Few machines can boast of 50 plus years of service but that is what the EMD fleet of FL-9's can do. Unique for their 4 and 6 wheel trucks and dual power modes, 60 were built for the New Haven Railroad by 1960 to pull passenger trains from New York to Boston and everywhere else on the system. They wore the names of five railroads on their flanks: New Haven, Penn Central, Conrail, Amtrak and Metro North. When Metro North got them after 1983, they fully upgraded the fleet including head end power. They soldiered on until 2009 on Connecticut branch line service.
Here you see 2026 and 2011 a couple of years before the end at one of Metro North's excellent open houses at the main shops of Croton-Harmon. (Note the three typefaces in the four number boards.) They are of course wearing their most famous color scheme. Unfortunately, this scheme is known by the wrong person's name. That name belongs to an infamous corporate executive that ruined the New Haven who was arrested after he ruined the Boston & Maine. My beleaguered home road, the New Haven has had it bad enough so I think it's time that one of the plus things that has come out of the railroad, this fantastic paint scheme, should be known by it's actual creator, not a nefarious corporate raider. Therefore I want you all to know the name Herbert Matter. Matter was born in Switzerland, educated in Geneva and Paris, was hired by the New Haven as it's design consultant 1952-1955. I well remember the first time I saw this design in the 1950's and wow, what an explosively modern new logo it was compared to the staid designs of all other rail companies. It made an impression that has never gone away for me and anyone who has seen it. So from now on, please call this the New Haven's Matter scheme.
You can see the evolution of the NH logo Matter went through on this video.
