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@jdstucks posted:

Hey Everyone! Just posted a blog episode reviewing my "New to Me" New York Central 21" O-Scale Passenger Cars by K-Line. Enjoy!
- Jason





Nice cars. Nice track work, too. I have Santa Fe and Milwaukee Road in my fleet.

K-Line factory made the power pick up pivot pin out of aluminum. The pin oxidizes and aluminum oxide is an insulator. That makes the current for the lighting go through the spring, overheats the spring, and the spring loses its temper. Then that pickup becomes flaccid and does not contact the center rail correctly.

One of the Jim Barrett videos shows how to use super flex wire to  jumper around the pivot on the center rail pickups. I do that to all of my K-Line streamlined aluminum cars before running them.

If you look at the one car whose lights blink going over the switches, you may find that one pickup has a bad spring. The danger is that the others will go bad soon, once they have enough track time at 18 volts on them.

Last edited by RoyBoy
@CAPPilot posted:

Nicely done.  I have the K-Line PRR set and like yours are really nice looking cars.  I run them with GGD cars for a longer train and it is hard to tell the difference between the makes.

I checked your YouTube channel and you have done some really good videos.  However, I could not find any mentioned of the diesels.  Who made them?  Thanks.

Glad you enjoy my videos. The diesels are made by MTH. I believe they hit dealer shelves in October 2019.

- Jason

@Jedderbob posted:

Now that is one gorgeous set! I love NYC stuff and have been a subscriber to your YouTube channel for a while. Always wished you went with more transition era NYC stuff as your layout has always been awesome and this one looks like it will shape up to be another fantastic showpiece.

Thanks for subscribing. My era for this layout will primarily be 1995-2015 Conrail era to NS transition. But I also have a growing passion for NYC 40's and 50's and hope to add more in the near future. However, I still don't have a strong desire to model PC to Conrail transition. But who knows, tastes change

- Jason

Nicely done Jason. These are indeed fine cars. Too bad K-Line only made 6. They have also done fine F7s and E8s. E8s would be most appropriate for the 20th Century in this paint scheme as steam had been phased out by then on the big name trains. Sometime, if you have not seen it already, watch Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest or just google North by Northwest train to see actual photos of the Century.



Pete

To lengthen my train I added two more K-Line cars, duplicates that I will change the number on, plus some GGD heavyweight head end cars. Lionel has done the cars in plastic but even if the paint matches their cars are lower and narrower than K-Line cars. The size difference stands out like a sore thumb unfortunately. GGD has done them too, very nice cars.

Pete

Last edited by Norton

Jason,

If you are interested, lengthening your 20th Century Limited can also be done by adding trans-continental cars from other roads.  I know cars from the SF were on the Limited, and the Golden State had a NYC car but not sure which NYC train it was coupled with.  I run PRR passenger trains, and I have found 21" cars from other roads made by Lionel, K-Line and GGD that were correct to run on my PRR trains.  I'm sure there are some that will fit nicely (and be correct) with your set.

Great video of some nice K-Line cars.

I recently reviewed the drawings for the latest offering of the GGD 1948 20th Century Limited.  I learned a lot about the train doing research.  The Creek series observation car is the most iconographic car in the set with its large rear windows, but I found the combination of the various sleeping accommodations interesting as well as the setup of twin unit diner with the kitchen and crew dorms and the other car having all the tables.

A set of the K-Line E8s would be prototypically correct to pull the train if you can track a set down.  E7s were originally assigned to it and have been done by Lionel and 3rd Rail in the 1948 scheme. 

@jdstucks posted:

Hey Everyone! Just posted a blog episode reviewing my "New to Me" New York Central 21" O-Scale Passenger Cars by K-Line. Enjoy!
- Jason

These are awesome, Kline had some great stuff.  I have been looking for these for a while.  I got the New NYC Hudson and PT tender I wanted to put these behind.  Can you post the Kline product number so I can hopefully find them someday!

Thanks!

Last edited by Sean's Train Depot

These are awesome, Kline had some great stuff.  I have been looking for these for a while.  I got the New NYC Hudson and PT tender I wanted to put these behind.  Can you post the Kline product number so I can hopefully find them someday!

