On December 8th, 2025, Metro-North Railroad Siemens SC-42DM #306 leads the annual Employee Holiday Train as it rounds the infamous Jenkins Curve along the New Haven Line in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In the background, the iconic decommissioned PSEG Bridgeport Harbor Station smokestack rises above the skyline, a familiar landmark long visible along the Long Island Sound. Once part of a coal-fired power plant that powered much of southwestern Connecticut from the 1950s until its retirement in 2021, the towering red-and-white “candy cane” smokestack has become a symbol of the city’s industrial past. Now decommissioned and with most of the plant already taken down, the smokestack itself is slated for demolition in April 2026 as part of a waterfront redevelopment project, though local efforts to preserve the structure as a piece of Bridgeport heritage continue.

Metro-North’s Employee Holiday Train operates for two to three weeks each December, with upper management traveling systemwide to stop at crew sign-up and mechanical locations to distribute small gifts and personally thank the railroad’s employees. This year’s train consisted of Siemens SC-42DM MNCW 306 and the “Honoring All Who Served” veterans-wrapped P32AC-DM MNCW 216, sandwiching the railroad’s three Office Car Special/Inspection coaches.