Golden Gate Depot New York Central Heavyweights - Info and Photos?

Only sleeping cars would be lettered "Pullman".  All four cars are coaches, which would be lettered NYC.  I believe the 20th Century was an all Pullman train, so there cars would not be appropriate. 

Right, which is why if the other two sets of 4 cars are also lettered for NYC then this really isn't a 20th Century Limited they were going for. I was just curious to hear from NYC buffs who may own these cars on which prototype train these could be used to emulate.

As far as I know. GGD made a 4 car heavyweight set of coaches with 2 axle trucks lettered NYC.

 A set for the Empire State Express and the 20th Century to match the Dreyfuss.

They also offered a 3 car set featuring a baggage, diner and observation lettered for the NYC.

 They do offer many cars with PULLMAN lettering. Not sure if the cars names are generic or are even real names.

 Years ago I had a Lionel Commodore Vanderbilt set that was pretty accurate but was dated with no interiors and silhouettes compared to the current offerings. They offered a nice set a few years back but I'm not sure of it's name with full interiors. If you want a scale length set. GGD may be your best option by simply gathering up approximate PULLMAN and NYC cars. I'd check out Clover House for dry transfers. Re lettering the PULLMAN cars to the correct names might get you the set you want.

The cars shown in the auction are based on the PRR P70 coaches released about three or four years ago.  While not 100% accurate for NYC, the railroad did have a substantial fleet of 80' length heavyweight coaches for their extensive commuter line services.  I have a set of the PRR P70's and they are nice scale length cars that can be used in both commuter and long distance secondary trains.

I have been settled on Lionel's recent two releases (2004 and 2012) of the heavyweight 20th Century Limited. They are surprisingly nice almost full scale (19") cars with the correct mix of NYC and Pullman lettering, and also have full interiors and some added detail to differentiate them from the older 90s Commodore Vanderbilt cars. Having seen these Golden Gate Depot cars for a split second I thought maybe that would be an even better train but quickly learned that's not what these are for.

Looking through my Stauffer books some more I then hatched the idea to make these part of the generic mail trains the NYC would run behind aging Hudsons. These typically had the first half of the train being head end baggage and reefer cars and the last half being some generic heavyweight coaches. But I'm conflicted once again now that I've learned these are simply repaints of Pennsy cars (thank you for clearing this up Jonathan). What I really want to find is a picture of the cars out of the box to see just how differently they look from a true NYC heavyweight.

A pic heavyweight coach. Kadee's have been added.

If you thinking of doing a mail train. Perhaps a milk train might be a little more colorful. Hudson's were often used in milk trains headed to New York City. A little research and you can find the correct cars used. Lionel has done quite a few in multiple nos. The NYC I believe was offered in at least 8. You can mix in a few of Weavers baggage cars as well.

GREAT pictures Dave, thank you so much. I definitely like the 50/50 consists of mail and express because I've seen a lot of photos and footage of this motif behind later and aging Hudsons. This train would go behind my 3rd Rail Super J3a, which is a very late Hudson and perfect for this sort of late consist having been "bumped down" from the premier trains by the Niagaras and E7s at that time.

The coach itself actually doesn't look all that bad. My only beef is the 2-axle trucks. 3-axle would have been nice but 2 isn't incorrect either. I was also evaluating the Weaver baggage cars; they too are a Pennsy repaint (B60). GGD's REA express reefers would also join this neat train.

I think Lionel recently produced an 18 inch set in NYC with a two car add-on as well. They have full interiors. The three coachs have Pullman on them but the observation has NYC along with a lighted drum head. Full interiors with figures.