Too many choices--very confusing

[XavierJ123]

I guess I would like to purchase an HO NYC 4-6-2 like the James Whitcomb Riley but I am confused because it is offered in the following:

Block lettering
Roman lettering
without water scoop
with elesco FWH and striping
with elesco FWH painted with striping
5344 painted
painted/unlettered

I have no idea what all this is.
It seems the 4-6-2 with NYC identification are few and far between so I might consider a 4-6-4 NYC Hudson. I would appreciate any input. Maybe I need to buy something with no choices.

 

[shaygetz]

More than likely, it is being offered in the various paints and configurations the original had over the years it operated. An example would be one of my GG1 electrics. Thru out its 50+ year running life, GG1s started out in Tuscan red w/ 5 gold stripes, then were Brunswick green w/ a solid gold stripe. Then with the Penn Central "Bancruptcy" green w/ a single white stripe. Under Conrail they were black and under Amtrak they wore the Phase I "Bloody nose" scheme of black, red and silver. Don't forget that one wore Bicentennial colors and there were variations in the other schemes....

 

[CalFlash]

I'm sure Shaygetz is right here. You need to do a little research to find out why the differences or just pick what you like.

 

[wjstix]

It sounds like you've been reading about the Broadway Limited 4-6-4 NYC Hudson. It's available in several versions.

Block and Roman are different types of lettering 'fonts', I believe NYC used Roman then later in the steam era switched to Block.

On some of it's lines, the NY Central used "track pans", long troughs between the rails filled with water that an engine could scoop up via a water scoop under the tender instead of stopping at a water tank. The engineer could raise and lower the scoop from the cab of the steam engine. Only NYC engines that served those lines that had track pans would have scoops.

FWH is "feed water heater", steam engines turned water to steam better if the water was heated first, Elesco was one of the companies that made them. For model purposes it's just sort of a small detail part, it wouldn't change the basic appearance of the locomotive. Striping is just that - some NYC steamers used white striping on some parts of the engine, some engines didn't. Depends on which you want to model.

5344 was the most famous New York Central 4-6-4, it was the one that Lionel used for the first mass-produced model locomotive (O scale) in the US back in the 1930's. I think BLI offers their Hudson in several different numbers (in case you want more than one !!)

Generally re HO locomotives, "undecorated" means raw plastic - no paint or lettering etc. so you can decorate it yourself for your favorite railroad or a freelance road you've made up. Sometimes engines are offered "painted - undecorated" which means it's been factory painted (often just all black for a steam engine, sometimes it will have the smokebox & firebox painted gray) then you can use your own decals to letter it yourself.

As for the James Whitcomb Riley and it's 4-6-2 Pacific's, the closest you could come (except for brass??) might be a Bowser NYC K-11....

http://www.bowser-trains.com/holoco_k11.php

 

[shaygetz]

On some of it's lines, the NY Central used "track pans", long troughs between the rails filled with water that an engine could scoop up via a water scoop under the tender instead of stopping at a water tank. The engineer could raise and lower the scoop from the cab of the steam engine. Only NYC engines that served those lines that had track pans would have scoops.

More than a few hobos met their end because of these water troughs. Like he said, they would drop the scoop at full speed to fill the tender "on the fly". Because this was not an exact science, often the tenders would overfill and several thousand gallons of water would gush thru the hatches flowing over the deck and down the back. Unknowledgable 'bos who'd hitch a ride on the tender beam in the winter would be covered in the overflowing water and frozen to the tender under a sheet of thick ice.

 

[wjstix]

I hate when that happens !! BTW I guess when they first tested it at speed, they hadn't calculated the force of water and air being forced into the tender and blew the back off the tender.

 

[XavierJ123]

Thanks for all the info. I really appreciate your time and trouble to teach a tenderfoot a thing or two.

 

[60103]

It was very common for tenders to overflow when picking up at water troughs. Once the scoop was down in the water, it was stuck there until they got to the other end of the trough. Since the water capacity varied and there might be any amount already in the tender, they probably overflowed frequently.
In Britain, the front compartments on trains were kept locked in case of overflow. There is at least one case of a driver being killed because the overflow from a train on the next track blew in his window.

 

[Flash]

You guys may be able to help. Around the late Fifties I got an O/O27 Lionel 4-6-4 steam locomotive for Christmas but stored all my stuff away about 35 years ago. Decided this past Christmas it was time to resurrect the trains as my contribution toward Christmas decorating. I understand that this is the Hudson class. Problem is, no instruction manual ir ID plaque on the loco underside, and I would like to know more about what it is I have.

#2046 on the cab. 2046-10 on the engine's carton. Pennsylvania on the tender, and 2046W on the tender carton.

While I could run out and buy a reference book, does anyone have a description and background on this model

 

[wjstix]

That's a good Lionel engine to have, it's a smaller 0-27 version of the Hudson, designed along the general lines of a Santa Fe engine. 2046W means the tender has a whistle in it !! Try a search on "Lionel 2046" and you'll come up with a lot of info.

http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=2046

 

[Flash]

www.postwarlionel.com/ was a great help. My 2046 is either a 1950 or 1951 with the 3 window cab. There sure were a lot of different Hudsons produced from 1950-1958. But what surprises me are the price variations in the used train and auction market. No matter because of the keepsake value, but the 773 Hudson produced in 1950 & then 1964-1966 seems to pull in the big bucks. Guess I have a lot to learn about rarity and condition.

Spent quite a bit of time on this resurrected beast, cleaning & lubricating, and replacing a fried smoke unit. But New Years Eve was quite fun with the boys playing with the trains while the girls were.....didn't notice what they were doing. A friend brought over a #671, the 6-8-6 S-2 Turbine with the die cast trucks and conventional smoke unit, so we figured it was from 1949. These two were the favorites with the crowd.

Time for me to start thinking about getting back into this hobby as more than a once a year event.