The Japanese-designed M8 cars for the New Haven Line are coming… for real! The first pair will be shipped on a freighter from Kobe, Japan on Wednesday. After a month at sea, the cars will arrive in Baltimore, and from there will be shipped to New Haven. By March, another three pairs will be arriving, enough for a full eight car train. If all goes well, New Haven Line riders should be seeing M8’s by late next year. All of the cars can run on both third rail power, and from catenary wires. And of course, they are all decked out in a red color scheme: the color of the New Haven Line.

Here are some delightful pictures of the M8. There is even one of the M8’s bathroom. Because admit it, that is really what you wanted to know about.

You can read more about the M8’s in the Hartford Courant.

In other news, nobody got any free rides today on the train. I did happen to catch a glimpse of the other conductor at the back of the train, and I couldn’t help but think that with his big mustache he looked a lot like Wilford Brimley. The Quaker Oats and Liberty Medical guy. And just for good measure, here is a cat that looks like Wilford Brimley, that looks like the train conductor on my train.

I got my DIABEEEEETUS testing supplies from Liberty Medical!