K-Line Continues to Impress - New York Central "The Pacemaker" Set

I totally agree!

 

I have the early version (without full interiors) and LOVE IT!

 

 

 

 

Didn't buy a lot of K-Line during their run.....but after finding out how nice much of it was I have been picking it up on the secondary market. Die-cast 2 bay hoppers and heavyweight passenger cars my favorite.

Nick & Mario - Great looking sets both of you!

Nick, is that the Hudson you bought from me? I bought a conventional one from Mario too about that same time.

Had FOUR of them over the past several years and the 'last one' I have now is a JDS PS2.0 model - fantastic sounds and smoke!

I've always liked the look of NYC passenger consists, has a nostalgic look even tho I never saw them in real life.

CentralFan , who made those station platforms you have? Never seen those kind before.

Jerry 

Indeed it is Sam. Do I spy my old Santa Fe U-boat in the top left of your photo?

 

These K-Line Hudsons are absolute keepers, hands down the most accurate diecast models of a J1e Hudson currently available in O-Gauge. Upgrading them is a great solution until the potential Lionel release of this tooling with LEGACY.

 

I want to eventually own both road numbers they produced so they can pull separate trains (5343 pulls "The Pacemaker" and 5344 will pull the 20th Century Limited). 

Die cast hoppers are great, I just bought 3 (with coupler pads and monuting screws), and die cast boxcars, and the Hudsons (I had 4; now have 3) oh! those scale Hudsons... Been keeping my eyes open for an RS3 (w/ TMCC) and scale Mikado, and... the list goes on and on!

 

Thanks,

 

Mario

Trainworld had the K-Line NYC 2 bay hoppers for $25 for a long time. I bought them every chance I got in lots of 4!!!! NICE models.....

I have a bunch of K-Line engines, and a ton of their cars, including a bunch of the passenger cars.  I also lament the passing of this company, they did make great stuff.  The steam engines were particularly well done for the period, most of the competition wasn't offering near the bang for the buck as K-Line.

It is a bummer they're gone.  The one thing the O-gauge world needs is a bit more competition for the two heavyweights.

Nick...the consist looks great!  I have quite a few of the first run of the NYC heavyweights but mine are in the pullman green with black roofs.

 

Alan

I wish K-Line would have been around long enough to reintroduce the Pullman green 20th Century Limited heavyweights with full interiors like they did with this Pacemaker set. I honestly don't go for the silhouettes anymore. Luckily, Lionel filled that void with their 20th Century Limited heavyweights from 2004.

K-Line did make a Pullman set with interiors. They are nice and usually can be found at reasonable prices. The trucks are a little dodgy though. Right now MTH has the edge in 18" heavyweights as far as detail is concerned. Lionel has the best overall car with good detail and well made components but at a price. 21" cars are for another discussion.

 

Pete

The problem with the sets you mention Pete is their fidelity to the 20th Century Limited. Both the K-Line and MTH sets are not named correctly; only the Lionel set from 2004 has the correct mixture of Pullman and NYC heralds and names.

 

As of yet I have not found anyone that makes 20th Century Limited heavyweights in 21".

I agree....I too like the full interiors better.  BUT...IMHO the K-line cars are nicer than the Lionel versions.  I have both and like the older K-Line cars better.  (Remember this is just my opinion and may not be fact!).  I am in the process of removing the silhouettes and installing clear windows in place.  Painting the car interiors black and then gluing one or two figures on dark grey painted strips of half inch (pink or blue) foam glued to the floor works wonders!  The strips are cut in a dental mold pattern so that one gets a seat and a back.  Of course the little passengers have to have their lower legs amputated!!

 

Alan

Indeed K-Line's cars have a little bit better detailing on the cars themselves. However, since factory originality is important to me in most cases, I prefer to own the Lionel cars that already come with the correct decoration and interiors rather than modifying a K-Line set. I believe the early K-Line 20th Century Limited cars are also a little too light on the green; Lionel's set is a more correct darker shade.

 

(As you can probably tell, I research these little details pretty extensively for the trains I put together. Making the consists as accurate as possible is almost as fun for me as running the trains themselves   )

When I ran a hobby shop we were a K-Line Superstore and stocked all the great K-Line trains. Their departure left a big void, but it is slowly being filled by other manufactures.
Nick Ladd the vice-president of Sales was the man behind all the high-end stuff, he was a real gentleman to do business with.

Have no Legacy so I can not compare to K-line. And not really big on accuracy. More like if it feels right it is. But given a choice, I will buy NOS K-Line over Lionel every time. I have never bought NOS Or used K-line that did not perform flawlessly. Unfortunately, It seems the opposite for me regarding the other guy. If only K-Line had a little more business savvy and a tad less willingness to do what it takes to get ahead regardless of the risk.