#nyc hudson

[shadezfandomstuff]

🎵🎶Driving on my line in Manhattan, hey that bump is shaped like Perlman🎶🎵

[mrpullmanjr]

If there was ever an icon of railroading, it was the J1e Hudson.

To me, nothing will ever top the look, the lines and the aura of the Hudson. The New York Central and ALCo cooked so hard they broke the dining plate with the Hudson. The Milwaukee Road might've drawn up the plans first, but the NYC beat them to an actual working model. If you ever told me about what train I liked the most, the Hudson (specifically 5344) will be the first thing to pop into my head.

Shown above is my Broadway Limited Imports 5344. This is an older Quantum era model (No. 001) with horrid speakers and somewhat sub-par audio, but I love it because it sounds like 2000s era Lionel Railsounds (Also having grown up with the I Love Toy Trains series, the Hudson still further spoke to me there). I painted the pilot wheels black since they were unpainted and re-adhered the broken marker lights. In time, I plan to paint the outer drive wheel rims black to match.

[trainsandstuff]

"The Road of the Century" New York Central advertisement, featuring what looks like two streamlined J3 Hudsons, An EMD E7A, and a locomotive I can't identify.

[collinthenychudson]

Since I did a remastered drawing of the Milwaukee Road Little Joe back in April 2025, I figured another one of my old drawings could use a revamp. This time, it's the New York Central J3A Dreyfuss Hudson from february 2022.

Reference Image: https://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/photo-chicago-train-new-york-central-streamlined-steam-engine-5450-dreyfuss-hudson-1938.jpg

Drawing C) Me

[hazel-of-sodor]

What are your thoughts on the Hudsons?

in general or specifically the NYC ones? In general they're a good wheel arrangement. I personally prefer pacifics, but 4-6-4s are nice

On the NYC ones, how was one not saved? They're possibly the most iconic American Locomotive (and I saw that as a PRR fan)

I hope a new build project succeed bc they deserve it. The engines...not the NYC fans I know. They need to chill (long story about NYC fans in the discord sever foaming at the mouth)

[bakunawaart]

Eldritch Engines

🌟NYC Hudson 4-6-4🌟🚂

A proud and graceful creature that values it’s appearance greatly. It likes taking shiny things to use in it’s armour and prides itself on its speed.

[collinthenychudson]

With the United States coming out of the Great Depression, the railroads were in need of something to make passenger rail travel popular again. In response to the Diesel-Powered Pioneer Zephyr of the Burlington Route that came a few months prior, Carl F. Kantola designed an Art Deco streamlined shroud for New York Central 5344, the last of the J-1E Hudsons built for that railroad. Debuting on December 27th 1934, the locomotive was displayed at Grand Central Terminal marking a new era of locomotive design and earning it's name "Commodore Vanderbilt".

Hailed as the world's first streamlined steam locomotive, the Commodore Vanderbilt would go on a tour to major cities of the New York Central before being put to use on the 20th Century Limited. The streamlining of the locomotive would be followed up by similar designs on several other North American railroads. In fact, L-2A Mohawk No. 2873 would be equipped with a similar streamlining for the Million-Dollar Rexall Streamlined Train in 1936.

With the advent of J3A Hudsons No. 5445-5454, No. 5344 would lose it's shroud in favor of the Henry Dreyfuss streamlining that was used for the last ten J3As and was reassigned to the Mercury in 1939. But as streamlining would only increase the maintenance, the 5344 would become a regular Hudson again but would eventually gain a centipede tender. No. 5344 would continue to serve the New York Central until it was eventually retired and scrapped alongside all the other Hudsons in the late 1950s.

Although the locomotive was lost to history, its legacy carries on with model railroading, various forms of media, and a tender from No. 5313 that was converted into a steam generator car and can be seen on static display Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In addition, a few steam locomotives from the NYC have made it into preservation such as L-3A Mohawk No. 3001, which The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society plans to restore to oprating condition once enough funds are raised.

Models and Route by: TrainzProRoutes, Auran, and Download Station

[steelsteamco]

Americano steamers anybody?