The 4-6-4 Hudson Type

The Hudson Type was a steam locomotive synonymous with the New York Central, which first developed the design in the mid-1920s during the height of the Super Power era. It was also the Central that gave the 4-6-4 its now classic nickname (the NYC's Hudsons are also quite famous for the streamlining the received by Henry Dreyfuss for the railroad's regal passenger train, the 20th Century Limited). The development of the Hudson was due to a need by the NYC for a more powerful steamer to haul its passenger trains since by the 1920s its fleet of Pacifics could simply no longer handle the increasingly larger and heavier trains. The highly successful wheel arrangement led to the railroad rostering nearly 300 4-6-4s and overall almost two-dozen other lines went on to own at least one. Today, several Hudsons remain preserved and surprisingly a handful are either operational or under restoration.

Canadian Pacific Class H-1c #2860 hustles the "Silver Jubalee" away from San Francisco and towards San Jose during March of 1977.

By the 1920s the New York Central was running into a big problem; its Class K-5 Pacifics, standard passenger power at the time, were straining to keep up with the new, heavyweight equipment being built (all-steel car construction was replacing wood as the primary building component) as well as the increasing demand by the traveling public. On January 1, 1926 the NYC saw a new chief mechanical engineer of motive power and rolling stock, Paul Kiefer, who realized that something needed to be done. So, with help from the American Locomotive Company (Alco) the two began development of a new design, a 4-6-4, which was essentially a Pacific with an added rear axle. This extra axle allowed for a larger firebox and larger boiler, which increased steaming capacity and a higher boiler pressure (225 psi), thus allowing for greater power.

The first locomotive rolled into service on February 14, 1927 listed as Class J-1a and its improvement over the Pacific was instantly apparent. The initial tests were performed along the NYC main line between Albany and Syracuse and the new 4-6-4 design could pull 16 to 18 heavyweight cars at higher speeds than a Class K-5, which could only handle around 12 cars per train. The railroad decided to name the locomotive after the Hudson River, which followed its main line from New York City to Albany. After 1927 the NYC continued to purchase the Hudson type for another decade through 1937; most were built by Alco (Class J-1, J-2a, and J-3) although Lima built its Class J-2c that included ten examples originally numbered 610-169 in 1930.

Santa Fe 4-6-4 #3452 takes on water at Topeka, Kansas while the engineer lubricates the valve gear on March 10, 1941.

While the New York Central would end up with the most Hudsons (275; 195 directly owned by the NYC along with another 80 through subsidiaries Boston & Albany, Big Four, and Michigan Central) several other railroads also purchased, or built, at least a few. Of all Hudsons manufactured, most were outshopped from Alco or subsidiary Montreal Locomotive Works (for the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, of which the latter owned the second most, 65). However, the other two big builders, Lima and Baldwin, also manufactured 4-6-4s. Also of interest was the fleet owned by the Milwaukee Road. Between 1930 and 1931 the railroad purchased 22 examples from Baldwin listed as Class F-6 and F-6a for use in passenger service.

The Milwaukee decided to go a different route and named theirs as Baltics, not Hudsons. Then, in 1938 it purchased 6 more 4-6-4s from Alco, some of the fastest ever built, for use on its speedy and vaunted regional Hiawathas, which replaced the railroad's home-built 4-4-2 Atlantics. The below table lists most railroads that owned the Hudson type and their designated class with total number owned. Please note that the class listing here is very general as many railroads broke the locomotive down into further designations such as H-1a, H-1b, H-1c, etc.:

· Baltimore & Ohio: Class V (1-4) = 4

· "Big Four": Class J-1 = 30

· Boston & Albany: Class J-2 = 20

· Burlington: Class S-4 = 14

· Canadian National: Class K-5a = 5

· Canadian Pacific: Class H-1 = 65

· Chesapeake & Ohio: Class L-2/L-1 = 18

· Chicago & North Western: Class E-4 = 9

· Illinois Central: No Designated Class = 1

· Frisco: No Designated Class = 10

· Grand Trunk: Class K-5a/X-10a = 6

· Lackawanna: No Designated Class = 5

· Maine Central: No Designated Class = 2

· Milwaukee Road: Class F-6/F-7 (Baltic) = 28

· Nacional de Mexico: Class NR-1 = 10

· New Haven: Class I-5 = 10

· New York Central: Class J-1/J-2/J-3 = 195

· Nickel Plate Road: Class L-1 = 8

· Santa Fe: Class 3450/3560 = 16

· Wabash: Class P-1 = 7

Santa Fe #3457 is seen here in Dodge City, Kansas on October 23, 1931.

Because the Hudson Type was developed in the late 1920s most built only saw around 30 years of regular service before being retired in the 1950s. Still, several of the models have been preserved with most U.S. versions originally owned by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (the Canadian roads also have seen several of their Hudsons preserved). Of note, one of the more prominent Hudsons to be preserved is C&O #490, an entirely streamlined locomotive that saw use pulling the railroad’s most well known passenger trains such as the George Washington.

Also, there are five Hudsons either under restoration or operational; the two currently in service can be found only in Canada, CN Class H-1b #2816 and Class H-1e #2860. Additionally, the Nethercutt Collection & Museum in Sylmar, California is restoring CP Class H-1c #2839 and the Kansas Expocenter has Santa Fe #3463 under restoration. For more information on the Hudson type please click here to visit SteamLocomotive.com, which provides in-depth information about the design and every railroad which owned it.

Milwaukee Road "Baltic" #128 departs St. Paul with the westbound "Olympian Hiawatha" before it received its streamlined equipment, on September 5, 1947 just a few months after the train was inaugurated.

For more reading about steam locomotives a few books to get you started on the history of the motive power include How Steam Locomotives Really Work by authors P. W. B. Semmens and A. J. Goldfinch as well as Perfecting the American Steam Locomotive by author J. Parker Lamb. As the title of the first book illustrates, it discusses the general history of the steam locomotive and describes how it functions. In the second book you will learn how the motive power was refined over the years with newer technologies that improved the efficiency of steam to haul trains such as the superheater. There are certainly many more books on the subject of steam than these two titles. However, they are excellent starter editions on the subject and provide a very nice overview of the topic. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing either (or both) of these books please visit the links below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.