On the 6th of October I got some information from a friend “in the know” about a couple nighttime ethanol moves on the New England Central around Willimantic, CT. So after my wife & I put the kids to bed, I headed out to see what I could shoot. With the timing of the moves, my best bet would be to head to Willimantic to meet up with the southbound loads and decide what I was going to do from there. My best bet would be to catch them there and follow them south to New London. Oh, how plans change…
When I got to Willimantic, something odd struck my eye – there was a couple locomotives sitting shut down south of Bridge Street. Taking a swing down by the yard, I found out that it was the NERWNE (aka 608) crew waiting there. OK, so that means that the southbound loads would be stopping here, and swapping trains with 608, who had earlier brought 80 empties up from the P&W in New London. So now to really decide on which way to go.
While waiting, I figured my best bet would be to follow the empties back north. At night the spots I could shoot from heading south to New London were limited, and there were whole slew of traffic lights between me and the south end of the line. So I started thinking about spots to the north that I’d stop at.
After a little bit, the southbound loads showed up, with a CSOR B39-8 on the point.
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114566]They then headpinned the train north of Bridge Street, and headed down into the yard where the 608 crew cut off the CSO leader and added that to their train. They’d head south with 3 4-axle units, and the empties would head back north with a pair of 6-packs.
While waiting around, a couple other fans showed up, and like I usually do, I made them part of a shot.
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114565]Then I decided to go for a lower angle shot of the loads rolling past. And because I was a bit lazy and didn’t want to walk back to the car to get my tripod, I just rested the camera on the panel of track that will soon be the new grade crossing at Bridge Street.
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114564]OK, now to head north and get into position for my first Lumedyne shot. I still was mulling spots around in my head, mentally going over the map, and also considering setup/breakdown time and track speeds in the area. After driving around to a few spots, I settled on the Eagleville Dam area – more specifically the park on the Mansfield side of the Willimantic River.
After checking out, and testing, multiple angles, I settled on a pretty standard 3/4 shot of the train coming out from the trees at the park. Nothing special, but should be a nice start to the evening. Now to wait for the train.
And wait I did. By the time they got their train together, back on the main and had the switches lined back to normal, nearly two hours had passed, putting the time close to midnight. Plus checking the radar on my phone, I saw some heavy showers heading my way from the south. I figured I’d just bag them here and call it a night.
About 10 minutes later, beating the stroke of 12 by a few seconds, the northbound empty ethanol extra came into view, and I fired off my shot.
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114563]Not too bad overall – not the best, but not a hunk of shit either. OK, it made for a decent night. But just before I started to break things down, I noticed something odd in the darkness – a single white tank in the train (an albino tank car?)
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114562]OK, interesting. But that was enough, so I broke things down, and headed for the car. Just as I was putting the last piece into the car, the marker went past me, and the proverbial light bulb popped over my head. Maybe I could get one more in up around Mansfield Depot…
So I headed up Route 275, and instead of taking a right to head home, I took a left and continued north on Route 32. If I wasn’t mistaken, there’s a slow order through Mansfield Depot, so I might be able to gain some ground on the train by, um, bending a speed limit or two.
As I was passing by the UConn experimental farm just north of Mansfield Depot, I could see the train’s lights illuminating the trees in the valley. OK, I’m right in front of them. Now where to shoot them?
The only spot that sprung to mind was the Merrow Road crossing in, yep you guessed it, Merrow, CT (which is a section of Mansfield BTW). It would be close, and if I saw the crossing signals activated I knew I would be too late.
As I pulled onto Merrow Road from 32, a feeling of relief – almost a giddiness – came across me. Yep, the crossing signals were dark – but I could hear the slow roar of the two SD40s approaching. I parked the car next to the old Roadhouse restaurant, and pulled out the gear. The Lumedyne was still all wired up, so I just needed to put it on the stand, get it into position, and fire off a test shot.
A quick look at the surroundings told me I probably shouldn’t loft the flash head too high in the air – so I left it a the lowest setting (about 4′ off the ground). Just then the crossing activated – here they come!
I hurried and grabbed the camera from the car, still with the radio remote on the hotshoe and picked a spot on the opposite side of the road. Doing a quick focus on the crossing signal, I fired off a test shot. Quickly checking the LCD, I adjusted the exposure a tad and settled on a horizontal rather than vertical composition – I really wanted part of the old restaurant in the shot.
All of this was done in less than 30 seconds – just as I was ready to go, the train rolled across the crossing, and I fired off the last shot of the night
[cpg_imagefixnormal:114561]A look at the LCD, and I was satisfied – and glad I had decided to push one more shot out of this late evening.
If you’re curious, that last shot has been featured on Railpictures.net as a Screener’s Choice, and as of this writing, is one of the top two photos (in unique views) of the past week. Here’s the link to the photo – click here.
With everything done, and a few minutes after midnight, I packed up and headed home to join the rest of my sleeping family.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
