Farewell to the FL9 Excursion

During the 1950's, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (NY, NH & H) comissioned General Motors' Electro-Motive Division (EMD) to build a locomotive capable of being powered by diesel-electric as well as directly via a third rail. This arrangement was needed since there are regulations in New York City that prohibit locomotives from emitting smoke within the city's limits.

After the NY, NH & H was aquired by Penn Central in 1969, and after Penn Central's Bankruptcy in 1976, the operation of these locomotives was turned over to the Metro-North Railroad.

On October 23, 2005 the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) held a 'Farewell to the FL9' excursion to celebrate nearly 50 years of service. The excursion started in Stamford, Connecticut and ran to Danbury via Metro-North's Danbury Branch. After this, the train continued on Housatonic Railroad's Berkshire Line which hasn't seen scheduled passenger service since Penn Central abandoned regular passenger service in 1971.

Use the navagation links on the left of this page or the links below the pictures for the chase pages.

Northbound

Layover

Southbound