aN Homage

aN Homage

Winter sunshine bathes the tracks on this afternoon at the Metro-North Railroad’s Harlem/125th Street
station in Manhattan as a Grand Central-bound commuter train rolls past, it’s locomotive at the rear (as
indicated by its red marker lights), as the train is driven from the control cab of the coach at the opposite end.

The convention on these lines is that the locomotive faces “out” at Grand Central Terminal,
for trains with locomotives, that is. Electric MU trains don't care which end faces where ;-)

Trains to and from Grand Central pass through this station, minutes apart as they head to/from points
along the Hudson River, other parts of New York State, via the Harlem Line, or to points in Connecticut.

Some of these trains are express service and do not stop here.

Those trains in the direction of Connecticut were originally part of the New York,
New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, popularly known as simply the New Haven.

These tracks were once owned by the vast New York Central System and so
they carried NYC-liveried commuter and long-distance passenger trains as well.

In the mid-1950s, the New Haven adopted a bold red, white, and black livery at about the time they introduced their handsome EP-5 rectifier locomotives, which took power mainly from the 11 thousand volt AC catenary along their high speed mainlines, but also used the 660 volt DC third rail power along this line for operating into Grand Central.

The NH became a “fallen flag” as did the New York Central as failing finances led to their being absorbed
into the short-lived Penn Central. The passenger train service out of Grand Central ultimately became a
part of the national Amtrak system for long distance trains and the Metro-North Railroad, formed to operate
all of the commuter routes originating/terminating at Grand Central.

Whether a New Haven devotee or simply a railfan, one has to appreciate the Metro-North’s honoring
the NH part of its legacy by painting several of its GE P32 Dual-Mode locomotives in those bold NH colors.
And, while I’m not sure anyone would make a case for the P32 with its shovel-like front being as handsome or
graceful looking as the EP-5, (*) which GE also built, it is still a welcome nod to history and heritage on the
part of the MNRR to pay this homage to the bold livery of the once proud NH.

Incidentally, here "Dual Mode" is not the same as the EP-5 taking its power from either
high-voltage AC via catenary or DC via third rail. The P32 DM is a diesel-electric locomotive
whose traction motors can either take power from the third rail, as is the case here, or as
generated by the prime mover, as a conventional diesel-electric. All trains must operate on
third rail power in the long Park Avenue tunnel leading into GCT.

©2018 Steve Ember

(*)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Haven_EP-5