Mystery Train! NYC J3 Hudson pulls NYC's oldest passenger cars

A fun short video for you to enjoy while I recover from various life events™. Regular scripted videos return next week.
These little coaches were produced by Bachmann starting in the 1970s. They actually ran surprisingly well once they were all coupled together and managed to run without derailment for TWO hours straight while I worked on other projects. Pretty impressive for such an old model.
They're part of the DeWitt Clinton set, a built for a predecessor road to the New York Central, the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad in 1831. A replica train was built by the NYC for the 1893 world's fair, and that replica lives in the Henry Ford Museum today.
The J3 is the excellent new model by Bachmann.

[@Pensyfan19]

The sheer difference in equipment... It looks like a bunch of ducklings following the mama duck.

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

For the first half of the video I was convinced they were in a different scale until I saw how tiny even the trucks and vans were, I often forget how absolutely massive "modern" rolling stock is.

[@jagneta]

An affirmation that Model Railroading is, indeed, quite fun!

[@violetausterlitz1379]

it is very important to get silly sometimes also imagine riding in one of those coaches at typical J3 track speed, good grief

[@GustavSvard]

Now I'm picturing a heritage train of these 1830s cars and loco. Sure, they'd have to be modern scratch built ones, with added in-cab signalling equipment etc to run on the mainlines, but it sure would be a cool thing to see. The progress from 1930 til 2030 will have been amazing, but 1830 to 1930 must have that beat by a lightyear. Those really early years saw such a rapid development (just like with airplanes and computers, etc etc).

[@bahnspotterEU]

Depends on your point of view. 1830 to 1930 will still be the same mode of propulsion (largely), but 1930 to 2030 is going from Pacifics and Northerns to 220 mph electric high-speed EMUs and Maglev trains. Those speeds and the technology behind it is so alien compared to the typical 1930s steamer, it's really remarkable.

[@maxnash8450]

A rivet counter's nightmare.

[@Michrailfan]

Historically accurate

[@pBIggZz]

"Now, I've noticed a tendency for this program to get rather silly! Now I do my best to keep things moving along, but I'm not having things getting silly!"

[@damianstellabott3613]

I needed that.

[@jcs_trains]

This was a fun gamble! Great music choice as well.

[@Alawo-]

Now I kinda wana see a siemens charger pull this😭

[@trainchugger53]

Still better service than the current MTA

[@gendermuttreal]

now this is the kinda passenger rail im talking about

[@ohiovalleyrailfan]

Looks like something you'd see out of Trainz or smth

[@sophiamhartsfield]

I love the glorified stagecoaches on train wheels lol

[@zhegermanflo4341]

The most modern coaches that ever will be xD

[@blownglasslide]

The Convair 880 of passenger trains

[@Alcofoamer]

How did you get the coaches to couple up to the Hudson?

[@InterurbanEra]

The coaches have a rudimentary plastic coupler analogous to a tow hitch on a auto trailer. It's the same height as a kadee coupler so I just put it inside the knuckle

[@Johnnyhaotrains]

So Wrong. yet so right

[@TheTransportationFanfromCA]

Hey Era I’m also trying to model border region railroad I call it “Ferrocarill Norte de Sonora y Arizona” I’m doing this becouse my family go through that region when traveling to Mexico. What do you think?

[@InterurbanEra]

I look forward to seeing what you model!

[@dannyjones3840]

Gosh that is just so odd looking I had to laugh