20th Century Limited

[NYCfan]

I'm hoping someone can help me. I have recently been given a consist of Con-Cor 72' passenger cars in the Dreyfuss 20th Century Limited Scheme. Although I like the quality of the paint, I'm not too impressed with the trucks. Can anyone tell me where I might find reasonably priced replacement trucks? More importantly, what type were they? From what pictures I have and given the limited amout of molded plastic detailing, they appear to be Commonwealth 41 series. The plastic is all black, but I wonder if this particular train had silver.

I'm already planning to purchase the BLI/PCM Dreyfuss Hudson and cars when they are produced, but for now, this will suffice. I'm also using the Red Cap interiors to detail a car or two, but it would be wasted if they still had to ride on those goofy looking trucks!!!!

Thanks for any and all help.

[Sperandeo]

Hi Joe,

The 1938 "Century," the train with the Dreyfuss styling, had 43-R triple-bolster trucks under most of its cars. These are available in HO scale from D&G Models, P.O. Box 641364, Los Angeles, CA 90064 (sorry, no Web site). Many roads replaced these trucks after WWII, but I'm not sure if the Central did so or which trucks it would have used for replacements. The '38 "Century's" diner had 62R six-wheel trucks with drop equalizers. Drawings and photos of the '38 "Century," including color renderings, appeared in the April 1988 "Model Railroader."

The NYC toned down the original Dreyfuss color scheme through the eary and mid 1940s, then in 1948 departed from it altogether by reversing the colors to use a dark gray body with a light gray window stripe.

So long,

Andy

[jimrice4449]

The D&G trucks are about as good as they come but a tad pricey.   You'll want the ones w/ roller bearings if you go that route.   A much cheaper alternative might be the MDC (Roundhouse) "Challenger" if they still make them (try the Athearn web site).   The one drawback is that they're really more "Daylight" and the have solid bearing journal boxes.