No. 10065 Streamlined Alco Class J-1e 4-6-4 "Hudson" Type Steam Locomotive, heading up the "Commodore Vanderbilt 20th Century Limited" Deluxe Heavyweight Passenger Train

 New York Central Railroad

The “20th Century Limited” was perhaps the grandest, most elegant passenger train to run in the United States, capturing the heart and imagination of America.  On its New York-Chicago daily run, it was an all-reserved, all first-class train.  Her bedroom compartments were roomy, comfortable, and air conditioned.  The observation car contained a bridal suite, and the dining car became an elegant nightclub as soon as the desserts were cleared away.  There was a secretary on board to cater to the needs of busy executives–in short, the train was a “luxury liner on wheels,” and fast, too–16 hours New York to Chicago (1938) (961 miles).
 
As a review, the precursor of the “20th Century Limited” was the “Lakeshore Limited,” established in 1897 in a 24-hour schedule from New York to Chicago (see No. 10046). The “20th Century Limited” was introduced in 1902 with 5 cars accommodating 42 passengers on a 20-hour schedule for the overnight runs. It was a grand all-Pullman train, a proud addition to New York Central’s “Great Steel Fleet.”
 
To pull these elegant trains, New York Central designed a special steam locomotive, called the 4-6-4 “Hudson”-type, in the mid-1920s.  This handsome locomotive could pull the heavy thirteen car train at a high rate of speed.  The first “Hudson” went into service in 1927.
 
To emphasize the modernity of its new engine, New York Central put a talented in-house employee, Carl Kantola, to work with technicians* at the Case School of Applied Science  in Cleveland, to develop a distinctive shroud to “streamline” New York Central’s J-1e “Hudson” No. 5344.  The result was the first streamlined steam locomotive seen in America–only one was shrouded, and it was named after New York Central’s founder, Cornelius Vanderbilt–the “Commodore Vanderbilt.”
 
The shrouding, finished in gun metal gray, was applied to “Hudson” Locomotive 5344 in December, 1934.  From a public relations standpoint, it was a smashing success–its photograph was everywhere, and crowds swarmed to view the new sensation.  New York Central liked the engine enough to run it more than 18,000 miles each month, for some two and a-half years, starting in February, 1935, on the 233-mile portion of the “Century’s” route between Toledo and Chicago.  The new design seemed to conjure up a future that was bright, in the midst of the Great Depression, an optimism born of new technologies as showcased by the Art Deco design movement, of which streamlining was an important element.
 
The “Commodore Vanderbilt” proudly pulled the “20th Century Limited” until the fall of 1937, when it was pulled from service to be restyled by Henry Dreyfuss, one of America’s most talented industrial designers.  The restyled “Hudson” locomotive went into service with its ten sisters early in 1938 on the “20th Century Limited” (see No. 10156).
 
No. 10065 represents a semi-scale model of the “Commodore Vanderbilt” powered “20th Century Limited” in “0" gauge, with its six car early 1930s style heavyweight passenger train, Nos. 10066 and 10067, manufactured by MTH in 1998. See No.  10073 for more information on the “Hudson”-type steam locomotive and the “20th Century Limited.”

* For his 1934 senior thesis in mechanical engineering at Cleveland’s Case School of Applied Science (now Case Western University), undergraduate Norman F. Zapf  chose to test the feasibility of streamlining a 4-6-4 “Hudson”-type steam locomotive to reduce wind resistance and improve efficiency. Zapf concluded from wind-tunnel tests on scale models that at typical passenger-train speeds of 75 miles per hour, streamlining reduced drag by 30 percent, permitting a 2 ½ to 12 percent increase in pulling capacity over traditional non-streamlined locomotives. Nearly all of Zapf’s suggestions were incorporated in America’s first streamlined steam engine, the handsomely shrouded “Commodore Vanderbilt” (subject of this history), which rolled out of New York Central’s Albany shops in December, 1934. Zapf and his associates at Case were solely responsible for the unique streamlined design, with Zapf heading up the design team. Carl Kantola of New York Central helped adapt the concept to the requirements of the actual locomotive, New York Central’s “Hudson” No. 5344, making design modifications for lubricating the running gear, adding steps, walkways, handrails, incorporating cab design, etc., the finished product becoming the prototype for many successful following streamlined designs.