What a difference a couple miles makes

While waiting at Erickson Park for Providence & Worcester train NR-2 to come onto the scene, the weather went from some gorgeous morning light, to a pretty thick overcast.  As I sat there debating whether or not to head back to the office and forgo shooting NR-2 on this now dreary morning, the “let’s stay” voice won out.  The water of Mill Cove was nearly as smooth as glass, and it didn’t seem like the wind was picking up.  So I toughed out out – I’m glad I did, because a couple miles to the south, I was greeted with that glorious sunshine.

Now with my decision made, I just waited to hear NR-2 as they approached.  Just then, they reported that they were south of MP8 – that put them a scant 4 miles from me.  After waiting a couple more minutes, I headed to the south end of the cove.  But while waiting, I shot a picture of a puddle that had frozen overnight.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:8307]

Not long after that, NR-2 came into view at the north end of Mill Cove.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:8306]

Then a few of my “standard” shots (in the middle of these, a couple friendly horn blasts came across the cove from Tom at the throttle)

[cpg_imagefixthumb:8305] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8304] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8303] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8302]

And instead of going with a wide angle shot at the south end of the cove, I quickly changed settings and got a pan shot of NR-2s power

[cpg_imagefixthumb:8301]

And as they rolled out of view, I climbed back in the truck and headed south.  Maybe I could catch them at Fairview.

Well, I did finally catch up with them along Military Highway, but there was no way I could get them coming through the yard at the usual spot.  But there was something different a few miles south of Mill Cove – the sun was shining brightly here!  I figured a longshot was in order – today I was driving my pickup, and since there was nobody behind me, I figured a shot over the fence on the Fairview Ave. bridge was in order

I pulled onto the bridge just as NR-2 was rolling around the curve.  And once they got into position, I got this shot

[cpg_imagefixthumb:8300]

The one I had wanted for quite some time!  As the train rolled below, Tom leaned out of the window and gave a wave up to me.  After I returned the gesture, I hopped back down, got into the truck, and went down to catch them crossing the Thames.

Once they got the signal from the Amtrak New London dispatcher, I got a few more standard shots of the train crossing the river.

[cpg_imagefixthumb:8299] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8298] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8297] [cpg_imagefixthumb:8296]

And that was it for the day.  There was still some haze hanging over the river, so the cross-river shots at Shaw’s Cove were out.  So I packed up the gear, and headed to work for the rest of the day.

Thanks for looking!
Tom