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Well, today we were getting the remnants of some tropical depression, so it was quite rainy all day long. I skipped my normal morning walk in favor of a lunchtime jaunt to Old Saybrook to do some walking with a few flights of stairs thrown into the mix. Plus, looking at the radar loop, it seemed that there would be a hole in the rain around OSB sometime around lunchtime.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With a chicken sandwich w\/fries in hand, I headed out the gate towards Old Saybrook. When I left the rain was coming down at a pretty good clip, so I wasn’t sure what kind of walking I’d get in – at least the stairway and pedestrain overpass was covered, so at the very least I could do a few flights of stairs. By the time I got to the Gold Star Bridge, and was on my last bite of the sandwich, NR-2 was just crossing the Thames River after finishing up work at Tilcon in Groton. So long as there wasn’t traffic on I-95, I’d be well ahead of the train in Old Saybrook.<\/p>\n
Crossing over the Connecticut River a short time later, the scanner started waking up to the sounds of P&W train NH-1 working around what sounded like Tilcon. I got to the Amtrak station parking lot a few minutes later, and overheard NH-1 make a comment that they’d be here a little while before NR-2’s arrival. So I parked the car, and headed trackside to see that NH-1 was tucked away off of Track 3 in Tilcon’s spur. A quick check of the Amtrak schedule showed no trains due for some time, so I took advantage of the downtime in the action to get my walk in. A few laps around the platforms, with a couple up and downs on the stairs. Of course, some sights caught my eye along the way. First, a shot of the safety sign, complete with a toll-free phone number for the Amtrak Police:<\/p>\n[cpg_imagefixthumb:3300]\n
And a pretty cool, if you ask me, abstract shot of a pile of used track clips & joint bars near the east leg of the wye that just screamed to be shot in black & white.<\/p>\n[cpg_imagefixthumb:3299]\n
While taking a short break on the benches on the elevated platform, the scanner broke the silence again – this time it was NR-2 tripping the detector across the river at Sound View in Old Lyme. So that put them a few minutes out, and prompted me to head down to the east end of the station platform to try and get NR-2 and NH-1 together.<\/p>\n
But something told me to look over my shoulder to the west. In the distance I saw a pair of headlights on track 1! Wait…pair, not trio of headlights. That meant a track car was heading east towards me. A minute or so later, here came an Amtrak track car on an inspection of the line heading east.<\/p>\n[cpg_imagefixthumb:3298]\n
Hmmm…maybe I can get a 3-way meet – NR-2, NH-1 and the track car. Well, no such luck as the track car was already across the Connecticut River bridge by the time NR-2 got up to NH-1’s position. So I got a shot with the two P&W trains down by the Tilcon lead.<\/p>\n[cpg_imagefixthumb:3297]\n
As they swapped cars, I did a few more detail type shots. First of the lock on the gate to the old platform area.<\/p>\n[cpg_imagefixthumb:3296]\n
And a wider shot of the same lock, the gate and the tracks in the background.<\/p>\n[cpg_imagefixthumb:3295]\n
I dunno, maybe it symbolizes the locks placed on our freedoms in the light of “safety” or “security.” Or maybe I’m just reading too much into my own photos. \ud83d\ude00 Actually, what do you think it symbolizes? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section…<\/p>\n
Anyways, here’s a few shots of NH-1. First splitting their train up, preparing to get some cars from NR-2.<\/p>\n[cpg_imagefixthumb:3294]\n
Then finally heading west on track 3 as the rain & wind started to return.<\/p>\n[cpg_imagefixthumb:3293]\n
And a couple shots of the guys in the cab<\/p>\n[cpg_imagefixthumb:3292] [cpg_imagefixthumb:3291]\n
And as I swung around to get these shots, one thing caught my eye – a green signal on track 1. All right, something coming in. Maybe an Acela at speed? A moment later the Sound View detector went off, and not more than a couple minutes elapsed before a speeding Acela rounded the bend to the east of the station, blasting through at track speed.<\/p>\n[cpg_imagefixthumb:3290] [cpg_imagefixthumb:3289]\n
With a “woosh” it was through the station and nearly out of sight, leaving a fine mist in its wake. I still get a rush every time it passes by at 80+ MPH. What a nice way to end a rainy gloomy lunch break!<\/p>\n
Thanks for looking!
\nTom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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