Lionel 6-18005 New York Central 4-6-4 700E Hudson Steam Locomotive & Tender

I recently bought one of these myself. I really enjoy it and installed ERR AC commander and Railsounds into the tender, and used a 5 pin tether back up to the engine.

Here's my advice you on any Lionel product you are considering. Go to https://www.lionelsupport.com/ Then enter the product number 6-18005

Now when I go to that product page, I have the manuals and all the diagrams and support for that engine

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...al-4-6-4-Hudson-5340

This is a direct link to the owners manual for that engine from the above page  https://www.lionelsupport.com/...ents/71-8005-250.pdf

Front page of the manual covers some key running details such as track minimum curve diameter and other power requirements as stock

That said, you also asked about MTH PS3 upgrade. The problem is, natively this is a large AC motor not the DC can motor required for PS3. It can be done and there are some talented folks who have done that modification.  @harmonyards https://ogrforum.com/...4#155434570785642624

Again, I just did an ERR AC commander and Railsounds upgrade to TMCC because I was retaining the original motor and driveline and had the ERR components on hand.

Also some notes since you are inheriting this engine. I say this because I got mine initially in a non-running condition.

#1 on mine, the original factory grease on the axle bushings and inside the gearbox of the engine was so dried and sticky I could barely rotate the wheels even with the worm gear removed. Simply adding a few drops of light oil right into the gap between the wheel and bushing slowing working by hand freed the wheels up. The gearbox was not full of hardened grease, like some others I have seen but instead the grease just became extremely sticky.

#2 Electrically, someone before me had run or tried to test the engine and likely did not plug in the tether and instead it shorted to the metal cab area. This got those wires so hot the insulation was cooked and melted- but even more so- the current draw unsoldered one of the green wire feeds to the front roller connection point. Again, on the front page of the manual it casually mentions caution and insulation if that tether and connector is not plugged in, it has track power and can short out to nearby metal.

#3 Even more so electrically, inside the tender, my railsounds did work after I fixed the tether wiring and unsoldered connection inside the loco. That said, when upgrading and removing the very early railsounds board, I then noticed a trace on the one board in the past had gotten very hot and had separated from the PCB. Like I said, they worked, so was this a previous accident damage or something more recent, I do not know. The capacitors and components of those boards are getting up in age, so it might be a failing capacitor loading down the circuit. Like I said, I removed and upgraded but was working when removed.

All that said, I really do like the engine. I replaced the original capacitor in the constant voltage lighting circuit in the engine just out of abundance of caution, but also because I was converting to command and would be providing higher voltages more consistently (18V AC track power constantly) VS the original conventional operation. I still can run my conventionally as well after the upgrade.

Thank you for the information and links

I forgot another issue I found in my engine and don't know if others have seen this. The massive cast weight that sits above the gearbox on mine was at least partially degrading. By that I won't call it zinc pest, but the outside of that cast weight was definitely leaving a dust or fuzz of oxidized material. I took mine out, wire brushed off the layer of oxidized material (great caution, it might contain/be lead so definitely mask up, do outside and so forth) and sealed the now cleaned weight in a layer of primer and then black paint. It's just the weight, and like I said, mine was not crumbling, but it was definitely not completely collapsing and so sealing it was a good first step long term. I say that, because some of that oxidized fuzz/dust was dropping right on the rear shaft and bushing of the gearbox and so sticking to the lube on the exposed shaft right at the bushing of the gearbox made this a little more urgent to fix for me.

https://www.lionelsupport.com/...201-8005Complete.pdf

I have the same engine....I run it on super O  36'' radius...

I recently got one from a fellow forum member a few weeks ago . It's in very  nice condition, but wasn't run a lot. So, I carefully took mine apart. It's very well detailed and has a lot of connected linkage and valves. Take your time and take pictures! I also cleaned out all old grease and serviced the gearing, etc. Also, this is a suggestion and a good time to check the smoke unit. For some reason it and another LTI Hudson had no wick material in it. I cut the sleeve off the element , check the smoke element. If it needs changed do so. They can become brittle and have an awful smell. Then I put wick material in the unit. A few drops of mega steam, and off she goes! Not the best smoker, but pretty nice for a 90s model. She'll smoke from the stack and steam chest for a good 30-45 minutes nicely. It's a big engine so it'll go through smoke quickly I've found. I havent upgraded the board and usually turn off the rail sounds.  I run mine on 054 tubular with no issue. It's a beautiful unit. Get some scale cars for it and enjoy.

I’ve seen this on just about everyone I’ve serviced, ….and that’s been a lot of them, …..like you’ve mentioned, they don’t degrade, they just get a layer of the fuzzies on them….I pretty much do the same as you when I come across this, but I use an oil base paint ( old can of rustoleum )  in hopes the oil based paint will seal it,….nothing wrong with a rattle can though…..I literally hang it from a hook, and dip it in the can and let drip off what it don’t want…..after I buzz it on a wire wheel of course,…..do use the proper PPE as Vernon suggests, ….I don’t know what it’s made of, and don’t care to find out either….😉

Pat