Brian I understand your love for older locomotives. We all have love for what we like. I am a guy who wants the latest and best. You already have it in the vision Hudson. If you are not going to be an operator, you have a large field of Hudsons to buy and it is a buyers market on old stuff right now. I am not in that market.
I have a friend who is into model A Fords. Lots of work, lots of money and when it is done, it is still an old car. You are in the drivers seat as your new Hudson will get your wallet full enough to buy more than one old Hudson. One good thing about the older locomotives is the fact (Like the model A Ford) that anyone can work on them and they are simple to fix. Parts are everywhere to fix the older locomotives. I love some of the restoration jobs guys outline here on the forum. We have some talented guys. I have done many of those restorations years ago. I was lucky as I had access to a glass bead machine. Nothing like starting a restoration project with a bare metal body.
Lionel did some good Hudsons in the past 20 years and some are very good. I still enjoy checking out all the older parts at York. My guess is every part made can be had. I enjoyed your post and conventional guys should be happy that guys like yourself share what they like.
