"New Streamlined Engine Delivered to New York Central" read The Times headline March 10, 1938, announcing that the first of 10 giant steam locomotives had arrived. The new engine, with a bigger boiler and firebox, was produced by the American Locomotive Company in Schenectady, N.Y.

The engines had a 4-6-4 wheel arrangement to pull passenger trains and conform to the Hudson-type locomotives used on the Twentieth Century Limited, also part of the New York Central System. Departing from Grand Central Terminal, the New York Central was one of the largest American railroads, serving the Northeast and Midwest from 1831ÛÒ1968. It had routes in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Massachusetts, plus it traveled to the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec.