18012 and 18005 Hudsons. I'm Confused

The 1-700E, 6-18005 is the one that came with the display case. The value of the 1-700E is about $700.00 range. Without the case about $600.00 to $650.00

The vision line Hudson is going for about $1300, $1400 range for the black version and a little less for the grey version. 

The gray VL Hudson has been discounted at least twice by the major Lionel retailers.

THE 1-700e with the display case would the most expensive, as Ed observes.  It is really strange that price guide, and the latest I have is Greenberg 2010, has the 1990 Hudson in Mint condition with the display case -- the 18005 -- less valuable than without the display case. Dick

The guides always state that the numbers are based on reportedsales. 

While it's definitely not intuitive that a unit without the case would be worth more, it's possible whatever the source (Greenberg Shows?) is could have just made the entries work out that way. 

-Dave

I did not want the display case so I searched for one in the box with the number 19012 and never found one. So I gave up and eventually bought the 18005 with the case. Plenty of these 18005 Hudsons show up at shows and on eBay without the case.

I wonder if there really is one where the box is labeled 19012.

I can't say for sure since I wasn't active in the hobby to know how they may have originally been offered, but I suspect this and the 1990 Disneyland General are in the same boat.  (It also has 2 #'s listed, 18008 w/o case and 18013 with, but every time I see this engine, it's in a box labeled 18008, there is no box labeled 18013 as far as I can tell)

The locomotive boxes themselves all seem to be the same, so at the most there might have been a master shipper with the other number.  (Though for the Hudson, Dick seems to say he has the master shipper and it does not have the 18012 number on it anywhere.)

-Dave

Dave, that is right.  The master carton sent to Arizona Trains has no numbers or markings on it aside from the Lionel name and logo of the era.  The person I bought it from had opened the master carton and looked at the 1-700e and may have even run it a bit, but not much since the plug-in wire still looks to be factory coiled against the motor face in the cab and the wheels show no evidence of being run.

The display case was still in its original box and wrapper.  He was kind enough to send it to me in an larger box, thus protecting the set box.  Its really odd about the number 18012, which as I mentioned, does not appear in the 1990 Lionel catalog. An interesting puzzle. Dick