanuck Cove, and this afternoon was at the beloved Mill Cove in Ledyard. And the contrast between the size of each leg of the run was quite noticable. No, one run wasn’t light engines, but it was close…
After getting a few things done around the office, I needed to head out to mail something out. Of course the scanner was on and set to the P&W and Amtrak frequencies. Once I finished up, it came alive that Providence & Worcester train NR-2 was south of MP12, but they didn’t mention the usual “15 minutes out of the base” – meaning they were about 15 minutes from the Sub Base, and the dispatcher should call the base and alert them to their impending arrival. So that only meant one thing – they were stopping to give the Dow Chemical Styrofoam plant on Allyns Point a switch on the way south. So instead of my usual spot at Mill Cove, I headed a bit further north to try to catch them prior to stopping at Dow – which is at MP5. The spot I had in mind, the causeway along Poquetanuck Cove on the Ledyard/Preston town line, is at about MP8, giving me only a few minutes to get there before the train.
By the time I got to the overlook, parked the car and walked to the spot, the rumbling of the GEs could be heard in the not so far distance. A moment later, NR-2 appeared, with about 10 cars sandwiched between a pair of red and chocolate brown GE locomotives, slowly moving along the causeway.
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Not a bad start to a nice and sunny, but somewhat crisp, first day of spring.
Then I figured I’d go out for a bit of lunch, as I’m getting a bit tired of the cafeteria food – not that it’s bad, to the contrary it’s actually pretty damned good, but it’s nice to mix things up a bit as the menu is a bit repititious. So I got a gourmet value meal at McD’s and intended on heading west on the Amtrak Shore Line to try to catch NR-2 somewhere under the wires. Well, as I was driving out of the land of golden arches’ parking lot, the Amtrak Shore Line dispatcher was requesting some foul time back from a foreman at Shaw’s Cove because he had an Acela coming through, and NR-2 was right on his heels. Hmmm, NR-2 eastbound only meant one thing at this time of year – they were heading for the west leg of the Groton wye and then home to Plainfield. So instead of jumping on the Gold Star Bridge and heading westbound, I headed up Route 12 towards Mill Cove. This time of day the light is tough there for a northbound move, as you’re shooting essentially into the sun. But when did that ever stop me?
As I got there, NR-2 was just entering Fairview Yard to the south of me, and trying to raise P&W train NR-3, who was still working at Dow Chemical to the north. Since they were still there, they’d end up combining trains for the trip north to Plainfield. As an aside, I was also listening to the NECR frequency on the scanner, and NECR train 610 was trying to get a track warrant to head south, presumably out of Franklin, when the dispatcher’s computer crashed. I continued to listen on my ride back to work and they still hadn’t brought the computer back up. It also sounded like train 608 wanted to get paper to head north also. But I digress…
A few minutes later, I heard the unmistakable sound of horns to the south as NR-2 headed through the Sub Base. A couple minutes later headlights were starting to poke through the tree branches to the south of the cove. Into view came NR-2, this time a sole empty centerbeam flat car sandwiched between the two locomotives. Quite the contrast to what NR-2 came south with earlier this morning. This was an easy one to get the entire train into the frame.
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Once they passed, I made the 7 minute trek back to the home-base, completing my lunch hour (yes it was just about an hour I was out).
Thanks for looking!
Tom
