Just the other day I was chatting with a coworker about riding
the train – she lives in Mount Vernon and mentioned occasionally
riding the “red line” into the city. I had to chuckle a little
bit – it is usually the uninitiated newbies that refer to the
Metro-North lines by their colors. The color of each line,
however, is deeply ingrained in all of us. From the signage on
the platforms to the printed timetables, we all pretty much know
that the Hudson Line is green, the Harlem blue, and the New
Haven red. But where did these colors come from, and how long
have they represented each line? Most obvious is the New Haven
Line. The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, of which
today’s New Haven Line was once a part, long used red for
printing and locomotive paint schemes. Although not part of the
core Metro-North lines on the east of the Hudson River, I’ve
always thought that the selection of orange to represent the
Port Jervis line was a little bit clever – much of the line runs
through Orange County. I’m not