Metro-North's Newest Ninth Heritage Unit Debut in Harlem and Norwalk

I am standing at the busiest railroad crossing in all of Norwalk, CT. The hazy sun is beating down on me even though it's partially hidden behind a wall of muted clouds. Motorists glare at me as the lone lummox standing with a camera around his neck staring down the railroad tracks awaiting a certain event to transpire. Most of those same motorists pay more mind to me than that of the large sign stating to not stop on the railroad tracks, and it's a for a damn good reason.

Soon enough, a horn can be heard blaring out noting the ever approaching presence of the exact reason for me to be standing out in front of this auto parts store situated perpendicular to the tracks along busy New Canaan Avenue.

Squinting in the sun without my glasses on, I can see the silhouette of striking blue nosed locomotive rising up from the dip in the tracks, alluding to how hilly the Danbury Branch really is. I ready myself on the perch of a rock that I've placed in a specific spot to aid me in my quest to capture the passage of this brightly painted, fast approaching locomotive.

Like a rehearsed procedure of events, the crossing activates as befuddled drivers scramble to clear the railroad crossing as the gates come down. As errant Jeep darts out from the Dunkin' Donuts driveway to almost have the lowering gate fall onto the hood of their car.

I start waving as the engineer of the train is a friend of mine named John Geigle, who knew that I'd be here capturing the evidence of the his train's passage over this bustling crossing. After waving like a marooned deserted island survivor seeing a ship in the distance, I readied myself with my camera smack dad in my face and I braced myself.

My breathing became controlled as the train began blowing the specific set of blasts known as a crossing sequence. I primed my lens to get the camera in focus as the train approached the opposite end of the crossing. My finger pressed the shutter as a barrage of clicks came from my camera set in the "high continuous" burst mode setting for taking photos.

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

Engineer John sees me perched on my rock and after his crossing sequence he blows a big shave and a haircut on the well-tuned horn of Metro-North 250. Which, I find as hilariously appropriate with some of other railfans having already dubbed this as the "barber pole" unit. A name that I feel doesn't quite fit the brilliantly painted locomotive that I was just able to document ripping over New Canaan Avenue in surprisingly nice lighting.

Alas, this was actually the second time I was able to capture this locomotive with it's distinctive, patriotic paint scheme since it was debuted by Metro-North on April, 30th 2026, with the railroad doing a great job at keeping the vibrant locomotive under wraps until the official unveiling.

Metro-North 250 was renumbered from 225, which was involved in the Spuyten Duyvil derailment on December, 1st 2013 where the locomotive landed on its side. Thankfully, after many years in service with a ragged appearance after its trackside swan dive, the locomotive was revamped into the gorgeous 250. The retro-inspired wrap job is to honor America's birthday turning 250 years old on July 4th, 2026.

It features a vibrant set of stripes which wrap around the nose, matching the mirrors, with a set of vertical stripes on the long hood of the locomotive reminiscent of many of the designs present for America's Bicentennial celebration of 1976.

Some other key details, is the decal on the escape hatch situated on the nose with the number 76 set in a circle of stars, with a series of bigger stars lining the main car body of the entire locomotive. Between the vertical stripes is text from the Declaration of Independence that when viewed from a distance embodies the colors of the American flag. In addition with two other notable logos featuring a heraldic eagle, and a hidden "We Are One" logo design on the rear of the locomotive. Along with the "AMERICA 250" ribbon logo placed above the classy looking two-toned red and blue Metro-North heritage fleet decal.

For me, what sets this particular locomotive apart from the eight other heritage units, is the extra design aspects and details that Metro-North included. It was truly a class-act tribute from the railroad that pays homage to the designs of the past while also being something contemporary and cool for our country turning 250 years old later this year. This is why I was so gung-ho to finally snag a shot of this engine pulling a train in revenue service.

Honestly, my luck did not start off well with seeing this new locomotive trackside for the first time. After it's official debut, the locomotive ran stealth mode up the New Haven line for an event in New Haven. To which, I only heard about it after it passed through the Norwalk area. The next day, it was tasked to venture up to Derby on the Waterbury Branch, coming down later in the afternoon to slink back over to the shops at Croton-Harmon. Both of those days were a total bust for me getting any shots of the new unit where I truly felt like I was SOL.

But, thankfully, a friend on the inside gave me a crucial heads up for that following Saturday, May 2nd. He told me what trains the locomotive would be on for its first day of revenue service. Allowing me to figure out what train I could see within the confines of my schedule and volunteering at the SoNo Switch Tower Museum.

I figured that the best bet for me would be to catch it at Harlem-125th St station as the train stares you down all the way from exiting the Park Avenue tunnel until arriving on the platform.

So, on that Saturday, I formed the plan that I'd follow to aid in capturing this elusive locomotive. I'd have to cut my volunteering short by a half hour, but I got the approval from the Chief and was joined by another railfan named James who had come to visit the SoNo Switch Tower that day.

