NYC 20th Century Limited, c.1938

[Anonymous]

Hi
I'm trying to help someone out by looking for photographs and other information on the NYC 20th Century Limited consist, circa 1938. If you know of any sites that would have that kind of info, it would be very helpful.

I've been surfing Google for links, but I'm surprised that there isn't an abundance of information on such a famous and historic train. I have suggested that he try the NYC Historical Society, but many of their photos are being catalog and are not available.

I found a book about the 20th Century Limited (Hardcover) by Karl Zimmerman. If anyone reading this post has the book, is there significant information on the consist of the train as it was in 1938?


Thanks all!

[PBenham]

Yes it does, and you can try to find another good book on the Century, "The Twentieth Century Limited-1938-1967 " By Richard J. Cook, Sr. from TLC publishing, which should be relatively easy to find, and has equipment listings with dispositions of most of the equipment.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Peter. I've bought several books from Tom at TLC Publishing and forgot to look there.
I went to the site and I see it's out of print [:(]. Hopefully one will come up through Amazon or some other used book seller.
Thanks again.

[artpeterson]

Beebe also did a book on the 20th Century, published close to 40 years ago now. But it should be available from a used book dealer.

[jimrice4449]

Check the back issues of ModelRailroader. They did a full court article W/ plans etc. It wasn't too long ago and if the back issue isn't available they'll sell you photocopies of the article.

[M636C]

There was a series of red covered landscape, wire bound books called the "Pullman Standard Treasury" (or something similar) a bit over ten years ago. The volume on NYC covered the 1938 "century" in more detail than you could imagine.

The "Model Railroader" article was nearly as good, with full colour outlines of the streamlined J3a and the dining car. That's where I'd start, using the index on this website.

M636C

[Anonymous]

Read the Cook book published by TLC with care. It has lots of mistakes and some bizarre omissions (mainly why certain steps were taken at one time or another, such as why the Century's scheduled time from NY to Chicago varied after WWII or why the exterior color scheme was changed soon after the original delivery of the 1938 streamlined equipment).

I also was flummoxed by pointless duplications (e.g. of floor plans of 1938 cars) and omissions (no floor plans of the 1948 equipment). Lots of interesting information, but also often frustrating.