Have been seriously considering this as a way to get a very nice Hudson steamer with TMCC and Railsounds at a reasonable price. However I could also use the cash to shop for a sturdy PW Steamer too but likely 400 bucks won’t get me a 773 and no TMCC or RS. What do you folks think one could expect of this K-line offering? Will it be a good puller? Will the Railsounds be original RS or RS II? No Mention in the catalog about minimum radius either…[:(!] ya think it’ll handle 027?
My LHS has April 2 as their deadline for placing a pre-order…I’m so on the fence.
Roland
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NYC Semi-Scale Die Cast Hudson & Tender with TMCC & RailSounds
If you can get this $500. MSRP engine for close to $400. I think you should go for it. Pre-ordering a new item could mean a long wait, however. I ran conventional only, up to 5 months ago…and I have to admit, I’m now a bit spoiled (sounds and constant lighting, mainly). Joe
This would be my first Command Loco and first sounds effects too… My LHS is asking 409 for this outfit for pre-order (Plus MD state tax) out-of-staters would enjoy no sales tax and walk away with it for 409. Delivery is slated for May on this one so that’s not too far off. See their website for phone numbers and order info. http://www.sidetrackhobbies.com/index.html
When reading Jerry Calabrese’s introduction in the K-line catalog he does mention that all K-line offerings are good down to 031 but I’m sure some must also be good down to 027 but they fail to indicate! I’m thinking this Semi-scale Hudson will run on 027; if it won’t I guess I’ll have to be happy with it on the 042 mainlines of my planned layout.
I have the K-Line semi-scale 4-6-2, and it does NOT run reliably on 0-27. Sometimes it’ll be OK, but it is too prone to derailment. I also have an 0-42 mainline, on which it performs and looks great.
Well I ordered it…Any one else? I figure I can sell it on eBay if I don’t like it and probably almost break even. I’ll let the folks know how it is if I ever get it!!
I have one from the first year K-Line offered it (1997 or so), and it is one of my favorite and most run engines. Mine is a conventional mode, with a great sounding electronic whistle.
With the enhancements that it being offered with it should be well worth the price.
The hudson finally arrived only about 9 months later than the May delivery date I first heard!
Short story is it was well worth the wait. Beautiful engine and tender (both Die Cast) very steady loco in conventional mode and especially in Command. Almost as if it has cruise. I think the very heavy weight and strong fly-wheeled motor make the difference. I had to re-program the loco a couple times as I was pushing buttons and flipping switches before reading all the literature. The sounds are very good. I especially likie being able to overlay the bell and whistle on top of the chuffing unlike trainsounds where you only hear one sound at a time. I pulled a set of PW 2500 series Streamliners around a big 048 fasTrack oval for test and it looked and ran great. I had not tried 027 track yet but will report those results once I do. I bet it will run, but we’ll see.
The smoke unit is awesome…You can hold down the number 9 on CAB-1 and boost the element for gobs of smoke! It sure does eat fluid though unlike my PE puffer. Although the fan driven unit put out way more smoke I do really like the way the Polar Express puffs. Obviously synchronized fan smoke is tops, but big $$. Also I like being able to shut the smoke off from CAB-1. The electrocoupler is just awesome…with the sounds too! So neat to back the consist into a siding and then uncouple and creep the loco off to bed and then vice versa over and over again many times!! Run the bell while backing into the cars with the backup light on and then hit the Front Coupler button just as the knuckles close to get the “Knuckle Sound” once again…wicked neat.
LED lights are pretty nice. although the blue tint on the headlight is kinda “Chinese” if you ask me, the LED jewel lanterns are really nice. Plus Lionel gives you a complete replacement set with pigtails included to solder onto the board if they ever go bad. O
I really wanted one of those. Still do. Maybe even more so after reading about yours. But I went with the SF scale F3 and am still waiting for the B unit to show up. I wish now that I had taken the Hudson. The F3 is great, but between the B unit wait and the Hudson being my favorite steamer, I want a do over!
The sounds are very good. I especially likie being able to overlay the bell and whistle on top of the chuffing unlike trainsounds where you only hear one sound at a time. I pulled a set of PW 2500 series Streamliners around a big 048 fasTrack oval for test and it looked and ran great. I had not tried 027 track yet but will report those results once I do. I bet it will run, but we’ll see.