700E 'Museum quality' on the bay..

Based on the description, I don't think it's a museum quality piece anymore...

Nice find CSam, also a nice engine, but like you said there's one bid. I don't know much about ebay but how do we know that bid is realistic,  is there a way of knowing or could the person selling the item have that done by a friend. Just curious.

Alex

I agree, very misleading

This engine is not museum quality. "the Tender body has warped but is still intact and shows no sign of coming apart". No original pick ups, and broken part. I would not be a happy camper if I gave a engine like this to someone to sell for me and they broke it. Don

It looks like the whistle motor in the tender has been removed as has the third rail pickup for the tender.  That was not mentioned in the write up.

He says the cars are also "museum quality". "The lead car shows some warping but not as much as the others". Rich, your right, I wonder what museums this guy visits. Don

You will please notice that I put 'museum quality' in quote marks (well, actually abbreviated quotation marks)!

I'll stick with our K-Line Hudson...

That would be The Museum of Crappy Stuff in Rochester.

" I was going to describe this as 100% intact but unfortunately after the photos were taken and I was looking it over to write this description the right side Crosshead guide snapped off when I rolled it over. It was a clean snap and that piece will stay with the Engine. Needless to say I am being much more careful about handling. "

What exactly did he break off, just curious, don't know what the "Crosshead" is.

Hi Don, people can be real strange sometimes. I bet that paint was like that from the factory.

someone who does ebay should go to the ask a question spot.

I've seen some shabby stuff in museums over the years. While the 700E in the auction may be questionable for us, it would probably be well received by a museum.

Why would someone buy a 1937 piece when a brand new one is available from Lionel?

Bobby - That's like asking why would anyone buy a 1967 Corvette when you can just get a 2012 model at the dealership. There is and always has been a certain prestige in owning the original.

Maybe because the 1937 piece is better detailed than the new version?

I think you buy it for the same reason you might buy a 1937 Alfa Romeo 8C rather than the most recent (since 2007) model 8C.   No doubt the new one is better in many, many ways, but . . . wow.

As I understand it, the 1990 version was almost identical, but in better metal.  If you like Hudsons, that might be the way to go.  If you collect antiquities, and can tolerate metal disintegration, then I guess the original is the only way to go.

As far as I know, the 700 freight cars havenever been exactly duplicated.  Too bad - they were as gorgeous as these Hudsons.  Opinion.

Lionel's phenolic remakes to go with the 1990 1-700E looked like pretty good representations of the original 700s.

quote:

As I understand it, the 1990 version was almost identical, but in better metal.  If you like Hudsons, that might be the way to go.  If you collect antiquities, and can tolerate metal disintegration, then I guess the original is the only way to go.

I purchased the 1990's version because I didn't want to take a chance on buying an engine with zinc rot, or with trying to figure out how "original" the engine was.

quote:

Lionel's phenolic remakes to go with the 1990 1-700E looked like pretty good representations of the original 700s

I agree that they are very nice cars. They also added two new cars to the set. I beleive they made a reefer and a stock car.

Still waiting to know what a "Crosshead" is...

Charly

I believe this is a picture of the crosshead. The guide allows the piece shaped like a sideways H to slide back and forth to simulate the piston valve. I think. Sorry, I'm not verytechnical beyond the operatin of toy trains, but a valid question deserves an answer, and that's the best I can do.  

You done good, Samplingman. The crosshead is as you describe. The "crosshead guides" are the two shiny metal bars above and below. If one broke, I'm not sure how that would be done.

Here are a couple pictures of the broken crosshead:

That is a crosshead guide yoke.

It's still there. A week to go, and now two bids at $1580.

Yeah, I see now. Definitely not the "crosshead guide." Still, if that piece snapped off just from laying the engine on its side, that doesn't bode well for the integrity of the rest of the metal...

Isn't the crosshead guide the extension of the steam chest that was cut off the 773 Hudson's when they were manufactured in the 60's. I agree that if just laying the engine on the side broke this piece off, then there would be suspect about metal fatigue. There is a nicer one on the bay with the display stand and the tender is not all warped. It is also a 37. If I was buying one I would want one made after 38.

This is by no means a museum piece I have seen better at York as well.

If the crosshead guide "broke", I'd guess what really happened is that the steamchest  broke where the crosshead guide is inserted into it.

Is it just me, or does the structure of the metal look very poor on the close-up photographs. It looks to me as though there are lots of granular impurities and voids in the structure.  It also looks as though it may have been repainted at some time in its life.

There is in fact a crosshead guide for the valve stem crosshead, which is what you're referring to. But when hearing the term, most folks think of the main crosshead guides--the two silver bars that guides the main rod crosshead back and forth.

The broken piece shown appears to be the access step, which can be seen hanging below the lower crosshead guide on the photo James posted above, directly between the rear pony wheel and the first driver. 

Your post is still showing up as jibberish, but I can see it when I "reply with quote."

OK, I'll give you that the interior detail and brake shoes are nice (Now who's the rivet counter?). But the handrail stanchions, missing coupler chain, centrifugal pump piping, headlight and several other details that were once very nice have been wrecked.

I certainly wouldn't buy one, especially with its metal issues, but it's still a neat historic piece.

I was once enamored with the idea of owning an original 700E but dropped it when it became clear these will all simply rot one day. The K-Line 5344 is the way to go for people who want a model for its level of accuracy.