Thanks!

Sean, do you mean the Lionel Hudson with the PT Tender or did Kline produce one that I'm not familiar with? Just tried searching and came up empty.

The Hudson's Lionel came out with in their 2019 catalog.  Mine is the 1931460.  I think this would of pulled Heavyweight cars originally, but love those streamlined Kline ones.

I have that one as well as Mr. Muffin's, and the others in the catalog with the exception of 5405. It could be possible they ran other cars than heavyweights, just have to ask the right folks. I actually was thinking of asking a passenger car question, just have been busy.

I have that one as well as Mr. Muffin's, and the others in the catalog with the exception of 5405. It could be possible they ran other cars than heavyweights, just have to ask the right folks. I actually was thinking of asking a passenger car question, just have been busy.

Steam continued to pull passenger trains just about until the end. There are dozens of videos on youtube that show this. Its mainly the big name trains that went to diesel right after WWII. A passenger train pulled by steam would likely have cars from many different eras, green and TT Gray heavyweights, stainless and TT Gray streamliners like the K-Lines. Few if any trains by the ‘50s had a train of uniform passenger car types and color.

Pete

@Norton posted:

Steam continued to pull passenger trains just about until the end. There are dozens of videos on youtube that show this. Its mainly the big name trains that went to diesel right after WWII. A passenger train pulled by steam would likely have cars from many different eras, green and TT Gray heavyweights, stainless and TT Gray streamliners like the K-Lines. Few if any trains by the ‘50s had a train of uniform passenger car types and color.

Pete

Thanks Pete.

The Hudson's Lionel came out with in their 2019 catalog.  Mine is the 1931460.  I think this would of pulled Heavyweight cars originally, but love those streamlined Kline ones.

By the end of WWII, a lot of NYC steam had lost almost all of its streamlining sheet metal. As streamline shrouds were either damaged or removed for shoppings, they did not get put back on…..this is clearly evident in historical photos of the Central, especially right after the war when traffic became less & less, and the railroad sought to cut costs as much as possible,….no budget for fancy clothes,….so it would not be uncommon to see an unshrouded Hudson on the front of a streamlined set…..remember, Niagaras were the minority, far outnumbered by Hudsons, so even though the Niagaras pulled the named trains, Hudsons were still used to “ fill in the ranks” ……so pulling a string of streamlined cars with a non-streamlined Hudson is not wrong,……have fun!…

Pat

PT: in NYC land stands for Passenger Tender, not Pedestal Tender as some think. ……PT tenders were designed to hold more coal, thus eliminating the needs for extra stops to refuel,…refueling coal was the time bandit,….water could be scooped on the fly, so the train didn’t have to stop to take on water. Pictured below: Hudson 5344 post Mercury service, with PT tender, roller bearing rods,…

Pat ACDF8AD3-8730-4E23-8D3E-DA2CC9C751D0

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One thing to consider when looking for motive power for the cars Jason’s thread is about, remember Jason, the 20th Century was the Central's Premier passenger train. Just as the Santa Fe had the Super Chief, UP had the City of LA, the mixed road Zephyr. When you saw advertising for these these trains or a movie with these trains in them after the war they were all headed up by the latest and greatest motive power of the time, typically some EMD Diesel.
Just as today when many want the latest and greatest, new advanced technology sells.

Well, except for us luddites.

Pete

@harmonyards posted:

PT: in NYC land stands for Passenger Tender, not Pedestal Tender as some think. ……PT tenders were designed to hold more coal, thus eliminating the needs for extra stops to refuel,…refueling coal was the time bandit,….water could be scooped on the fly, so the train didn’t have to stop to take on water. Pictured below: Hudson 5344 post Mercury service, with PT tender, roller bearing rods,…

Pat ACDF8AD3-8730-4E23-8D3E-DA2CC9C751D0

That is one heck(and by heck, I mean the other word) of an engine. Always wondered if the Mercury had a shrouded Hudson after the Shrouded Pacific had been the engine to pull it?

