The setting could be the Adirondack branch in upstate New York, but it's the Needham line in suburban Boston, where a former New York Central RS-3 burbles towards Needham Junction with an evening rush hour train out of South Station. Penn Central regularly assigned RS-3s to two of the rush hour trains on the Needham branch for a couple years in the early 1970s.
The three biggest passenger carriers - Pennsylvania, New York Central, and New Haven - merged to create the ill-fated Penn Central, whose passenger losses and poor service led to the formation of Amtrak and state-owned commuter lines.
