New York Central No. 5344 was a class J-1e 4-6-4 steam locomotive, built by Alco in 1931 for the New York Central railroad.
New York Central Streamlined Hudson No. 5344 "Commodore Vanderbilt"; December 1934.. 5344, Press Preview, December 14, 1934
This locomotive was designed to haul passenger trains, including the 20th Century Limited for much of its career.
No. 5344 was built with the inverted bathtub shrouding designed by Henry Dreyfuss. It was also fitted with slightly smaller cylinders (to fit within the streamlined casing), but at a higher boiler pressure. The streamlining was removed shortly afterwards. It was finally retired from service on February 14, 1957 and was even almost preserved before eventually being scrapped. Only the headlight remains at Hill's Hobby in Park Ridge, Illinois.
Trivia[]
- No. 5344 was named Commodore Vanderbilt after a pioneer of the NYC.
- Lionel Trains produced a model of the 5344 known as the 700E from 1937 to 1939 (albiet in a non-streamlined form). The 700E is one of the most highly sought after products produced by Lionel. Several re-releases of the 700e Hudsons have been made over the years, the most recent being the Vision Line version, released in 2011.
- It is the only NYC Hudson to have been streamlined twice.
- The color of the Commodore Vanderbilt is "Dark Metallic Gray".