As planned, we grabbed the 4pm train from the South Norwalk station down toward Grand Central Terminal, choosing to sit all the way in the back of the train for a welcomed bench seat situated by the conductor's cabin.

The ride itself was unremarkable as it was on a train of M8s, which have good seats but are one of the most boring subjects on Metro-North to shoot, besides the holiday train adorned in lights. Other than that, they're all a dime a dozen of unoriginality.

Our subject of fascination for this trip was far more interesting as the sun danced in and out of clouds until we arrived at our destination of Harlem-125th St station. Embarking from the train, we were greeted by a horde of Yankees fans clogging up the platform as James and I made our way down from the end of our train to the opposite end of the station.

Once we got there, we soon met two other railfans who were there for the same thing as boring blue nose P32AC-DM 206 quickly approached the station on track 2 with it's horrible horn taunting our eardrums with its melodically stupid shrill sound.

Luckily, the railroad was doing work on the odd side station tracks at Harlem-125th St, making all of the trains coming out of Grand Central run up track 2, while all the inbound trains ran down track 4. I took this as good news because now I knew for sure where 250 would be be at the time we expected for it.

Even though it was the weekend, running extra Yankee trains still kept the railroad busy as train after train came in and out of the station. Most of which were the cut, copy and paste Metro-North M8s, and M7s with their super annoying, high-pitched traction motor whine that would drive a suspect being interrogated by the police crazy enough to crack under the pressure. Krapasaki at its finest!

Eventually, the train of our ultimate fascination showed up on our Holy Bible gifted from the Gods of Railfanning by way of the radar.mta.info train tracker. A website that I have as my number one bookmark for my Android phone's internet browser since I use it every single day whether I'm trackside or not!

Budding anticipation built up amongst our group of four intrepid railfans situated at the end of the platform being overseen by two, polite MTA cops. We had plenty of practice trains, but this would be the real deal coming soon enough into view of all of our camera lenses. We then all jockeyed for positions as I switched to my 75-300mm zoom lens.

This was a good decision as I was the first to alert the others upon seeing the bright blue nose of 250 emerged out of the Park Ave tunnel portal. The sun was flirting with getting blocked by yet another puffy cloud of annoyance as 250 bore down on all of us set up in our respective spots.

I was the first to strike as the locomotive crossed into my field of view seen through my lens as I had the biggest one amongst the group, not to brag. I held the shutter down as Metro-North train 8845 came into frame.

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

All I could think of was one word "FINALLY!" as the train escaped my frame and arrived into the station with all the other railfans snapping away and recording. After two failed attempts, this felt like an absolute triumph being able to bag a killer shot of this unit. Especially since the sun was playing it's hide and seek game with a bunch of potential cloud-block suspects hanging around the sky with the pleasant evening weather.

What I love most about this shot is the dramatic, and dynamic cloud covered sky above the iconic New York City skyline which almost dwarves the clean, and shiny patriotic locomotive and its set of matching blue-striped cars. Amazingly, this was the only train that the fickle sun stayed out for in the hour or so spent trackside at the Harlem-125th St station.

However, there was an additional prize only a few trains away that the radar website train tracker gave privy to. After the flash, glitz and glamour of Metro-North 250 went by outbound from Grand Central, another favorite of mine was on the way inbound.

New Haven "grime and green" 222 was set to shove Metro-North train 8848 toward Grand Central Terminal. This time the cloud-blocked sun was on our side as we'd all be shooting from the shadow side of the train as it headed off to its final destination.

This locomotive was and still is one of my favorite units before Metro-North 250 came along, and has been in service since February 28th, 2025. I was lucky enough to catch it deep within the bowels of Grand Central Terminal when it was all shiny and clean.

I do like the 222 because it was the introduction a lot of things that Metro-North would carry on doing for future heritage and special interest units like painting the plow, mirrors and third rail shoes. Along with the debut of a revised Metro-North heritage unit circle decal towards the rear of the locomotive. But over a year of continued service has taken a toll on this locomotive as I saw with it pushing train 8848 to Grand Central Terminal. The plow in particular, shows what a year of repeated service can do to something that once was beautiful, shiny, and clean.

Even with the battered plow and its dirty appearance, New Haven 222 still looks great and it still ranks as one of my favorite, of the now nine, heritage units on Metro-North's roster. But I think it's crown has been usurped by the newest kid on the block to wear its colors proudly, and boldly, that is the majesty of Metro-North 250.

I'm hopeful that I can see it a multitude of times trackside in the near future as America encroaches upon it's 250th birthday celebration on July 4th, 2026! Whether it be close to home in Norwalk on the Danbury Branch, or the New Haven line. Or if I have be like the band Cake and go the distance, by traveling to the Hudson line, then so be.

Because so much in what makes getting to a certain destination so enjoyable is the journey that you've built up along the way. And catching this locomotive twice, has been nothing but a trip from start to finish! Cheers to seeing it many more times whether I'm the lone lummox trackside or within the company of others brought together for this one crystalizing moment.