The final group of ten members of class J3a, Nos. 5445-5454, were built streamlined in 1938 for service on the Twentieth Century Limited, the New York Central's premier train. Henry Dreyfuss's famous styling for the Century, featuring a finned bullet nose resembling an ancient warrior's helmet, has been hailed as an icon of art deco industrial design. The shrouding of this last group of NYC Hudsons raised their weight to 365,500 pounds, but otherwise their dimensions resembled those of the 1937 group (see the commentary for Hudson No. 5405). Like the unstreamlined J3s, Nos. 5445-5454 had roller bearings on all axles. The first five, including No. 5446 shown here, had General Steel Castings' Boxpok disc drivers.

My father, Dr. R. D. Leonard, snapped this photo at Englewood Station in Chicago in 1938 or 1939. She is apparently heading the Twentieth Century Limited, or a section thereof, in its late-afternoon departure for New York City, pausing on the curve where the New York Central, coming from LaSalle Street Station, swung around to parallel the Pennsylvania Railroad's main line into Indiana. Introduction of the J3s shortened the schedule of the Twentieth Century Limited between Chicago and New York to 16 hours. After a run of some 922 miles from Englewood to the steam terminal at Harmon, New York, the train would proceed under electric power into Grand Central Station, where its elite consist of passengers would receive the famous "red carpet treatment." No. 5446 lost her streamlining in 1947 and was retired in 1956, being one of the last NYC Hudsons to operate.