K-line semi scale Hudson vs railking

some of those K line steamers are equipped with lionel railsounds....I run all semi-scale equipment..my K line dreyfuss is equipped with lionel railsounds from the factory....and yes ....its kinda weird how close some of the K line and railking hudsons are....miles apart from the big L...

The K-Line semi scale hudson is one of the nicest out there. An ERR Cruise Lite in the engine and RS in the tender will fit easily. k-Line offered a command version of the identical engine.

Pete

I agree - perhaps only beaten by the Lionmastar J3

MIKE

Was wondering if the cruise lite would be sufficient and fit the engine soubds like it will. I have a railsounds system for it bu need room in the tender.

mike w posted:

I agree - perhaps only beaten by the Lionmastar J3

 

MIKE

I would give the nod to the Lionmaster too but I picked my K-Line for small money (70 bucks) because the E unit was shot. I replaced it with a Williams E unit taken out of an engine I upgraded to TMCC.

The Cruise Lite will easily handle that motor. I have a cruise lite in a Williams NW2 with two of same motors thats in that hudson. I am not recommending that option  but the board will handle it. A fast breaker in the engine is required for a two motor option. Not required for a single motor.

Pete

If things may be marginal for the CC-Lite, I put a PTC in series with the motor, just in case you inadvertently overload it.  I did cook a CC-Lite when the K-Line Interurban picked a switch and stalled, now I'm a bit more careful with the load.  A 1.1 Hold PTC is a pretty good choice, they won't trip until around 2 amps.  A single motored semi-scale steamer should not be drawing 2 amps or more to the motor under any normal circumstance.  I've actually dropped down to a .75A hold PTC in a couple of installations, and so far I've never seen the PTC trip with normal operations.

Thanks for all the info. If I wanted to go a cheaper route, is there a basic electronic reverse board that would fit in the boiler to replace the big tender mounted system? Maybe a Lionel electronic e-unit? I would like to maintain the backup lights on the tender if possible as it looks cool. I just need to get the reverse board out of the tender so I can put my Railsounds boards in it.

Thanks!

Andrew

You should be able to put everything in the tender, they're not that small.  I've done a full Cruise Commander and RailSounds Commander upgrade in the semi-scale Mikado, everything in the tender.

What board set are you using?

It's the std K-Line reverse board. I have an older Railsounds system originally from a Lionel Chessie T-1 (Scale). It's a speaker and 2 sort-of large boards. I have to look closer at it but might squeeze it all in the way it is with some creative board stacking if the tender is high enough.

OK, that makes more sense.  I'm thinking more modern components.

Hi. Two things. The green marker lights show a lot of white can i put leds in them. I saw someone use a cheap lionel eunit in place of the bulky kline one. Anyone have a lionel pn for the reverse board?

NYCBuffalo posted:

Hi. Two things. The green marker lights show a lot of white can i put leds in them. I saw someone use a cheap lionel eunit in place of the bulky kline one. Anyone have a lionel pn for the reverse board?

The leds are ceramic. The white you see is part of the base. Just try to pull them down a bit so only the green shows. Alternately you could pull them out and paint the white base black.

Pete

I messed with the marker lights. It actually looks like a long skinny light bulb, sort of like a Christmas tree light slid thru the marker light horizontally. This seems to light the marker both to the front and side. Looks like the green is chipping from the tip of the bulb hence the white noticed from the side. Are there replacement bulbs or led's? Going to be hard to measure diameter.

Thanks all!!!

Some of the older locomotives had actual incandescent bulbs, later ones used the 2mm ceramic LED to light the class lights and/or markers.

Rail King Hudson with PS2. This locomotive is an excellent runner, but to my disfavor, it has freight yard sounds. On my railroad, the Hudson pulls only passenger trains.

The details on the K-Line Hudson appear to be better than those of the Rail King Hudson, but the Rail King Hudson has DCS.

Bobby Ogage posted:

Rail King Hudson with PS2. This locomotive is an excellent runner, but to my disfavor, it has freight yard sounds. On my railroad, the Hudson pulls only passenger trains.

It's easy to load a different Hudson sound file with passenger sounds...

