BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has released its heritage locomotive honoring the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. It is the second in a planned series of three locomotives honoring predecessor operators of commuter rail service in the MBTA service area.
The orange, black, and white locomotive — displaying the New Haven “McGinnis” scheme introduced in 1955 — made its first revenue runs on Thursday, Feb. 5.
The locomotive is a recently overhauled F40PH-3C, part of the group of 37 that first entered service between 1987 and 1991. The overhauled units have been upgraded to include remote monitoring and diagnostics, forward-facing and in-cab cameras, and modern brake and control systems.
New Haven routes form the bulk of the MBTA’s Southside lines. The MBTA purchased former New Haven infrastructure and rolling stock in 1973, including the Providence/Stoughton Line, Fairmont Line, Franklin Line, Needham Line and the Old Colony Lines (Kingston, Greenbush, Fall River and New Bedford).
A locomotive honoring the Boston & Maine entered service in September [see “News photos: MBTA introduces …,” Trains.com, Sept. 9, 2025]. Still to come is a New York Central locomotive, which the MBTA says will be in service “in the coming weeks.”
— To report news or errors, contact trainsnewswire@firecrown.com.
Seeing the photo makes me happy. The New Haven Railroad lives on in my memory. That said, same comment as Metro North, CTrain, and Shore Line East —- why not the pre-McGinnis liveries? I’m not old enough to remember them, only from photos. They’re gorgeous.