They need a green and black heritage unit on the BNSF to honor the old EMD E9’s that used to so famously operate there.

The Chicago flag is indeed legit! Here's its symbolism: Initially the flag had just two stars when it was adopted in 1917, but it changed to three in 1933 and then a fourth in 1939. Each six-pointed star (six points were chosen because no other flag had this when it was made) represents an event in Chicago's history. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the Century of Progress Exposition of 1933, and the establishment of Fort Dearborn in 1803. And each point on these stars has a meaning. For the Great Chicago Fire for example the points represent the virtues of religion, education, aesthetics, justice, beneficence, and civic pride. The three white bars represent the North, West, and South Sides of Chicago. The top sky-blue bar represents Lake Michigan and the North Branch of the Chicago River, while the bottom bar represents the South Branch of the river and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal

Metra definitely ain’t perfect, but at least they go above and beyond to honor their heritage. And those new Alstom ones look legit! I love a good train car with a livery that stands out! My favorites are the Tri-Rail bi-levels from Florida because of the blue sky and palm trees. It just screams Florida and tropical good vibes and it definitely makes them stand out by doing their own thing. It’s the little things that count, right?

AMAZING video I love some of some paint schemes but I LOVE Metras heritage units they look soooo cool 405,104,211 and 90 are my favorites.

Those old Amtrak engines are by far the nicest looking in the fleet. Saw #79 on the McHenry spur a while back. They also have brighter, more iconic sounding train whistles that are more pleasing than the standard units, and they run quieter as well.

For the “Stoney Point” (nickname for the Rock Island) I wish they had chosen the maroon/silver scheme-very classy. One additional comment on the Milwaukee electrified lines: they were also in Washington state as well as Montana and Idaho. Your videos are always informative and Chicagoland is still the railroad capital of the US.

I was in Chicago last year, and I saw Metra 211, Metra 402, & Metra 405. But I’m excited to see the SD70MACH’s when I come back to Chicago someday.

It would be cool to see a Chicago and Alton/GM&O heritage unit for the Heritage Corridor, Wabash/N&W heritage unit for the Souhwest service (which NS ran until 1993), and an electric multiple unit car in an Illinois Central heritage livery. I prefer the F59PHi and SD70MAC-H liveries over the lightningbolt livery they're starting to give the F40s and F40PHMs. F40PH 100 was wrapped in an RTA heritage livery a few years back before any of these other heritage liveries were applied.

The one thing I hope they continue with the newer locomotives is throwing a famous Chicago name, suburb, district, or neighborhood stamp on the front just underneath the cabs. Always fun to see which town/neighborhood will be pulling your train.

Thank you for the video Thom! I really enjoyed learning about Metra and it's colourful liveries. I didn't realise Metra went into Wisconsin! As for UK trains. I myself like the LNER 225 in the Intercity Swallow Livery and the Transpennine Express. Speaking of the Netherlands, 5 years ago today, I was visiting Amsterdam for the first time! :-)

Fun fact! @7:30 you will see AMTK 184. For some reason Amtrak decided to only repaint that locomotive from their heritage units. It used to rock the Phase IV livery.

Metra should get a Ex-Amtrak AEM-7 painted in IC Electric colors pulling old Highliner 1 EMUs

I love that they operate on their former lines, compared to njt where you can see the CNJ unit on former Erie Lackawanna territory. I find it interesting that they do this in Chicago, because for NJT they just operate on any line needed.

That Rock Island red tribute livery is very similar to the old South African Railways or Suid Afrikaanse Spoorweegen in Afrikaans livery right down to the yellow whiskers except for the fact SAR were mainly electric apart for a few branches.

I love Metra commuter rail.❤

Another great video, can't wait for the next!

Thank you for another great video ! It was so neat to see all the Metra Heritage liveried locos in one video. I particularly liked the Rock Island MPI unit, and the C&NW F59PHI No 90. Good to see the new SD70 locos almost ready to run, and I’m really looking forward to your report on them. Many thanks indeed.

Great video and your historical explanations, Thanks.

Nice one Thom. The latter part of your video reminded me much of my time in Chicago in October 1995. I spent a week exploring the Metra system as it was then and travelled a number of times between Arlington Heights and Ogilvie Transportation Center during my visit. A lot has changed in the 28 years since my visit but some familiar views appeared in this and other of your videos. Keep up your good work. Cheers from Michael🙂

Great video! Learn something new each time! Hope your efforts are rewarded

The Milwaukee District lines also have, or at least had for a period of time, another heritage livery designed to look like Milwaukee Road’s Arrow service which operated from Chicago to Omaha. The Arrow livery was a nice golden yellow and brown color and originally operated exclusively on the Milwaukee District West Line to Elgin, which the Arrow operated on from the 1930s until the 1960s. Whereas the Hiawatha livery exclusively ran on the Milwaukee District North Line. Metra may have discontinued the Arrow livery because I haven’t seen it in a while

My choice would be Metra electric locomotives with Illinois Central Railroad livery. With the green diamond logo on the nose.

