20th Century Limited

[tpatrick]

www.brasstrains.com has two sets for sale. One is a 6 car set for about $1400, and the other is a 10 car set for about $3000. And then you will need a locomotive. Not for the faint of heart or the cash challenged, but maybe a worthwhile investment for the serious collector.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

In the latest Model Railroader Magazine, I saw that trainworld did not have it. So try walthers. I saw in the R listing that Rivarisso was in it. Try that. Rivarrasso does make an observation car, but it is a flat ended one. if you want a rounded end one, buy IHC or try Athrean or Walters.

Nick

[Overmod]

Part of this answer involves how much you want to spend. Another part involves the epoch -- do you want the earliest Century, the mid-'20s version, the late '20s/early '30s version with unstreamlined Hudson, or the Dreyfuss streamlined train?

In my opinion, most of the commercial stuff is only generically New York Central. You might want to get some pix of the cars you want to model, and determine what, if any, kitbashing you'd need to do to get cars of prototype length, wheel arrangement, truck pattern, etc. As mentioned, Rivarossi makes both streamlined and heavyweight cars that come lettered for New York Central, but they aren't precisely Century prototype (as far as I know; I'm prepared to be corrected).

If you're modeling heavyweight-with-Hudson, your best bet for locomotive is probably the Broadway Limited J1 (available fairly easily on eBay in the older runs, and they're in the process of releasing some new ones). My opinion is that this is worth every penny. There isn't, to my knowledge, a comparable unstreamlined J3a in plastic, although good older brass engines can be found for about the list price of a new Broadway Limited J1.

Rivarossi of course made the plastic model of the Dreyfuss streamlined Hudson that's so famous. In my opinion, this model needs considerable detailing work, but that may not be important,

If you've got lots of money, I believe there have been a couple of brass sets of Century stock that are quite good. Some of these have factory paint. You'll get MUCH better answers to this question on the Model Railroader forums...

[Anonymous]

I've never seen the "Sandy Creek" or "Hickory Creek" reproduced.
Seems some manufacturer somewhere is missing the boat....
You DO know the "Hickory Creek" is alive and well in its original livery in NJ, don't you?

[Anonymous]

You can get some cars from Rivarrilsso. But I never saw the observation car made. IHC
has a observation that you can use.

[Anonymous]

Dear Philip

I know for sure that Rivarrisso makes the locomotive and coaches, but if you want more info, I suggest that you buy the Walther's HO catolog or go to their website.

Nicholas Parker

[pjk1649a]

Hi,
I would like to buy an HO scale model of the 20th Century Limited steam train. Does anyone know of any train model companies that sell this set?
I'd appreciate any help you might be able to give.
Thanks!
Philip