On the serendipity of sighting a “Brookie” on a perfect autumn afternoon…
… from a photographer’s notebook
If you’re a chocoholic or someone who feels a meal is not complete without a dessert, you may be aware of a tasty concoction that combines the sinful chocolateness of a brownie and the eternal comfort food goodness of a chocolate chip cookie. I actually first came upon the name, about ten years ago, while dining at Juliana’s pizza restaurant in Brooklyn. Seeing it on the chalkboard, I guess I just assumed from the name that it was a uniquely Brooklyn concoction!
Ah, but if the aroma of diesel in the autumn air, with the broad Hudson River and a four-track mainline beside it as a visually fetching backdrop, is also to your taste, you may find the occasional appearance of a “Brookie,” especially one in black, orange and white livery evocative of the New Haven Railroad, something of a delicious outlier amidst the rushing Metro North P32AC Dual Mode diesels with long consists of Shoreliner coaches, the fully-electric M3A and M7A Multiple-Unit trains, or the handsome silver-red-and-blue Amtrak Empire Service trains to Albany, Vermont or Canada that blast through this busy commuter train corridor on the center express tracks.
A diesel “Brookie?” Yes, there are such machines in Metro North territory, at least north of Manhattan, where they power mainly branchline shuttle trains. Diesels are not allowed to enter the 50-some block tunnel leading under Park Avenue into Grand Central Terminal, unless they are dual-mode, like those P32s, equipped with third-rail pickups to power their traction motors directly.
But that leaves many miles of Metro North mainline where a “pure” diesel can thrive and bloom, living life in a moderate zoom.
This one, being overtaken by an express powered by one of the
aforementioned P32AC-DM’s, was captured last month at Ardsley-on-Hudson.
Oh, and if you’re curious as to how a locomotive came to be known as a “Brookie,” the machines were built by the Brookville Equipment Corporation of Brookville, Pennsylvania. This 2,100 horsepower unit, known as the BL20GH, was one of a series designed for Metro North branch lines in Connecticut as well as the northern reaches of the Harlem Line, beyond its electrified mileage.
Thus, I appreciate all the more this serendipitous sighting along the Hudson Line, during the last week of October. Perhaps, “Brookie the Diesel” was borrowed from Harlem Line duties to pull shuttle trains while Metro North was working to normalize after the mudslide that disrupted Hudson Line service a few days before the photo was taken ??
In any case, I am indebted to Gary Dolzall for his informative article and beautiful “Brookie” photos, on the excellent WeAreRailfans web site, for help in identifying my “serendipitous outlier” on that perfect autumn afternoon on the Metro North’s Hudson Line.
©2023 Steve Ember
More of my (North American) train photography may be viewed here and here.
For such motifs in wall art, note cards, and other iterations, please peruse.
