The Northeastern region of the United States is well known for its beautiful autumn colors and is nearly hallowed ground to railfans for being a passenger train haven, with several commuter railroads and the world famous Northeast Corridor. The rails of the area are quickly becoming more colorful as several railroads are introducing special locomotives across the region.
Perhaps the most notable are the heritage units coming from CSX, which recently increased its presence in the northeast with its acquisition of Pan Am Railways in 2021. A previous article on this website delved in to the special units from Waycross so we shall move on to purely Northeastern roads in this piece.
The newest of these colorful locomotives plying the rails is New Jersey Transit No. 4503, an ALC-45DP wrapped to honor model railroad company Atlas, which celebrates 100 years in 2024.
This is not the first notable motor from New Jersey Transit in 2023 though, with GP40PH-2B No. 4210 wearing a scheme honoring the Erie Railroad, joining a diesel honoring the Central of New Jersey and electric locomotives honoring the Erie Lackawanna and Pennsylvania Railroads on the NJ Transit roster.
Metro North is also getting in on the heritage game with several locomotives honoring predecessor roads. The most recent of these is P32AC-DM No. 211 wearing a striking scheme honoring the New York Central. Also on the MNCW roster is No. 201 paying homage to Conrail. No. 208 wears the original Metro North Scheme. The railroad says more units are planned.
The Northeast already produces some rather interesting scenes while trackside. With the introduction of these special units, this railfan haven became that much more colorful. Just as the iconic leaves are gone from the trees, the railroads picked up the slack from Mother Nature.