Metro-North Driver ‘Conducts’ Yale Glee Club in Holiday Concert on Train

ABCNews.com(NEW HAVEN, Conn.) — The Metro-North conductor who led the Yale Glee Club in an impromptu holiday sing-along that was a viral video last year has reunited with the singers for another carolling treat.

Bob McDonough shared a video on Facebook Saturday of his session “conducting” the New Haven-based singers in a holiday song aboard a Metro-North train.

This year, the glee club performed “In the Bleak Midwinter.”

McDonough told ABC News he normally drives an empty train from New Haven to New York City each afternoon to position it for rush hour. On Friday, a train shortage left him without a train to drive, so he rode on a local into Grand Central Station.

As McDonough sat down to read a book, a coworker saw a “group of well-dressed college kids” on the platform and told McDonough he thought it was the Yale Glee Club.

“He said, ‘Hey Bobby, I think these are your glee club kids from last year,'” McDonough recalled.

McDonough surprised the students on the train and said they “all started laughing” when they saw their old “conductor.”

The glee club was traveling into New York City to perform a Christmas concert at The Yale Club in midtown Manhattan, according to McDonough. He said the singers were all happy to reprise their train performance with a new song this year.

“I said, ‘What are the chances and can we do another one?'” McDonough said. “Emma, the choral leader, suggested ‘In the Bleak Midwinter.'”

“I said, ‘I love that song so much, sounds great,'” he recalled.

McDonough had the singers practice the song as they waited to pass the next stop to avoid being interrupted by train announcements. He asked glee club member Sara Viola Speller to shoot a video on his smartphone while they sang. The club performed the song in one take.

McDonough’s video has received 23,000 views since Saturday.

The Yale Glee Club also shared the video on Facebook. They did not yet respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

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