"Water World Over The Merritt"
Metro North's "Water World" traverses over the Merritt Parkway on the New Canaan Branch. This bridge is one of several uniquely designed bridges constructed by the Connecticut State Highway Department in the 1930s to cross the parkway.
"Water World" is Metro North's rail washer tasked with spraying leaf residue off the rails throughout the electrified territory, mainly the Harlem & New Haven Lines. This Water World set consists of a Cab Car, Sprayer Car (flatcar), 2 water tanks and a BL20GHM for power. The leader, CDOT BL20GHM 125, was a BL20GH, originally built by Brookville Equipment Corporation in 2008. After years of service, Metro North & CDOT contracted Motive Power Industries (MPI) to rebuild the BL20GHs starting with the 125. This rebuild included the swapping out MTU-Detroit Diesel 12V4000 for a more reliable Cummins prime mover and upgrading several other components on the engine. For the CDOT owned engines the rebuild also called for repainting the locomotives in CDOT's new "CTrail" scheme.
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom-seen beauty of the railroad world from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding gems of sunset-to-sunrise surprises!)
