4-6-4 Hudson classifications

General
1

Can someone tell me how to identify a Hudson from a Super Hudson and Modern Hudson. Thank you

2

I’ve never heard those terms before. “Hudson” is just a wheel arrangement. “Modern” and “super” seem like someone’s subjective terms.

3

There are two 4-6-4 designations: Hudson and Baltic. Somewhat politically these have come to be distinguished by the hinge arrangements on the trailing truck: on the original French Baltics it was pin-guided (as they were on the German high-speed tank locomotives) whereas in North America it’s Delta/Bissel style.

Amusingly enough for a wrench in the works, the Milwaukee Road (under C.H.Bilty) first developed the Hudson type… but they called it ‘Baltic’ and all their 4-6-4s were called that. Unfortunately they had no money to build the type in 1926, and by the time they did, New York Central had made the type famous…

“Super” was an overused marketing term in the Thirties: bigger, better, more expensive. In particular New York Central used this to try to distinguish the J3s from the J1s

“Modern” is similarly whatever the marketing department wants it to be… but it would involve some of the high-speed balancing and thermodynamic breakthroughs that changed Super-Power from drag-engine philosophy to effective power at speed after Eksergian in 1928. By the mid-1930s you were seeing extensive attempts at streamstyling, modern running gear, and touted speeds of 120mph or greater.

4

It sounds like it could be terms railroad specific for engines that have been modified or rebuilt.

Jeff

5

Thanks everyone

6

The locomotive builders tended to like their superlatives in advertizing:

Alco_Ad1 by Edmund, on Flickr

AD-LIMA-SUPERPOWER-200-1 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr

Regards, Ed

7

For New York Central, the first 1920s Hudsons were the J-1 class. The late 1930s J-3 class of Hudsons were larger and more powerful, with several modern improvements, so were sometimes called “Super Hudsons”. The classic two-tone gray streamlined “Dreyfuss Hudsons” were J-3s. (There was a batch of J-2 Hudsons built for the NYC System’s Boston & Albany RR.)