Broadway Limited has announced an NYC 4-6-4 Twentieth Century Limited Hudson and a USRA 4-6-2
Ch
Im assuming by Twentith Century Limited 4-6-4 you mean Henry Dryfuss Streamline J3As?
James
And the source for this info is? Just checked their website, not there. If they’re going to do the Dreyfuss design can the Empire State Limited and Mercury be far behind? Hmmm…NYC had the Commodore Vanderbilt also.
Jondrd, check the delivery schedule on BLI’s website. No pictures or descriptions yet, but a delivery date of “summer 2007” for both.
Dick
Texas Chief
I can only hope this is true. It will save me the hassle of retooling my Rivarossi streamlined Hudsons in both the original Dreyfuss design and the stainless steel Hudson designed for the Empire State Limited.
I can probably manage a decoder installation but the Dreyfuss Hudson has oversized flanges which scrape the ties on code 83 track. The Empire State version was released in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of its inaugural run which occured on December 7, 1941. That’s right, the day of infamy. By 1991, Rivarossi had reduced the flanges on the wheels to work on code 83.
I read the road names for the Pacific. Darn it, none that I want or need! I’ll wait for the next run…
Don’t look now, but the USRA light 4-6-2 wasn’t exactly a wildly popular design. Only five railroads ever ran them; ACL, B&O, GTW, M&O(later GM&O) and L&N. The only less-widespread USRA non-articulated designs were the heavy 2-8-2 (C&O, N&W and, later, FEC) and the heavy 4-6-2 (Erie only.)
Passenger operations were not a USRA priority, and passenger motive power was not provided until all the freight needs had been attended to. By the time the USRA 4-6-2’s were delivered, the Armistice had been history for months and the USRA itself was only months away from dissolution.
Chuck (who models a prototype that carried standardization in steam designs to an extreme)
hope this means that a '38 Century is not far behind…
jb
Hmm. A silver trimmed Hudson. This oughta be good.
Which Armistace are we referring to? WW1? I know that one as Armistace day but I think it’s called Veterans Day today. It’s also pretty close to the USMC’s Birthday Hoorah!
Chuck (who models a prototype that carried standardization in steam designs to an extreme)
Sheesh, that qualification could include the SAR (South African Railways), Great Western Railway (UK), DRG/DB (Germany), China Rail (how many QJ’s did they have, not to mention JS and SY?). Then there’s the Pennsy, which billed itself as the “Standard Railroad of the World”. Given that Pennsy’s locomotive classes ran to hundreds of individual copies (e.g. 425 K-4’s, 598 I-1’s, etc.), there might have been some merit to the claim. 'Course it’s tough to beat 4700 China Rail QJ’s for sheer class size. OTOH, I believe the DRG/DB class 52 2-10-0 Kriegslokomotiv numbered over 6,000.
But, you’re referring to JNR aren’t you?
Andre
Got it in one! Of course, my screen name and the fact that I have mentioned my interests a few (!) times make that fairly obvious.
Just a few samples, which comprised almost all of the pre-1945 Japanese roster:
- 2-6-0 Three classes, of 672(8620,) 154(C50) and 160(C56) units, respectively. The C50 spawned a 2-6-4T variant (C11 class, 381 units,) and the C56 gave rise to a 2-6-2T (C12 class, 293 units.)
- 2-6-2 C58 class, 427 units.
- 4-6-2 Various classes, the most numerous being the old C51 class (289 units,) and the more modern C57 (201 units) and C59 (173 units) classes
- 2-8-0 9600 class, 770 originally identical units. (By the time they were scrapped, some after 50 years of service, no two were alike.)
- 2-8-2 Three classes, of 380(D50,) 1115(D51) and 285(D52) units.
There were some odd fish (like the five E10 class 2-10-4T’s,) and the various late-in-the-day rebuilds of earlier designs with four wheel trailing trucks.
U.S. railroads dieselized. For the most part, the JNR electrified.
Chuck
Broadway mailed out a small catalog about two weeks ago mentioning the streamlined Hudson showing only a rather poor photo of the actual locomotive but they also mention future availability of matching cars. Presumably the 1938 Century.
Hope they do it. I often wondered why they didn’t offer one sooner since they already have much of the mechanical work done all they need to do is tool up for the streamlined boiler and tender.
Of course, like so many manufacturers these days they want you to “pre-order NOW” don’t be left out!
ED
Personally, I’d rather see them come out with an L1 or L2 4-8-2 Mohawk instead. But I guess it’s probably not glitzy enough for them…[sigh]
Tom
The USRA Heavy 2-8-2(or copies) were produced for C&NW/CB&Q/GN/MILW as well - the USRA Light 2-8-2 was even more numerous…
Jim
Yes, USRA took over the railroads during WWI because the railroads themselves couldn’t seem to handle the logistics and, as I understand it, all the freight cars were ending up on the east coast. They were able to avoid this and total government control in WWII, mostly due to the efforts of CB&Q’s Ralph Budd. He convinced the industry to work as a unit and hence the government that railroads could do it on their own. During WWII the US railroads moved more freight than the WWI peak with fewer cars, locomotives, and people.
This one reason the CB&Q has always had my respect. Pitty the BNSF seems to want to distance itself from this heritage instead of embracing it.
And THERE is a Hudson I really want a BLI model of, the CB&Q S-4.
Then add the AT&SF 3450 class, and we would have a nice set of Hudsons.
For myself, I’m thrilled. I love any option for streamlined steam that doesn’t involve either bidding wars for old Rivarossi stuff on Ebay, or paying even more exorbitant prices for brass…
Kris
While your comment on the USRA Pacifics is correct, your statement about the USRA heavy Mikes is not. I think you meant to say the light 2-10-2, of which only 94 were built. There were 233 heavy 2-8-2s built, for 13 different roads (and through mergers and sales, that number increased to about 20).