@Norton posted:

One thing to consider when looking for motive power for the cars Jason’s thread is about, remember Jason, the 20th Century was the Central's Premier passenger train. Just as the Santa Fe had the Super Chief, UP had the City of LA, the mixed road Zephyr. When you saw advertising for these these trains or a movie with these trains in them after the war they were all headed up by the latest and greatest motive power of the time, typically some EMD Diesel.
Just as today when many want the latest and greatest, new advanced technology sells.

Well, except for us luddites.

Pete

Maybe our steamers that are supposed to be letting the diesels run those trains have some of Doc Brown's special fire logs from Back to the Future 3. Just hope the boiler can handle those red logs!

That is one heck(and by heck, I mean the other word) of an engine. Always wondered if the Mercury had a shrouded Hudson after the Shrouded Pacific had been the engine to pull it?

Maybe our steamers that are supposed to be letting the diesels run those trains have some of Doc Brown's special fire logs from Back to the Future 3. Just hope the boiler can handle those red logs!

Yes, 5344 bumped a shrouded Pacific on the Chicago-Detroit leg of the Mercury,….two things to note,…only in Vanderbilt dress did 5344 pull the “Century “ on some occasions, …5344 never pulled the Century in her last dress of Dreyfuss streamlining,….that was strictly Mercury service, where ironically, she shared Mercury service with former Empire State Express star Hudson # 5426…

Pat

That is one heck(and by heck, I mean the other word) of an engine. Always wondered if the Mercury had a shrouded Hudson after the Shrouded Pacific had been the engine to pull it?

Maybe our steamers that are supposed to be letting the diesels run those trains have some of Doc Brown's special fire logs from Back to the Future 3. Just hope the boiler can handle those red logs!

Well the Niagaras didn’t need those logs. Their horsepower matched three E8s. Not so much on tractive effort though. Maybe with some MTH traction tires they could have.

Pete

@harmonyards posted:

Yes, 5344 bumped a shrouded Pacific on the Chicago-Detroit leg of the Mercury,….two things to note,…only in Vanderbilt dress did 5344 pull the “Century “ on some occasions, …5344 never pulled the Century in her last dress of Dreyfuss streamlining,….that was strictly Mercury service, where ironically, she shared Mercury service with former Empire State Express star Hudson # 5426…

Pat

I love the intel. Did 5344 not pull Century duty because the better J's, J3's in this case were more powerful?

@Norton posted:

Well the Niagaras didn’t need those logs. Their horsepower matched three E8s. Not so much on tractive effort though. Maybe with some MTH traction tires they could have.

Pete

Yeah, the great Niagara debate. I think someone got in one of the discussions on this kept trying to argue with Hot Water on the tractive effort part saying the Niagara's "out classed" the diesels. He(Hot Water) maintained that the Niagara's couldn't on the tractive effort. I think you may have been on part of that discussion Pete.

P.S., I really need to study more Hudson history. Hopefully I can find some great NYC books at York if any are there.

I love the intel. Did 5344 not pull Century duty because the better J's, J3's in this case were more powerful?

Yeah, the great Niagara debate. I think someone got in one of the discussions on this kept trying to argue with Hot Water on the tractive effort part saying the Niagara's "out classed" the diesels. He(Hot Water) maintained that the Niagara's couldn't on the tractive effort. I think you may have been on part of that discussion Pete.

P.S., I really need to study more Hudson history. Hopefully I can find some great NYC books at York if any are there.

Not necessarily the case, the 5344 had a job to do at the time the J3’s rolled onto the scene. The idea being the last 10 locomotives built out of the final J3a lot were solely intended for the Century and all her segments, ……5344’s job was at the head of the Commodore…….as Hudsons were developed, some of the” upgrades”  worked their way into shoppings when the locomotives required overhaul…..by the time the Commodore Vanderbilt Hudson ( 5344)  had been out shopped with Scullin disks and roller bearing rod ends, she had much of the improvements that a stock J3a Super Hudson would’ve had anyways,…..save for a few parts,……you’ve got to keep in mind, the Century was THE way to travel in the late 30’s ….elite, exclusive, and plush, …Dreyfuss didn’t just design the locomotive, he designed the whole dang train set ( as far as the public’s appearance was concerned) ……..

Pat

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