Bachmann Announces N NYC J3a Hudson

[peteski]

Yeah, of course Pete. I was talking about the un-streamlined version from Bachmann. If you're looking for cars to match your Dreyfus Hudson, the NYC "20th Century" streamlined cars from InterMountain are your best bet, without having to spend mucho money on the Key cars, as you pointed out. The observation car from InterMountain is based off the 1938 Century "River" cars and the sleeping cars are also quite close. The main cars that aren't a match are the RPO and the diner, and there's no lounge car at all. But they did decorate them in the slightly later, 1940, version of the Century paint scheme, with all aluminum colored stripes, which matches the Key Dreyfus. For as famous of a locomotive the Dreyfus Hudson was, and all the imagery of it used in ads and such, they didn't keep their streamlining for very long, with all 10 of them returned to their un-streamlined state by 1946/47.

-Brian.

Again, thanks for the info Brian.  I don't specifically model NYC, but I like to run elegant or famous trains on my club's NTRAK layouts at the train shows.  I was hoping Kato would have produced the late '30s version (like Key Imports did).  The ones with full-width diaphragms, and "Napoleon Hat" trucks.  Kato also accurately models  model each car, which is again what used to only be available in brass models.  But since that is not going to happen, I guess I'll have to seriously consider those  IM cars.  As far as the fact that the streamlining didn't last long, that doesn't bother me - I like pretty trains, even if they didn't stick around for long in "real life".

[Missaberoad]

Again, thanks for the info Brian.  I don't specifically model NYC, but I like to run elegant or famous trains on my club's NTRAK layouts at the train shows.  I was hoping Kato would have produced the late '30s version (like Key Imports did).  The ones with full-width diaphragms, and "Napoleon Hat" trucks.  Kato also accurately models  model each car, which is again what used to only be available in brass models.  But since that is not going to happen, I guess I'll have to seriously consider those  IM cars.  As far as the fact that the streamlining didn't last long, that doesn't bother me - I like pretty trains, even if they didn't stick around for long in "real life".

Like you kind of said here, I feel like the IMRC/Centrailia cars are your best bet... The odds of Kato doing 2 different eras of the same train are probably pretty slim... Especially considering their limited tooling capacity and the long list of name trains they are probably considering...

[andyl913]

Hmm interesting, they look great.

On a side note, I have two early 90's Concor NYC J3a Hudsons that will be up for sale soon.

[jargonlet]

Hopefully the Bachmann will be an easy conversion for the Fine N Scale NYC Empire State Express.

[Joetrain59]

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Any shops/vendors taking reservations?
 Thanks,
 Joe D

[MRLX1020]

Just found this on FB... [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Point353]

Just found this on FB... (Attachment Link)

Now, can you find a similar photo, but with the 1948 version of the train?

[johnb]

Just found this on FB... (Attachment Link)

I was just about to share this.

[peteski]

Interesting to see that while the Diesels have the dark gray livery, the baggage car is still spotting the light gray livery of my 1938 Dreyfus Hudson.

[Brian M]

When the NYC received their first batch of E7's in 1945, two different paint schemes were used.  One was a light gray body with dark gray stripe, to match the Dreyfus styling of the 20th Century passenger cars.  BLI did a run of E7's in this paint scheme in N scale a few years ago.  The other early paint scheme was actually a black body with dark gray stripe, which only two locomotives were delivered in this scheme, and are the two shown in this picture.  Also notice that this early version of the lightning stripes doesn't have the zig-zag at the end of the body and is a straight stripe for the full length of the engine.  Eventually (maybe by 1948 or '49), all of these early E7's would get repainted into the more familiar dark gray body with light gray lightning stripe (including the zig-zag at the end).

-Brian.

[Chris333]

When I searched where that photo was taken I found this:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.6809831,-85.9698699,3a,15y,217.32h,88.85t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8hUb7Scsp05j96AiVfM75w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[Point353]

Interesting to see that while the Diesels have the dark gray livery, the baggage car is still spotting the light gray livery of my 1938 Dreyfus Hudson.

Did you mean 1938 Dreyfus Hudson in the 1940 paint scheme?

[peteski]

Did you mean 1938 Dreyfus Hudson in the 1940 paint scheme?

I really don't know what I mean.  Here is my model.


Please teach me.

[Point353]

Here is my model.

The 1938 version had "Opex" blue stripes on the edges of the dark gray center band.



The 1940 - some refer to it as 1939 - version, as with your model, replaced the blue stripes with silver/aluminum, and the two stripes in the center of the dark gray band were much narrower.
For more info on the paint schemes, see this article: https://nycshs.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/painting-lettering-of-the-20thcentury2ndlook.pdf

[peteski]

Thank you Point353!  So my model is a 1940 version.  The 1938 with blue stripes is pretty too.