To date, no examples of an AHM HO-scale Century 420 are known to exist. The three road names and stock numbers presented originate in a mid-1970s AHM price listing with no pictures.

Speculation would be AHM’s offering might have been planned to be the Lima Century 420 model. Lima’s Century 420 did find itself available in the 1970s in the U.S., but from Model Power-PMI and not AHM. For a time in the 1970s, Model Power had a secondary line branded PMI (Precision Models Inc.) and this line included the first American release of this Italian-made HO Century 420 offering. The February 1976 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman includes a product review of this Model Power-PMI release of the model. The PMI roster included the same trio of road names promised from AHM (Penn Central, Santa Fe, and Union Pacific) and added a Canadian Pacific release. By AHM’s 1977 catalogs and price listings, there is no mention of this Century 420 model. As a Model Power-PMI release, Lima’s Century 420 was available decorated for Santa Fe, Union Pacific, Penn Central, Canadian Pacific, Spirit of ’76, and Chessie System. Lima also sold the model under its own name and it was available here in the U.S. from them. Among that releases in Lima packaging is an interesting Southern Pacific experimental “Daylight” scheme, similar to the livery applied to rebuilt U25Bs in the 1970s.

Similar to its FP45 sold by AHM for a short time, Lima’s Century 420 presented swinging pilots attached to the trucks in a Lionel-like design. Lima also produced a high-end Century 420 model that included finer detail and omitted the pilots mounted to the trucks. MRC (Model Rectifier Corp.) originally marketed this enhanced HO Century 420 in the U.S. and a similar rendition once came from Rivarossi.

AHM’s Century 420 Roster

Penn Central Century 420
No.5173-D

Santa Fe Century 420
No.5173-B

Union Pacific Century 420
No.5173-C