Two-Fer-Tuesday on the NECR

On the first day of December, I had a small hole in my daytime schedule to get out for a bit.  But as sometimes happens, things don’t go as planned.  As I usually plan on doing, I was going to bag Providence & Worcester train NR-2 in Ledyard, and perhaps New England Central train NERWNE across the river in Montville.  But that didn’t quite pan out.  And later in the evening, a spur of the moment thing happened, and I got a few shots of NERWPA heading north out of Willimantic.

So I managed to get out in the morning for a little walk, and hopefully catch NR-2 at Mill Cove.  But no such luck – while there, I heard the Worcester dispatcher talking to a track car north of Nowrich, and NR-3 coming out of Plainfield.  No mention of NR-2 at all.  Guess they weren’t working down this way yesterday.  But during my walk, NECR train NERWNE headed north out of New London, and I grabbed a couple pictures of them.

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Well, at least I got something.  After that I headed back to the office for the remainder of the day.

Fast forward to the evening.  After doing a little shopping with Jill & the girls down at East Brook Mall in Mansfield, we headed back home.  Once at the house, I did my usual thing and checked email – there was a post on the NECR Yahoo group that 610 (AKA NERWPA) arrived in Willimantic at about 7pm.  OK, things might work out for me to be able to catch them.  But first things first – the girls needed a bath, and we had to put them to bed.

With two clean girls snuggled up tightly in their beds, I checked email again – no mention of the train leaving Willimantic yet.  Which really meant nothing – it could have headed back north to Palmer before anyone noticed.  After a few minutes more I decided to head out – so I let Jill know where I was going, and I got in the car and headed to Willi on a whim.  Maybe they’d still be there.

Well, as I came into town, and crossed over Bridge Street, I saw the familiar flashing light of an EOT marker just north of the crossing.  That coupled with the silence on the scanner meant that the conductor was on his way up to the head end.  Cool, I could probably get ahead of them.  So I set my sights on Mansfield Depot.

As it worked out, they started to roll just as I was negotiating my way through Willimantic traffic, but I ended up getting to Mansfield Depot a few minutes ahead of the train.  This time, I decided to set up next to Thompson’s at the Route 44 grade crossing.  After doing a few test shots, I decided on a flash arrangement – the Lumedyne behind and to the right of me, and my 420EX on another radio remote a little further down to try and illuminate the side of the train a little more.  Now all I had to do is wait.

A few moments later, the train was blowing for the Plains Road, and then Depot Road crossings just to the south of me.  Then the headlights started to peek around the corner to the south, and they rolled into the spot I wanted them.

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As they rolled past, I got a wave from the cab, and I took a look at the LCD to check it out.  It looked good, but the 420EX didn’t fire like it did in the test shots!  As I walked over to the flash, I noticed it was off – yep, I found out the hard way that the 420EX will put itself into a power saving mode (as in OFF) after a bit (about 2 minutes).  Oh, well, lesson learned.

They had a pretty long train, so I figured I’d be able to leap frog them and get them in Stafford Springs again.

I got up there with a good 10 minutes to spare, so I set things up – Lumedyne on the bridge over the river and the 420EX about 20 yards down the river for a little fill flash on the side of the train.  And my solution to the sleep problem was to wait at the flash and turn it on when the train hit the Route 32 crossing.  So after a few test shots, I waited there until the train hit the crossing.  Once they did, I flipped the flash on, and ran back to my spot at the edge of the bridge.  Moments later, the train came into view, and I bagged the shot of the train rolling along between Route 32 and the river.

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As I enjoyed the sound of flange squeal going past me, I packed up the gear and contemplated my next move.  Hell, I’m out, so I’ll try and bag them again.  A quick review of the map in my head, and I decided on my next spot – Diamond Ledge Road in Stafford.

I got there maybe a minute or two ahead of the train, and with the sound of the train approaching, I didn’t have much time to set up.  So I went with just the Lumedyne here.  A quick test shot and I was ready to roll.

Moments later, the top of the bridge started to get brighter, and the train came into view – only time for one quick shot.

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Pretty cool!  Actually, to be honest, I did try and get a shot of the trailing FEC SD40 – and I did get it, but the flash wasn’t fully recharged, so it was underexposed.  Sorry, you don’t get to see that one…

With the train rolling north past me at track speed, I packed up my gear and thought about one more stop.  I figured they would probably have to slow down for the State Line siding area, so I could probably get ahead of them somewhere in Monson, MA.  Being within reach, I figured it was worth a shot – my best bet would probably be Stafford Hollow Road in Monson – a nice overhead shot.

I got do Stafford Hollow Road just as the train was sounding for the Route 32 crossing just to the south.  Should be enough time to set up, and get a test shot off before they showed up.  And there was.

Moments later, with the train clawing up the grade, they came into view, and I bagged one shot of them about to pass under me.

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With that in the can, I figured it was late enough, and I’d head for home.  I think it worked out to be a pretty good day and night…

Thanks for looking!
Tom