I am looking for an instruction manual for the hudson products 700e that was made in the 1970 period and want to hear from those who have purchased one and your comments,thanks Marc
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Should be interesting. I heard they were done in Pewter. It looks like the recent Lionel production without the fancy electronics is stabilizing around $350 used. I saw a scale switcher go for under $160 the other day.
they're alright if you just want a display piece or paper weight. i had a boxed one back when i was in a big hudson phase it didnt have no instructions with it and i dont think any i have ever seen have had instructions with them. it was kinda a stepping stone engine for me on my way to getting the real thing, and also a good piece to have to examine. believe me i have seen some selling these as the real deal so it was good to have to learn how to spot the differences between the real deal and the fakes. as the last poster mentioned they arent made out of very strong metal so handle with care like say a brass engine. i've seen alot of them for sale with broken side rods and linkage so i'm guessing that they might have issues with those breaking from the cheap metals when people tried to run them. i did hear a rumor that lti did try to buy their molds to use for their remake in 1990, which i have no clue if that is actually true or not. best advise i can give from my experience is if you want a repro 700e and you want to put it on a layout and actually use it with some rail chief cars go with the lti one it's a good runner but does have lots of differences from the original. if you want a repro 700e to sit on shelf and be almost exactly detailed as the original then the hudson products would be ok. although if you have the 700e fever either of these will just add fuel to it and make you want the real deal even more at least it was that way for me.
I was going to the shows at the time when Hudson products was selling its 5344 scale Hudson. It was a good looking repro I believe cast of soft pewter (lead and tin) in silicone molds made from an original Lionel 5344. I recall that Hudson Products had a sales brochure but no user manual for its engine. All and all the Hudson Products scale Hudson was an interesting piece in model train history. The company had only a few employees and the products were assembled in a small facility in Massachusetts. Unfortunately the owner of the company ended up going to jail for mail fraud from taking customer payments and not delivering. IMO, you are far better of with the US made 90's 5340 Scale Hudson made during the Kuhn years. You can pick these engines up for a few Hundred , they look the same and they run far better than the original fragile 5344 that modelers pay thousands for.
Marc....I have an original display base for the hudson...with data plate attached...if interested e-mail at KRASKO379@AOL.COM all the best ...Joe
