Yesterday – Sub, Acela, crane and the new bridge

Damn it’s hot…I managed to get a few shots in yesterday – I had to come in late to work (kids were sick), and I bagged a sub leaving for sea, as well as a heavy crane that was brought in to remove the counterweight on the existing bascule span of the Thames River Drawbridge. And in the midst of all that, an Acela happened to cross over the Thames, so of course that made its way onto my camera. Then finally, on the way home, I got a couple shots of the new lift span for the Thames River draw.

At high noon, on a 90+ degree and humid day, I was crossing the Thames River on the Gold Star Bridge, when I looked to the south and something big and black caught my eye. A US Navy Los Angeles class fast attack sub was heading out towards the Atlantic. I figured it might be worth a try to see if I could catch her north of Electric Boat and get a couple photos.

Well, I pulled into the Garbo Lobster parking lot just as the sub – the USS San Juan – was passing by. So I got a few photos of her and her escorts, heading south in the Thames River

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I figured while I was there, I’d check out the Thames River drawbridge, so I headed north to the parking lot on the edge of the river. But before that I got a shot of a heavy lift crane barge brought in to dismantle the counterweight on the drawbridge.

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Then I headed for the parking lot. As soon as I got out of the car, I heard a horn to the east. Something was heading for the bridge! It was a westbound Acela

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Next one included one of the tugs that was escorting the sub, returning to the sub base

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Then crossing the span that, quite literally, only has days of service left.

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And finally the trailing power car passing under the counterweight that will soon be cut up and removed.

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While I was there, I got two more shots of the Chesepeake

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Then headed into work for the rest of the day.

Now move to quitting time. On the way home I took a little detour and headed down to New London to check out the progress of floating the new lift span. Looks like they’re starting to lift the span onto the barges to be floated into place.

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And doing some cable work

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I then figured a shot from Riverside Park might work out well, so I headed over there to check it out. Yep, it worked rather well, so I got a couple shots of the span out on the water, with some of the boats moored nearby.

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And headed back into the air conditioned confines of the car for the ride home.

Thanks for looking!
Tom