I am considering adding a Hudson that can operate on 027 track. I have a couple Williams electrics and diesels that I am happy with, but I have not yet bought a Williams steamer. I am interested in hearing opinions about the merits on Lionel, Williams, K-Line, or MTH or others. Thanks.
Williams makes great products, so you won’t go wrong with a Williams Hudson. I have a Williams steamer, the 671, and love it. It’s on the layout right now.
Lionel has just come out with some really nice looking small (O27) Hudsons in their latest catalogs. I like the looks of them, and if not mistaken, they come with Trainsounds.
K-Line had an incredible Hudson in the last catalog, but I don’t know if it would be able to handle the O27 curves.
Jim
You might like the new or old K-line baby hudson
http://www.legacykline.com/apps/kl/catalog.html?p_oem_sku=K3270-5405CC
Williams makes a great product for the money you spend, usually less than other brands and Williams has all metal gears unlike any other company! I have several Williams and will buy more as finances allow. For your info Williams does not come with TMCC or DCS command control, you must add that yourself.
Like Jim I have the 671 S2 steamer and really like that locomotive, very powerful and has smoke & whistling tender with bell feature also. You will not find as good a quality as Williams for the price even with the other companies like Lionel or MTH or Atlas.
Atlas from what I have heard has good quality as well but is almost twice the price of a Williams engine, also Atlas can come with TMCC installed for an extra cost.
K-Line is now made by Lionel so I have no experiance with current K-Line products. If you can find older K-Line in the box you may get a good deal on it.
Lionel and MTH do not always use metal gears and the gears can tear up easier than a Williams if you load down the engine with a string of frieght cars.
Also there is Weaver trains, I must be nuetral about quality as I don’t own any Weaver engines. I have a few Weaver frieght cars that have coupler problems when using with Lionel style couplers.
Then there is RMT or Ready Made Toys that make semi-scale stuff or midget O gauge in the case of Beeps & Peeps as they like to call their engines. Some of the guys on here really like the RMT trains. I have the RDC or rail diesel car(passenger car) and it runs good, so far no complaints with it.
Last company that I know of or have heard of is SMT, seen their add in CTT mag, that is all I know on them.
Lee F.
Thanks for all the help so far. I am not running DCS or TMCC yet, so conventional is fine with me. And I do like the Williams quality on the GG1 and the diesel that I have. I will look into the K-Line option too. I certainly like the sounds, but it’s not a deal breaker one way or the other.
One important issue here is the use of 027 track.
I have one of the K-Line “baby” Hudson’s from the late 90’s, and it is one of my layouts “workhorses”,
I had used 031, but now use 036 Fastrack.
My upper level is was 027, and this engine never took to it, derails were common. I switched the upper level curves to Marx 034, and she runs there fine.
For 027 track the turbines (Lionel or Williams) can’t be beat. 2 other “baby” Hudsons that track well on 027 would include the first ones made by Lionel/MPC during the 70’s. I have the 8206 ( a recreation of the PW 665), and 8600 (a recreation of the PW 664), and they both track well on 027, the 8600 has the added advantage of mangetraction. MPC made several other steam engines from these molds and they all should do well on 027.
Ken
Hello Ken!
I guess you meant to say that the 8600 is a recreation of the 2046/646 Hudson. Lionel never made a 664 Hudson in the postwar era.[:)] Take Care.
Yes, that is what I meant, the 8600 is cast from 646 Tooling.
This same tooling was used for the Blue Comet, and Southern Cresent steamers made during the MPC era.
Ken
Might try a 2055 or 2065 Post War. They still run great.
Last Fall I purchased the William’s steamer HD027-1. This came with the New York Central tender and 5443 cab number. These are available for around $195 from the larger advertisers in CTT. I am very pleased with the detail, smoke performance, and having both the engine and tender die cast. It has a pleasing whistle and bell that works with most any transformer. You will not be disappointed in this if you are looking for something fun and easy to operate.
If you are looking for a good runner and great puller(20+ cars) but has NO SOUNDS heres a great one… LIONEL 18606, If you can’t see this on the Bay go to TOY TRAINS on Ebay, type in Lionel 18606 and check it out.
Its not to bad of a price I usually get them for about $70 on the bay. I have 5 of these little GIZ and all are great. They will run forever and have a good smoking (puffing) unit in them. But unfortunatly NO SOUNDS. So I just hook up another tender behind it that has sounds and its great. But for 0-27 you can’t beat it.
laz57
That’s a great price laz 57 as I just looked up that item in Greenberg’s price guide and it lists for over twice that amount.
Lee F.
I just bought my first Williams steam engine, the 726 Berkshire. I like it a lot. I plan on buying a Hudson sometime in the future. I have several Williams diesels and they too have been great. I don’t think you can go wrong with a Williams engine. I have Lionels, MTH, K-Line and RMT and I run the Williams most of the time.
Hard to go wrong with a Lionel 2046 Hudson in good condition for use on 027 track. I have one and all I run it on is 027.
Good luck!
Mike
We’ve got some “new” posters here with some great suggestions. [#welcome][:)] I love the post wars for the small steamers. I have found that the Pensy Fliers and New York Fliers [not Hudsons] are inexpensive but great pullers and smokers. As LAZ says, want sounds, buy a sounds tender and away you go.
I’ve been helping my wife’s cousing with his new layout. He’s using all O27 track with O27 curves. Even the smallest engines look odd going around those curves. And they can’t go too fast around those curves or they will tip over. He really doesn’t have much choice, due to space constraints, but jeesh, it’s tight!
Jim
Nothing wrong with that. I had that for years. Back in the 70’s and 80’s, I had a 60 foot long half of a basement layout with 027. Its what you like and what you as a person enjoy. 027 and traditional size engines and rolling stock is great. Just enjoy running trains. Put in a straight section or half straight in the curves if you can. This will help keep down the derailments at higher speeds. Then use the out side corners left by the straights to put houses or scenery on.