NYCBuffalo posted:

I messed with the marker lights. It actually looks like a long skinny light bulb, sort of like a Christmas tree light slid thru the marker light horizontally. This seems to light the marker both to the front and side. Looks like the green is chipping from the tip of the bulb hence the white noticed from the side. Are there replacement bulbs or led's? Going to be hard to measure diameter.

 

Thanks all!!!

If you are seeing white then its likely a ceramic LED pictured above. You can pull the LED back a bit so less white is visible from the side but you won't be able to hide it all. The green lens will not fill the whole interior of the housing. There are various remedies, none of them quick and easy.

Replace the housing with one that has actual lenses and use a white light either incandescent or LED. Lionel has them. I suspect others do to. 

The K-Line scale Mikado has marker housings w/o lenses. When Lionel rereleased that engine with their light and later heavy Mikados they used markers with lenses.

Pete

My fix for the ceramic LED white sides showing is to use a marker and blacken them, they don't really show at all after that.  Just be careful not to blacken the actual LED lens.

So the lionmaster hudson was mentioned. I saw one at a teain show last year and loved the look but it would not run on the test track so i walked away not wanting to start a money pit. Side by side is the lionmaster longer?  I like the gray smokebox on the lm and add on details. Maybe someday...

Translucent modeling paint?

Tamiya makes green in spray (spray into a small container to dip for brush work. Keep thinner handy to stop brush crusting because spray dried fast using brushes)

I think Testors makes it in little bottles too.

So im thinking about tracking down a lionmaster hudson again. Is it bigger than the k-line semiscae one?

I like my kline ss one but wish it had a bigger tender. I have a lionel tender i plan to decorate and use with it to beef it up.

So im thinking about tracking down a lionmaster hudson again. Is it bigger than the k-line semiscae one? Is it a lot smaller than a 773/783/785 engine?

I like my kline ss one but wish it had a bigger tender. I have a lionel tender i plan to decorate and use with it to beef it up.

NYCBuffalo posted:

So the lionmaster hudson was mentioned. I saw one at a teain show last year and loved the look but it would not run on the test track so i walked away not wanting to start a money pit. Side by side is the lionmaster longer?  I like the gray smokebox on the lm and add on details. Maybe someday...

Yes, the Lionmaster is slightly longer. I own both. Originally bought the Lionmaster to be my premier semi-scale piece, then a forum member local to me put his semi-scale K-line up for sale when he was switching to scale. I couldn't pass it up despite not needing another semi-scale NYC hudson. The K-Line is gorgeous.  Pic below. The Lionmaster is on top, K-Line on bottom.

I have neither the Lionmaster nor Railking Hudson. Just posting this to compare tender sizes.

From Top to Bottom.

Post War 2046

Charles Ro Hudson with Lionel 2426 tender. (Charles Ro sold a J1e shell and 2426 tender to make the 2046 closer to a NYC Hudson rather than the Berkshire it was based upon)

Williams 2056 with add on 2426 repro.

K-Line Semi scale hudson.

All of the engines are pretty close in size. The K-Line tender is about a 1/2" shorter than a Lionel or Wiliams 2426 die cast tender.

Pete

Thanks for the pics all. Thought i was set on a lionmaster but also still thinking about a 783/785/18005. Anyone have a pic of a lionmaster hudson next to one of those for comparison?

NYCBuffalo posted:

Was wondering if the cruise lite would be sufficient and fit the engine soubds like it will. I have a railsounds system for it bu need room in the tender.

I would personally recommend against the Cruise Lite, it's really more suitable for lighter stuff.  If you go with the CC-Lite, I suggest a 1.1A TRIP PTC in series with the motor to protect the CC-Lite FET drivers.

@Norton posted:

The K-Line semi scale hudson is one of the nicest out there. An ERR Cruise Lite in the engine and RS in the tender will fit easily. k-Line offered a command version of the identical engine.

Pete

Agreed. I bought one when I started collecting O gauge a few years ago. Took me a while to work out the scale/semi-scale/traditional thing but now I've come to appreciate it for what it is. It's a nicely detailed piece that looks good with 13.5" or 15" cars.

I have both the Railking and the K-Line semi-scale Hudson’s. Both are good, quiet runners, but the K-Line is so much more detailed. I re-painted the Railking one for the Lackawanna. When I got it, the whistle didn’t work, so I run it with a RailSounds boxcar. K-Line: