Railroad Abomination

Metro-North, which operates the commuter railroads into New York City, painted some of its newer locomotives in the colors of the New Haven Railroad.


This is an abomination. First off, it is anachronistic as all hell, since the New Haven was folded into the Penn Central over 40 years ago.

Second, if you know the history of the New Haven Railroad, the colors of black, orange and white are an abomination. Those colors were instigated by a corporate sleazeball named Patrick McGinnis. McGinnis took over the railroad in a proxy fight in 1954. The New Haven was not in good shape to begin with and McGinnish trashed it. The commuter lines in Connecticut were electrified; McGinnis tried to take advantage of the spike in copper prices due to the Korean War by scrapping the electrification system. He purchased dual-service (diesel and third-rail electric) locomotives and had the electrical lines on the Danbury Branch torn down. If he could have bought enough locomotives, he planned to tear down the electrified lines between New Haven and Stamford, maybe further west. McGinnis was ousted within two years of his assuming the presidency of the railroad, but the damage he did lingered on for many years.

Financial considerations probably prevented the New Haven from repainting its fleet; the McGinnis color scheme survived well into the formation of the Penn Central (with its less-than-memorable "two snakes fucking" logo).

If Metro-North truly wanted to honor the New Haven RR, they should have painted the locomotives with the green and gold color scheme that the railroad used before McGinnis trashed it.