Owner: Joshua Moldover

Routes: The M&H is a modern regional railroad operating from Schenectady to Albany, NY, down the east side of the Hudson River through New York City, up to New Haven, CT, with a branch from a connection with NS at Campbell Hall, NY across the Hudson at Poughkeepsie to New Haven, CT via Danbury (the old ex-NH Maybrook Line).

System Map: 1999 System map with M&H trackage shown in red

History: In 1993, as part of line rationalization, Conrail sold off the portion of track between Albany and Schenectady, NY that was used by Amtrak, along with the Troy industrial track. The line was purchased by a "reborn" shortline that took its name from the original railroad operating the route. In 1999, as part of the NS-CSX-CR split, the M&H was given an opportunity to expand. With CSX's well-known dislke for mixed passenger and freight operations, the M&H offered to take over operations on the Hudson line as well as freight operations in the NYC area. CSX was only too glad to go along, and thus was born the "expanded" M&H. Today, in addition to its own trains, M&H rails carry trains from Amtrak, Metro-North, and Canadian Pacific/D&H. The road serves as the major route in and out of New York City itself, delivering freight directly into Manhattan over the West Side freight line while interchanging with CSX, Norfolk Southern, Canadian Pacific, Providence & Worcester, and the New York & Atlantic, and is also the host for the New York State Railroad Museum in Schenectady, NY, operating both steam and historical diesel excursions.
Paint Scheme: Road units use a New York Central/New Haven-based scheme of grey lightning stripes over a Hunter green background. Switchers are painted a plain dark green, with white lettering. Passenger equipment is painted similar to the road units, with a white-edged grey stripe along the window band, whereas freight equipment is in the plain green scheme with a white logo and lettering.

(Note -- these images will open up in a new window. Close the window to return to this page.)

• EMD road unit scheme on a GP38-2
• Front view of EMD road unit scheme
• GE road unit scheme on a U23B
• "Executive" Passenger scheme on an FL9 (Drawn by Stan Lytle)
• Switcher scheme on an SW1500
• Passenger equipment scheme on a P-S fluted-side diner
• Freight equipment scheme on a plug-door boxcar
• Caboose paint schemes are still in the paint scheme testing area.

The M&H is a participating member of the P-FMSIG E-pass Exchange. If you'd like to request or exchange electronic rail passes from the M&H, stop by the Exchange and ask!

Joshua Moldover, Webmaster