Lionel 8206 "Hudson"

What you are calling an oil tank is actually a feedwater heater.  Some lines equipped their Hudsons with this.  I believe that this a a Santa Fe version.

Her's an article on them:

http://www.steamlocomotive.com...feedwaterheaters.php

Here's a picture of one:

Alan

The 8206(2065 etc.) Hudson is based on the Lima Baldwin outline locos, the larger 2046/8600(etc.) is based on the Alco outline Hudsons.

I'm a sucker for the look of feedwater heaters over the front of the boiler.  It adds a lot to the look of a loco.  Many Railroads had them.  As to ATSF, I don't know of any Hudsons they had that had them, but Northersn 3757 - 3762 were fitted with them in the late 1940s.  

Here are some of my favorite locos with them on them:

On a Legacy Union Pacific 2-8-8-2

This is a repainted/relabeled Legacy Southern Cresent . . . 

This is a Legacy NYC Mohawk relabeled as ATSF.

This is a Lionchief Plus 4-6-2 that I bashed, adding the feedwater heater you see here.  

The real New York Central Hudsons did not have the large feedwater heater mounted so prominently over the front of the boiler, this would explain a lot.

One engine I know was quite famous for the feedwater heater was the Jersey Central's Blue Comets - I have the MTH PS3 version which is always an eye catcher.

Though, if you don't mind being more specific, are you into any particular roadname for a steam engine with the feedwater heater?

The origins of the 8206 is the postwar 2065 as mentioned earlier:

Which is a Lionel 2055 with a different boiler front:

Which is based on the Santa Fe 3460 class Hudson built by Baldwin in 1937:

While the Santa Fe Hudson's didn't have the "tank" (which is part of an Elesco feedwater heater system) the Burlington Route's did, although it's mounted on top of the smokebox rather than in front:

Rusty

Maybe one of you people can help me ??  I have a 4-6-4 Lionel "Chassis" complete with motor, drivers, e-unit, rods and trucks and I would like to find a shell or a crapped out engine to put it in. I bought a 2046 shell but  the e-unit in that is back by the cab, mine is up front. I made a list of possibles from a book I have but it is hard to tell where the e-unit  is. My list: 221,646,665,685,773, 2055, 2056 and I have a very  nice 2065.  Going to a TCA show tomorrow so would appreciate any help.  thanks

I would need a couple of pictures of the chassis.

IF a 2046 shell won't fit, neither will a 2056 or 646 shell.

The Postwar 221 steamer was a small 2-6-4.

A "Hudson" is a nickname for a wheel arrangement (4-6-4); in most of the world,

and on the Miiwaukee Road in the US, the 4-6-4 was typically called a "Baltic".

The nicknames were not universal in the US, really - many/most wheel arrangements did not have one, or had one that was not widely known or used (I've heard 2-8-8-2's referred

to as "Chesapeakes", but generally only on the C&O).

A particular locos appliances (air pumps, feedwater heaters, domes and the rest) had absolutely nothing to do with the wheel arrangement - 4-6-4, 2-8-2, or any of them.

They were used and applied as needed, on anything.

Lionel's Small Hudson of this type (I still have my childhood 2055) is based on the Santa Fe 3460-class 4-6-4's (the Santa Fe did not use -any- nickname for them), but is typically used only as a generic representation of a 4-6-4/Hudson, and any reasonable detail represented is appropriate.

665,685,2055,2065,8206,8603,8900 are the Lima Baldwin profile Hudsons with the E unit in front.

There are also a few Pacific types that use the same E unit layout, mechanism & boiler.

Some NYC Hudsons had Elesco feedwater heaters, but the tank was hidden inside the top of the smokebox. Only the top round end was visible on each side, and that required a close look.

I think that Lionel postwar smokebox fronts with and without Elesco feedwater heater tanks are interchangable. They are secured by a single screw inside a "bump" in front of the stack. So get one and install it on the Hudson of your choice.

That "bump" is a component of a Worthington feedwater heater system, but Lionel had it on all postwar Hudsons, even those with Elesco tanks. It is visible in the top photos that Rusty Traque posted but not on the Burlington Hudson.

Considering the prototype the models were based on was built by Baldwin...

Rusty

The addition of the Elesco feedwater heater was nothing more than postwar-era Lionel adding a relatively low-cost cosmetic variety to the pre-existing Santa Fe-type Hudson product line and was carried over into the General Mills/modern era; prototypical accuracy was not in the forefront; otherwise they would not have used a pre-existing NYC-type boiler front design as the "regular" boiler front on these engines.

if you want the non-feedwater version of the boiler front, original and reproductions are available; the Lionel postwar part# is 2046-13.

Correction - my references to "Lima" were meant to be Baldwin".

Hey,

Thanks for all the info. on my first train.  I guess if I'm ever going to recreate that look from my childhood, i'm going to have to get a Hudson someday and put a feedwater heater on the front of it.  Even if it might not be historically accurate, that will always be what a train should look like to me.  I'm sure you all can appreciate that connection there is to your first train.

Thanks again