NEW YORK — While CSX and Canadian Pacific run special trains for the Holidays with advance publicity and crowds along their rights-of-way, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Metro-North Railroad does it differently.
Short of fanfare for the general public, the Nation’s third largest rail commuter operation has quietly run annual holiday trains to allow Metro-North management to visit the rail operator’s shops and yards to thank employees for their hard work throughout the year.
The first train of 2019’s holiday season is scheduled to run today. While Metro-North does not publicize the schedule, it will reportedly travel on the Hudson and Harlem lines today, and will travel to New Haven on Thursday evening. On the morning of Dec. 12, it will travel the full Hudson Line; that train will arrive at Grand Central Terminal in the early afternoon to thank employees there.
Trains News Wire took a look at the train’s consist on Tuesday afternoon. It included:
— GE-built P32AC-DM #230, painted in the New Haven’s 1955 McGinnis colors, at the south end of the consist;
— Metro-North club car No. 1, ex-Lackawanna Tavern-Lounge car No. 789, built by the Budd Co. in 1949;
— Metro-North lounge car No. 3, an ex-New York Central converted stainless steel coach;
— Metro-North Club Car No. 2, ex-Lackawanna Tavern-Lounge car No. 790, built by Budd in 1949;
— P32AC-DM #229, also painted in the McGinnis colors.
Motive power may change on subsequent trips, but the rolling stock will remain the same. The train has engines on both ends to eliminate any switching moves. Most notable is that the three cars are all over 70 years old, a testament to Metro-North’s stewardship of this historic equipment.
— Updated at 10 a.m. CST with new information on schedule.
Does MN have a NYC heritage painted unit?