Frank Maltese and his wife of 32 years were traveling in western Massachusetts for the Big E fair two years ago, when the pair experienced a familiar encounter.
Frank Maltese on the platform at the New Canaan Train Station on March 24, 2016. He’s retiring as conductor at the end of May, after nearly 30 years with Metro-North Railroad, including 12 operating on the New Canaan branch line. Credit: Michael Dinan
Though out-of-state at a large, anonymous event, “we ran into people I knew from Connecticut,” Maltese recalled with a smile on a recent afternoon.
“We always bump into people I know and it drives my wife nuts. She says, ‘Can’t we go anywhere that you don’t know somebody?’ ”
No, not really.
For nearly 30 years, Maltese has worked as a conductor for Metro-North Railroad, including the last dozen on the New Canaan branch. He’s set to retire at the end of May—a date that local commuters say will mark the end of a mini-era that’s seen the affable and gregarious conductor evolve into far more than a guy who checks passes and punches tickets.
“It’s more like extended family than passengers on a railroad,” said New Canaanite Peter Martin, a rail commuter for 27 years. “He takes the time to remember people and is very friendly. Great guy. Every morning I see him and we chat sometimes when we have time. He likes Corvettes, I like Corvettes. It’s a great side conversation. He just loves his job, and it shows.”
As John McMenamin, a 20-year commuter said: “Frank does a great job. He keeps the trains running.”
A Bay Ridge, Brooklyn native who now resides in Easton, Maltese attended Norwalk Community College and then transferred to the University of New Haven, where he earned a degree in business management.
He started working for MTA two years after getting married, and has nearly always worked out of the Stamford hub. It’s a field he learned about through his wife’s family—she has three brothers who worked for the transportation company, one as an engineer and two as conductors.
“I’m a people person,” Maltese said.
“I could be at a restaurant and start having a conversation with people you barely know the next table over. I’m a talking machine and at this job, I enjoy it. When you see people every day, you enjoy them. I like situations with people. A friend of mine, he tells me I’m an ‘extrovert.’ When I come back from vacation, they ask me where I was.”
He said the people he’s met on the New Canaan branch line are “very nice” and that he takes it upon himself to forge connections with rail riders as though Metro-North were his own company.
“Even though I just work there, I consider the train my own business,” Maltese said. “Without the people, you don’t have a business. All the time, I try to be respectful, treat people with the utmost respect, whatever it takes. Whatever makes them comfortable, makes things as easy as possible. They’re paying for a service and they’re our customers. There’s only one railroad here but they’ll find other ways [into New York City] if they want.”
Maltese and his wife have a son, who now also is a Metro-North conductor, and a daughter.
New Canaan resident Paul Williams, a commuter to the city for about two years, said the commuter “is such a grind” that having someone like Frank to cheer up the morning “is a really nice thing to experence.”
“I think that is what separates him from other conductors, it’s his personal interaction with you, talking to you, asking about your family, things like that,” Williams said. “It makes a difference seeing him and knowing he’ll be there every day for you.”
He’ll be there through May 31. Asked what he plans to do in retirement, Maltese said: “Just do some things around the house, some traveling. I may want to take up golf. My son thinks it’s too late. He says it’s too late at my age. I may join a gym. No big plans.”
At some point, Maltese said, he and his wife may relocate down to South Carolina.
Asked if he had a message for his New Canaan commuting fans, Maltese said: “I would just say that it’s been nice meeting all you people and serving you and that’s it. See you maybe in the future.”