Super impressive!

As always, Thom, you're a rail superhero. Great video, and rockin opening music too. Who knew a guy from the Netherlands would have good musical taste 😂 If you had one pet peeve re: railroad rolling stock, what would it be? Mine is trains with mixed livery cars. Amtrak does this often enough... a Superliner car mixed with a Surfliner...or even some of the new coaches mixed with Amfleet ones. And dont even get me started on NYs Metro North when they mix Blue with the Orange coaches from the New Haven division. They just make the train and railroad look junky. We're off on Amtrak from NYC to Niagara Falls, then off to the real world of rail, Switzerland... all aboard.

Great video mate

I love that you mentioned the horrored twotenny😂

Great locomotives!

I agree with you on the Metra F59PHI Surfliner paint scheme, I think they should really keep it in my opinion because it fits the engine really well. I miss the F59PHI units on the Pacific Surfliner, but I am glad that they are now running on Metra instead of being scrapped. The lighting bolt paint scheme looks good on the F59PHI’s in my opinion. But it looks no where as good as the Surfliner and Cascades paint scheme imo. 79 was originally Amtrak unit 456. I am glad that a saw a few ex Amtrak F59s in Chicago in June 2021. My favorite special Metra units in my opinion would be CNW unit 90, Ex Amtrak 467, Metra 402 and 104. Metra is a cool railroad to film but it could be better system than it is right now, like Metra needs to fix some of their schedules on their lines like the Heritage Corridor, North Central Service, and the Southwest Service, but the North Central Service schedule has gotten a bit better than it was previously. But the good news is that they are getting new passenger cars, which is mentioned in this video and I cannot wait for them to enter service. Metra while a cool railroad to film, like I said and is probably the best commuter railroad outside the East Coast, but it is definitely not the best transit system in the world and exemplifies everything wrong with American passenger rail. Some things about Metra do need to be fixed like run trains every 15 to 20 minutes by adding more equipment and running the trains safely as they can. And they can also electrify all of their lines, with the exception of the Metra Electric District which has been electrified already, which is neat. Even though I am nostalgic for diesels, that I will admit that electric trains are more bettter for the environment. Overall you did a good job making this video about Metra’s different paint schemes. Keep up the good work.

I heard the Rock Island livery was to salute a retiring Metra executive who had a previous career working for the Rock Island. That might just be a rumor though.😀

Metra 404 should get a Cybernetic livery

Awesome video😊

The CB&Q colours look fantastic on the F40.

IIRC the heritage units are actually painted. The first heritage unit actually doesn't exist anymore as it was a wrap of the original RTA livery for the RTAs 40th anniversary. Still hoping for a GM&O heritage unit for the heritage corridor a Wabash unit for Southwest and an actual RTA unit. Yes CNW was the first with the bilevels and there are actual photos of shiny new yellow and green commuter bilevels being pulled by a 4-6-2 Pacific steam engine. Additionally the Rock Island commuter service was literally a working museum with 1920s " Caponeliners " along with some very rare locomotives saved from the scrappers torches ( though sadly not all of the rare locomotives were saved) simply because they were high mileage units and easily spared for HEP conversion for the new Budd and Pullman smooth side bilevels. Seriously a lot of current railroad museums fleets across the country are donated Rock Island Caponeliners. Just a couple of corrections the older smooth side Metra bilevels are actually steel and former CNW and Rock Island Pullman cars and the new bike livery and oddly painted smooth side cars are actually painted for other commuter lines around the country. Apparently when Metra started getting the new larger window stainless steel cars metra decided the old smooth side Pullmans were considered obsolete and sold to other commuter start ups in other cites. Apparently metra misjudged just how obsolete those cars were and had to buy back a bunch of them. Finally the Milwaukee heritage unit is actually orange and maroon but a lot of modern maroon paints fade rapidly to brown upon weathering.

Awesome promotional video for Metra and the city of Chicago! This video wants me want to visit and see the units you highlight! Thanks for putting this together! I might just have to press the subscribe button! Do you think I should? Wink😊

Through independent research I learned 405’s emblem was the Milwaukee Road’s Hiawatha Running Indian badge and not the Winged Mercury I first thought. The video encouraged me to acquire new knowledge!

