Railpace Extra Board

Metro-North Railroad Debuts Heritage Locomotive Wraps

Metro-North’s new heritage unit, P32AC-DM 208 in the “Beach Ball” scheme, leads Train 728 south out of Scarborough, N.Y., station on the Hudson Line in early morning light, during its first revenue run in the new wrap on May 23, 2023. Locomotive-hauled trains on Metro-North usually have the engine facing north, but for this run, MN management had it turned to face south on its first run in the new wrap, to provide good photos. This is the first of five heritage units that Metro-North has planned this year. —Mike Amoroso

Metro-North Railroad Debuts Heritage Locomotive Wraps

July 2023Railpace Staff/photos as noted

Metro-North Railroad is decorating five diesel locomotives with special colors and designs as a Heritage Series to highlight the railroad’s 40 years of service to the public. Craft workers at Metro-North’s North White Plains Shop applied a vinyl wrap to Metro-North P32ACDM 208, the first locomotive to be rebranded. The colors of silver, blue and red pay homage to Metro-North’s original “Beach Ball” livery created upon the railroad’s founding in 1983 for the railroad’s historic FL9 locomotives, and worn by them until the last was retired in April 2007.

Additional locomotives will be wrapped in the heritage liveries that were worn by predecessor railroads, including Penn Central/MTA blue-and-yellow, Conrail blue-and-yellow, New York Central lightning stripe, and a unit dedicated to Metro-North employees. All will remain in service for the foreseeable future. Metro-North locomotive 208 is one of 31 General Electric P32ACDM models the railroad uses to provide service on the northern extensions of its Hudson and Harlem Lines in New York State, and on the New Haven Line’s Danbury and Waterbury branches in Connecticut…


July 2023Read the rest of this article in the July 2023 issue of Railpace Newsmagazine. Subscribe Today!

This article was posted on: June 22, 2023