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Finally things are starting to settle out and I’m starting to be able to get out in the morning to catch a little train action along the Thames River. Thursday, I not only caught Providence & Worcester train NR-2, but I also added Amtrak trains 190 and 171 and a Los Angeles class fast attack submarine, and her usual escort ships, heading back to the sub base. And on top of that, it was a glorious sunny, but cold, morning.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I ended up getting out of the office at the usual time, and began my trip north, hoping I could catch NR-2 at my usual haunt – Mill Cove in Ledyard. As I passed by the army\/navy store on Thames Street, I began picking up chatter on the P&W frequency – it sounded like NR-2 was in Fairview already. Well, that nixed the Mill Cove idea. A quick run up Fairview Ave confirmed that – NR-2 was sitting just north of the signal at the Groton wye. So it was back south to catch them crossing the Thames.<\/p>\n
Just as I was turning around to head back south, the ship to shore frequency locked in – the Thames River drawbridge tender was trying to contact the Navy pilot. That only meant one thing – a sub was in the area. But which direction were they going. Since I was close by, I stopped at the parking lot just south of the drawbridge. As I looked to the south, I got my answer – a Los Angeles class fast attack submarine was heading north, with a pair of Coast Guard cutters, and the tugboat John P. Wronowski<\/em>.<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:6000]\n With the flotilla heading north, I knew that NR-2 would be staying put since the bridge was in the process of opening, so I could concentrate on the boats. Next up was a trio of shots of the boat heading towards me, including a black & white as the sub passed in front of Fort Trumbull.<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5999] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5998] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5997]\n Then some shots of the pair of boats bringing up the rear – the Wronowski<\/em> and the US Coast Guard cutter Hammerhead<\/em>.<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5996] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5995]\n As the sub passed in front of me, I got a shot of her passing the State Pier<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5994]\n Then a closeup of the sail, as the Old Glory proudly waves in the wind<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5993]\n And a shot of the Hammerhead<\/em> passing the pier<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5992]\n Not long after that, the sub went through the open drawbridge<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5991] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5990]\n Next up was another shot of the Hammerhead<\/em><\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5989]\n And a closeup of two of the Hammerhead’s<\/em> crew manning the .50 caliber machine guns on the bow<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5988]\n Then she slipped through the open drawbridge<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5987]\n Once the cutter was clear of the drawbridge, rail traffic would resume. I figured I’d switch positions to the next overlook, getting a wider view, and possibly getting some of the ships in the frame with a train or two.<\/p>\n Not long after getting there, Amtrak train 190 left the New London station, and began heading east. Looking at the bridge, something struck me – you can see part of the new drawbridge span being assembled to the north of the bridge. So the first shot of 190 was with that in the background<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5986]\n Then a wider shot of the train crossing the drawbridge, with the nearly complete towers<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5985]\n As they headed onto the Groton side of the river I was hoping NR-2 would then head west over the river. No such luck – Amtrak train 171 soon after tripped the Midway detector and made their way west to the Thames River.<\/p>\n By the time the train crossed the bridge, the submarine was safely inside the sub base, and the Coast Guard escorts began their trip back south. Maybe I could get a shot with the train and cutters in them.<\/p>\n The first shot is just that – 171 with the Hammerhead<\/em> in the distance<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5984]\n Then one with 171 and a smaller cutter<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5983]\n A quick zoom back out gets the train crossing the moveable span<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5982]\n And a shot of the tail end, with the cutter 41411 slowing down for the no wake zone near the bridges<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5981]\n Once she was clear of the bridge, the captain opened up the throttle, and sped down the river towards the Coast Guard station near Fort Trumbull.<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5980] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5979] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5978]\n OK, pretty cool stuff. Now would the Amtrak Shore Line dispatcher finally let NR-2 roll west? As 171 pulled into the New London station, the dispatcher called NR-2 and gave them the signal to head west. At the same time, the cutter Hammerhead<\/em> was slowly approaching the bridge. Cool, maybe I’d get that with NR-2 in the frame!<\/p>\n Well, the timing was off – NR-2 took a little longer to get out on the corridor, so the cutter was slipping behind one of the bridge pilings holding up the Gold Star Bridge.<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5977]\n Oh, well. Since the train was short, I got a shot of the entire train crossing the drawbridge<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5976]\n Continuing south, I went to the spot across from the station and Shaw’s Cove to get a few shots of the train rolling by. To finish up the morning, I got a quartet of standard across the river shots of NR-2 rolling through New London.<\/p>\n [cpg_imagefixthumb:5975] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5974] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5973] [cpg_imagefixthumb:5972]\n As the train rolled out of sight, I climbed back into the car and headed back to the office for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n Thanks for looking! Finally things are starting to settle out and I’m starting to be able to get out in the morning to catch a little train action along the Thames River. Thursday, I not only caught Providence & Worcester train NR-2, but I also added Amtrak trains 190 and 171 and a Los Angeles class fast attack […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-nautical-photography","7":"category-rail_photography","8":"czr-hentry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nTom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"