Thanks!

Awesome video Thom! I just discovered your channel, and you’ve got some really cool stuff! I am a freak when it comes to Metra. I know so much about the Metra system it’s not even funny. I even know every stop on 10 of the 11 lines. I also know every locomotive the railroad uses. The railroad is also the fourth busiest in the country which I find very interesting

I loved these trains.... CNW 4080C Chicago & North Western Railroad EMD F7(A)

Metra should consider painting one locomotive for Burlington Northern. Have a nice day/night.

At 15:44, I believe you filmed that shot at my apartment building on Arlington Heights Rd! Haha. I get to watch the NW line from my couch!

“With a bright front telling bigger trains they’re venomous” 😂

6:28 I saw this one in Naperville a week ago!

Metra does some cool liveries, they all work together well and they never stray too far from their original colours. I really hope they don't use that different battery loco livery though... Or even better don't use battery locos and build overhead electrification. Cool video Thom, I like the different presentation and transitions you used in this video.

Nice

i love the thumbnail!

All the trains in that train game

I like Metra a lot, and I have almost seen every livery that metra has, but I haven’t seen 425, 402, and 104.

Nice video Thom! I would love to see more vibrant paint schemes on some of these locomotives and cars. The stainless steel look reminds me of a classic 1950s American diner, and I think it just looks really dated now. I love the lean and mean green and yellow machine around 12:37, and the windows of the passenger coaches are even yellow-green! I've noticed weirdly tinted Metra windows in some of your other videos as well. Is the tinting noticeable in person as well?

Just amazed and impressed at your knowledge and research in the different Metra lines and reallllllyyyy appreciate you sharing your videos with all of us. I like color on trains too!!! Thank you!!!

If you were here before he changed the thumbnail and title 👇

I think seeing a couple EMUs on the electric line with old Illinois Central livery would be pretty cool

I’ve seen Unit 405 on the NCS Line near Prospect Heights

The Twotenny Valentine's Day livery 💀💀💀

I’d love to see a Green & Black throw back to the Burlington Northern on the racetrack.

Metra should do a custom wrap of #420 on 4/20 sometime. It would be so hilarious.

Additional heritage colors for Rock Island locomotives would be the blue and white "The Rock" and black, red and white design. For the Burlington Northern, the green and white white with the orange and white stripes, similar to the E9's passenger units that Metra used. CB&Q also had the red and silver freight design as well as black, yellow, red and metallic gray freight color, too. Perhaps these would be great on the F40PH's. As for the commuter cars, wrapping their bodies with the old CNW colors and original Rock Island yellow and red colors would be nice.

Note that not all of Metra’s F59s came from the Pacific Surfliner. Units 88-93 (Ex Amtrak Units 465-470) were from the Amtrak Cascades Service in the Pacific Northwest. Units 73-87 (Ex Amtrak Units 450-464) were from the Pacific Surfliner.

The rock island heritage unit looks like a mix between ketchup and mustard

You're right about 425 looking like a Happy Meal. Incidentally there's a preserved locomotive on my local heritage railway - Hunslet-built DSA 551 - that's painted in a very bright red and yellow livery which reminds me of McDonald's. The livery isn't even remotely authentic. I like the concept of heritage units. Not just because they add some colour variation to the rail scene, but also because I like seeing these big companies celebrating their past. Some of my favourite heritage units are Norfolk Southern ES44AC No. 8099 and SD70ACe No. 1071. Incidentally KiwiRail still has around eight mainline locomotives (four 'DC' diesels and four 'EF' electrics) running in old liveries, and they are basically unofficial heritage units.

I love Burlington route livery. I wouldn't mind if all the streamlined f40s got that livery

It's both, honestly... It's within that blend where it's "neigende naar rood, en neigende naar oranje, maar ook; geen van beiden" to put it in as blunt and abstractly Dutch as I can😁 My bf has a vest that within that transitional circle of being red and orange... And I think I told him it looked more like orange to me, when I finally got to hug him at ORD, whilst he described it messages as red😁💜

And then there's that candy-cane striping on the front and rear. I'm sure there's a story there, but have never heard it. No other U.S. commuter lines seem to have them.

