{"id":397,"date":"2008-06-13T22:57:12","date_gmt":"2008-06-14T02:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nanosphoto.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/13\/friday-the-13th-pw-amtrak-necr-and-pw\/"},"modified":"2008-06-13T22:57:12","modified_gmt":"2008-06-14T02:57:12","slug":"friday-the-13th-pw-amtrak-necr-and-pw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/friday-the-13th-pw-amtrak-necr-and-pw\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday the 13th – PW, Amtrak, NECR and PW"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today started off with me thinking that I wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the gorgeous weather today. I had meetings scheduled this morning, and by the time they’d be over, I would have missed Providence & Worcester train NR-2. Well as luck would have it (even on such an “unlucky” day), the meetings got rescheduled. A quick look at the watch told me I may have missed NR-2 anyways. But what the hell – it was worth a shot. If anything, I’d at least catch an Acela or two, and I’d get a chance to check out the work on the Thames River drawbridge. BTW, the bridge replacement is delayed again – no date is set yet. I’ll be this will throw the boaters into a tizzy…<\/p>\n


\nLike usual, the scanner was on while I was rolling out of the parking lot. Not much going on. Until I started getting closer to Fairview yard – the P&W frequency was starting to pick up some transmissions. Hmmm, was NR-2 around somewhere? With it being about 10:30, I figured they were across the river somewhere working. So I figured I’d head across the river to maybe catch Amtrak Acela train 2150 down by Shaw’s Cove.<\/p>\n

As I was heading across the Gold Star Bridge, I looked to the north and noticed something – NR-2 was working in Fairview yard! OK, cool, I’d be able to catch them somewhere. While I was heading across the river, I figured I had just enough time to get to Shaw’s Cove and catch 2150, then head across the river for NR-2.<\/p>\n

As I pulled across the crossing at Shaw’s Cove, I could see 2150 rounding the bend to the west. So I parked, grabbed the camera, and got a quick shot of 2150 crossing the swing bridge.<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7117]\n

OK, pretty good for a grab shot of sorts. I didn’t hear NR-2 call the Amtrak Shore Line dispatcher yet, so I figured they were still over in Fairview for a while. Back east I went.<\/p>\n

I got to the south end of Fairview just as NR-2 was beginning to pull south, and at the same time, they contacted the Shore Line dispatcher. But I noticed something on the horizon – a large smoke plume to the northwest.<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7116]\n

Well that turned out to be a huge fire in Colchester at an auto recycling business. But back to the action here in Groton.<\/p>\n

The first shot of NR-2 I got was a long shot, through the heat.<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7115]\n

And a second one, this time in color<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7114]\n

Closer still, this time a bit clearer, as the EMD throttles up<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7113]\n

As the train rolled towards me, a Coast Guard training ship turned in the river in front of me<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7112]\n

And a nice crisp, clear shot of the entire train<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7111]\n

Switching to the wide angle, I got a shot with the Colchester fire smoke plume in the background<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7110]\n

As they rolled past, I headed back to the car. Since they haven’t heard back from the Shore Line dispatcher, I figured I had time to get down to the overlook south of the drawbridge.<\/p>\n

Just as I got onto Thames Street, Shore Line contacted NR-2 and gave them the signal to head west right away. OK, now if only the traffic lights would cooperate.<\/p>\n

I pulled into the parking lot just as NR-2 was beginning to come down the west leg of the wye, which gave me enough time to park, grab the camera and get into position.<\/p>\n

While waiting, a fishing boat – the Hooked Up – came past me<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7109]\n

And proceeded north towards the bridge.<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7108]\n

Would the timing work to get them in the frame with NR-2?<\/p>\n

Yep!<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7107]\n

Next, a pretty standard shot of NR-2 crossing the drawbridge<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7106]\n

And the head end passing the counterweight<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7105]\n

Then the trailing power<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7104] [cpg_imagefixthumb:7103] [cpg_imagefixthumb:7102]\n

As the train rolled off of the bridge, I figured what the hell, let’s get ’em rolling through the station and over Shaw’s Cove.<\/p>\n

After a short wait, NR-2 rolled through the station<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7101]\n

And another view of the fire plume, still growing larger by the minute<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7100]\n

Then the trailing unit rolling through the station<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7099]\n

And approaching Shaw’s Cove<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7098]\n

Then a small boat came whizzing by (kinda looks like a Boston Whaler at this distance)<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7097]\n

And one with the little speeding boat, along with a sailboat waiting for an opening at Shaw’s Cove<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7096]\n

Then one final shot of the trailing power heading off of the bridge<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7095]\n

I figured I had a few minutes to check out if anything had changed with the new span across the river. So I headed for the Streeter boat launch under the Gold Star Bridge.<\/p>\n

On the way there, the NECR frequency lit up – it sounded like train NERWNE was working the yard (they switched schedules around – NERWNE usually works at night, and NERWPA works during the day – apparently there’s track work to the north of Willimantic, prompting the switch).<\/p>\n

Once I got to the boat launch, I got a quick shot of the span, not looking much different<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7094]\n

A look at the drawbridge, I got a shot of a larger excavator up on the counterweight. Just look for the yellow “DEERE” that really doens’t belong on the top of a drawbridge.<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7093]\n

And a shot of the heavy lift crane barge, tied up at the State Pier<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7092]\n

Finally, one shot with the span, and NERWNE in the background<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7091]\n

At that point, I was about out of time, so I packed up and headed to the office for the rest of the day.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to the commute home.\u00a0 As I was pulling onto I-395 in Waterford, the P&W frequency lit up with NR-2 reporting to the Worcester dispatcher they were northbound out of Fairview.\u00a0 Cool, I could probably catch them in Norwich on the way home!\u00a0 So I set my sights on Chelsea landing.<\/p>\n

I got there with no sign of the train.\u00a0 So I parked, and walked up towards Route 12.\u00a0 I wanted to get a shot of NR-2 pulling past milepost 12 just south of the Norwich tunnel.<\/p>\n

Not more than a couple minutes later, the crossings at MP 12 activated, and NR-2 soon came through the crossing.<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7120]\n

Going a bit wider, I got another shot as the train started to pull through the curve<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7119]\n

As the train rolled past, I switched to the wide angle, and got one final shot of the trailing power under the nice blue skies.<\/p>\n

[cpg_imagefixthumb:7118]\n

Not a bad finish to this Friday the 13th…<\/p>\n

Thanks for looking!
\nTom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today started off with me thinking that I wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the gorgeous weather today. I had meetings scheduled this morning, and by the time they’d be over, I would have missed Providence & Worcester train NR-2. Well as luck would have it (even on such an “unlucky” day), the meetings […]<\/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":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-rail_photography","7":"czr-hentry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397","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=397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanosphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}