Time for part 3 of the Lerro Productions 2012 Valley Railroad photo charter – the final installment. Part 1 (first day with the freight consist) is here, and part 2 (night shoot) is here if you missed those posts. The second day of the charter featured what is more familiar to the rails along the Connecticut River – a passenger consist. Of course, the weather continued to not cooperate with the plans for the day, and got the attendees a bit more damp…OK, damp may not be a strong enough word. Maybe soaking wet… But like the previous day, it led to some more interesting shots that wouldn’t have really been possible on a nice and sunny May day.
The day started out quite early, even after a long day and night of shooting. We had to get to Essex well before dawn – as in 4:30am – to check in on the train for the day’s fun. So after taking literally a 3 hour nap in Old Lyme, we hit the road a little before 4am – giving us time to swing by the 24 hour Dunkin’ Donuts in Old Saybrook for a bit of breakfast and much needed coffee before boarding the train.
With bagels, donuts and coffees in hand, we headed up to Essex to find the train waiting at the station as the rain fell. We boarded, checked in and grabbed some seats – with the heavy overcast and downpours, the dawn shots that were planned were cancelled, so we took some time to rest a bit in the station. But once we got moving, it was non-stop photos like the day before. Sure we hit the same spots, but boy were things different this time around. From the downpour at Broadway, to having the tide be out at Deep River Creek so we could walk out into the marsh quite a few different angles were afforded.
And speaking of different angles – while we were shooting at Broadway, Lee Carlson, who was chasing the train taking photos for the Valley Railroad, came up to me with an idea. He offered to take Bob LaMay and I in his car down to Chester Creek to shoot the train passing over the bridge there – giving us a shot the other participants wouldn’t have. Of course we accepted the offer, and once we were done at Broadway, we got into Lee’s car and headed to the marina by the creek bridge. As the train passed, we did get a few puzzled looks from the folks on the train… After we took the shots, Lee brought us to the next location at Chester station, where we re-joined the group for the rest of the day.
All in all it was a great two days – very tiring, but I came away with quite a few great shots. If you ever have a chance to join a Lerro Productions photo charter – all I can say is do it. It’ll be a grueling schedule, but in the end it’ll be worth the effort. Truly a great job by Pete and his crew!
Thanks for looking!
Tom
