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I've waffled over this loco for years, hoping for a legacy offering. The Legacy offering left me a bit disappointed for reasons that have been covered, adding to that issues with prior legacy items I had already purchased. As well as points raised by rivet counters and toy train "mechanics" and I finally tracked one down thanks to the WTB forum.....luckily as these are harder to find minus the cars.

I've always loved the whistle on the 50th anniversary j3a, love it even more in person ,finding it  far superior to most other NYC whistles from Lionel, including the latest J3a. Overall I'm very satisfied with the soundset and may upgrade to four chuffs and fan smoke in the future. Sound on this loco is louder and fuller than my more recent legacy steamers.

A few drops of conductive oil on the rollers and ground wipers as well as finding the "sweet spot" on the momentum setting on the Legacy remote and it runs fabulous for an 18 year old loco.

Its heading some K line 15" pacemaker passenger cars that have been sitting idle for years waiting for this day LOL!

Best part, the smoke box is indeed graphite and there are no marker lights,no parting lines, and no patches over holes for the marker lights.

001002

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Last edited by RickO
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I’d drink to that Rick, it’s one of, if not the best Hudson they’ve produced....I didn’t get mine till last Christmas, after a long hunt....one of my favorites....only upgrades I did was fan smoke, a PSC headlight,  and a 4 lobe cam...easy peasy to install, ...just to round off a well rounded locomotive........glad you found one,...I’ve been watching your WTB’s hoping you’d land one!.......enjoy!

Pat

 Dave,Thanks for hooking me up!

 Pat, you were one of the "influencers" I had in mind .

Marty, here's some whistle video. It's a bit excessive (think Ed Dickens LOL!) as I wanted to get the random high tone in there that's more prominent when the Loco is running at speed, as you know is typical TMCC "multi whistle" operation.

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Last edited by RickO
@Norton posted:

Congratulations Rick on finally scoring one of these. Lionel was on top of its game when they made them. Had they only dupicated the front along with the paint on their last run I know they would have made at least one more sale and likely many dozens more.

Pete

Pete, let me add all the mods I’ve made to this family of fine Hudsons is from your direct lineage....from the cam, the headlight, even the fan smoke, all your design and influence ......they definitely had their act together.....I take no credit for mod design, I’m simply the parts changer on these....

Pat

Last edited by harmonyards
@Norton posted:

Congratulations Rick on finally scoring one of these.

Pete

Thanks Pete! Your posts regarding these engines as the model relates to the prototype as well as your improvements Pat mentioned, had influenced me as well.

Funny how "rivet counting" can be an aquired taste.  When I started O guage 15 years ago I would never even noticed a casting parting line.

On a side note. I sure love the quality Korean build of these. Almost zero axle end play and lateral play when compared to my ESE hudson.

Whatever manufacturing changes were made. These tight tolerances disappeared after the very first run of legacy offerings.

I almost replied to Rick's want ad and have flirted with selling mine since I bought the special run from Pat's trains but after reading these comments, I think I'll keep it now.  @harmonyards, how hard is it to change out the cam?  I added two lobes in the past with quick setting JB weld to my 779 Berk and N&W 611 and then carefully removed what was needed to get four even chuffs; it really didn't take that long.  I'm a drummer so I like things to be in time. 

 

I almost replied to Rick's want ad and have flirted with selling mine since I bought the special run from Pat's trains but after reading these comments, I think I'll keep it now.  @harmonyards, how hard is it to change out the cam?  I added two lobes in the past with quick setting JB weld to my 779 Berk and N&W 611 and then carefully removed what was needed to get four even chuffs; it really didn't take that long.  I'm a drummer so I like things to be in time. 

 

Larry, the 4 cam is Pete’s design,....I can take no credit for what he made....follow his instructions under your original reply....he deserves the credit for that 4 cam design, I just install them!..😉

Pat

Thanks!  What's the best fan driven smoke unit to use for this application?

I use the MTH PS2 smoke unit,...I remove the 2 MTH resistors ( heating elements) and replace with a single 22ohm resistor towards the front of the stack....then fill the other remaining holes in the unit with solder....the element is wired to the TMCC factory smoke wire and to ground....I use a 5 volt source powered from track power, and use a second cherry switch sistered to the chuff switch to make and break one of the fan smoke motor leads....so technically speaking, my set up is sorta divorced, the element is wired to the TMCC, but the motor is an independent system, not reliant on the tmcc....if I don’t want smoke, ....( which is rare for me ) I just turn off the factory smoke switch, and I don’t worry about the fan running.....it ain’t gonna hurt a thing....and my theory is stagnant sitting smoke motors can go bad just from not being used anyways......hope that helps...

 

Pat

Larry, in my case I used a Lionel smoke unit but its no longer available. I upgraded mine maybe 8 years ago. If you have trouble getting your hands on an MTH smoke unit, the ones used in the Lionel Lionchief engines will fit. You will have to change the resistor. I use 22 ohm 2 watt wire wounds connected to the R2LC. Basically how the existing puffer unit is driven from.

 

Pete

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Last edited by Norton

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