December, 1934 Indianapolis, Indiana New York Central Railroad's "Commodore Vanderbilt" Built in December 1934, it was displayed in Chicago at LaSalle Street Station on 12 and 13 January 1935. Collection W. H. Bass Photo Company
Thanks Roger. That is a nice, crisp photo of the Commodore. Looks like it is being moved by a small steam switcher (behind it). What is behind it? Is that a replica of an early steam loco?
Roger, was that part of a train show at the time? That looks like either the real or replica DeWitt Clinton behind the Commodore Vanderbilt. Wasn't the streamlining designed and fabricated by Carl Cantola? And this was 5344 in one of her many versions. :tb-confused:
I never saw the real Commodore Vanderbilt, but I remember a neighbor, much older than me, who had a Lionel "O" Guage Commodore Vanderbilt locomotive. My memory is that it looked exactly like Roger's photo, but that was ~70 years ago.
It was preparing for the Chicago at LaSalle Street Station where it was on show. It may have been at a Chicago Show later. After all, it would be too good an opportunity to miss.
The cast oval on the front had a black background. Color of the shrouding has been described as "gunmetal" or "gunmetal gray". Striping and lettering has been mentioned as white or silver. References are not very substantial. I especially have learned to take Al Staufer's comments with a grain of salt. Was metallic paint available in 1934? Maybe this "gunmetal" description was just meant to convey a dark shade of gray.
I believe the Central, SP, and other companies, had been painting smokeboxes with a graphite-based heat-resistant paint long before 1934. IIRC, the smokebox color was a very dark silvery gray with a satin appearance, so the Central may have used the name Gunmetal Gray for their graphite paint.