Hello Thom, as always a very interesting video. When i see the trains with on one side a locomotive and on the other side a cabcar i always think their must be a big difference in fuelconsumption between what side the train is running on. The locomotives are pretty aerodynamicly styled, but that cabcars have the aerodynamics of a brick. Do you know anything about it 🤔?

thom really dragged two tenny into this 😂 please no, no Valentine's wrap

Metra needs the EMD F125 because it is both built by EMD and is safe for the environment. Metra should also buy old AEM-7's for the electric line. But what Metra needs the most is a heritage unit in the old BN E9 paint scheme

I think that a locomotive in the GM&O red would be appropriate as well. Plate C

Wonder how they've added HEP to those MACs. Alaska RR did it by having the Inverter for the rear truck produce HEP, essentially halving the traction power.

With the newer cars, they should keep half, They could donate a few pullmans and maybe A cab car to the IRM? Idk what their gonna do with the cars

One day I'll be looking for 211, 90, 104 and 405.

You probably won't see this because I'm commenting late, but you should do a video titled something like "Chicago's Secret Light Rail Line". I'm referring to the South Chicago branch of the metra electric line, where it runs in the median of 71st st and Exchange ave. Could be an interesting video.

Where did you find out about the new car liveries? I've been desperate to find out! 😂

The names of the to liveeres that metes uses are classic and fademteth the older ones with the blue and orange is the classic wech is sen on f40ph-2 f40ph-3 and f40phm-3

Santa Fe red and silver Warbonnet would look great on a MP36?

Do we know when the sd70s are being put into service and what lines they will be on

Very informative and well done. How about New York Central livery? Pennslyvania railroad did use Union Station so that would be ok right? Why not acknowledge all of the old lines that served chicago?

C&NW livery locos should’ve also had matching passenger cars in the C&NW livery. I mean, COME ON! Who wouldn’t want to be riding around in a modern day C&NW passenger train and relive the old days…

Just realized that they missed the Wabash colours on a F59PHI/F40PH/SD70MAC-2H.

Where is that location at 7:20? Is there towboat/ barge traffic there?

And the NW line is going to Rockford👍🏻🚂

Wonder if there would ever be a Metra AEM-7 IC Electric Heritage Unit.

They need one for the ICG electric line.

Metra should extend the UP-N line to Milwaukee.

Wow well all of these Heritage units are Awesome! My favorite is the C&NW. But I'm not trying to be rude, but I think you missed METX 100, RTA Heritage Unit or the RTA's 40th Anniversary Heritage unit. Unless the wrap hasen't been taken off or it hasen't been repainted, I'm pretty sure you missed it.

Leo: 7:31 i see amtrak 184 just repaint in phase 5 the farewell of 184 the phase 4

Does Metra Operate any ex Santa Fe or BN Lines? if so i'd like to see BN or Santa Fe HU's

Reogrand pant were be good.

I consider the SD70MACHs to be “Stomach” units, since the spelling very similar, swapping out the T with 7 and O with 0.

As one who grew up on the Rock Island, I wholeheartedly agree with your color assessment. Possible subject? How does Kenosha conribute to Metra/RTA? Illinois counties offer up some sales tax revenue and Metra and RTA are both Illinois entities, so how does Kenosha fit into the financial scheme? Also, the North Western used to run to Walworth, Wisconsin until 1971 (prior to the RTA coming into being). Why did they lose the service and Kenosha got to keep theirs? Thanks for all your research and happy travels. Cheers.

Lightning Bolt? More like Athletic Swoosh IMHO. Liked the NS 'Green' treatment - on that note, have they ever done all-over wraps to commemorate MAT '46, '54 or even '57? \m/

What do you think about the Battery Electric Multiple Units Metra is buying from Alstom?

No Wabash, Illinois Central or Alton? That's sad.

The Rock Island locomotive matches The Flash color scheme.

If only METRA could wrap the Highliner 2 MUs in the Illinois Central colors.

If only you found the livery that I last saw at least in the 1980s in which most Metra locomotives have skyblue and red and was really branded not Metra but for the RTA. In fact Metra wrapped a locomotive in that livery in the last few years. Just like this. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/e92Gq86TntnDl40.html I think my favorite heritage livery is the one seen on BNSF which I believe honors the Burlington Northern railroad.

6:06 damn they left out Kenosha County

What about the Metra Christmas train??

Bro is like the Mrbeast of trains

12:55 & 13:08 what is sticking off the windshield?

Metra should have a Christmas train

Enjoyed the Metra history. 73 year old that grew up in Eastern Iowa and took C&NW passenger train (we called it the Kate Shelley 400 even after they dropped the name) into Chicago numerous times. Also took Rock Island from Iowa City into Chicago when I was in school. Amtrak traveler who has taken most Western long distance lines. Need to head East more! Keep up the great work. Jim