Lionel 700e Hudson display board

Kevin, are the pictures, different views of the same item? The name plate in the center that is not overexposed says cab number 5340. That is number on the 1990 700E. 

Pete

NIce, but not the original 1937-38 one.

Norton posted:

Kevin, are the pictures, different views of the same item? The name plate in the center that is not overexposed says cab number 5340. That is number on the 1990 700E. 

Pete

Hello Pete,

i should have mentioned that the picture is a collage of the same item.  as far as the number 5340 is concerned that is the number that is on the 1937/38 board. if you google it you will find pictures of it from  previous auctions. 

thanks,

Kev

Interesting. Thank you for the history lesson. I guess I have never seen an original display stand. 

Pete

eddie g posted:

NIce, but not the original 1937-38 one.

Hello Eddie, 

only because i researched it the best i could what year do you think it is from. i do know it came out of the Vagel's Treasure House. 

thanks

kev

Here is my reproduction of the 700E dealer display stand, and the top rotates to show off all sides of the 700E

When the 5344 was reproduced and introduced in 1990 as the 5340 by Lionel under Richard Kuhn, great pains were taken to come out with a model that closely mirrored the original right down to the display board. There are very small differences but they are barely noticeable. What is different is the addition of a smoke unit and the rail sounds. While I would not feel comfortable running and wearing out an original 5344, I enjoy running one of my 5340's. It pulls 8 NYC 20th Century Ltd passenger cars with ease.  The choice to run a $550 engine (that looks nearly identical) and a $3000 antique that collectors always just sit on a shelf, is not a hard one to make.

The board from 1990 has T-rail track in two sections.  I seem to remember seeing an original board that had a continuous piece of T-rail. Am I correct?

The display board / case with my 5340 has no track attached to it but in the box there was a length of Gargraves track that fits on it. I have no idea if this is how it came from Lionel, but that's how my Dad packed it up before he passed away. 

JagRick, I see that you have created the reproduction 700e display with the t rail track. Other than this, and the base that came with the 700e, did Lionel make any other displays for dealers to market the 700e?

Also JagRick, Do you know of any of these displays that have survived? Where did you get you information to create the reproduction you made?

This display itself is quite large and really we had used for probably in store as little interest from an owner or operator of these strange. This was reconstructed from images from Lionel and their description. I think they need us aspect is that the top shelf rotate and allows the scale Hudson to be viewed from all sides without having to pick it up.

Hello gents, this is an old post and was doing some research on Lionel 700e display boards and came across this post. The name plate for the Lionel 700e display board you have is correct. 5340 is what was used for the description, and 5344 is what was actually used for the cab number of the model. There is much debate as to why Lionel did this, but I cannot find an answer. Your board has two straight T-Rail sections bolted together. This is incorrect, it should be one solid piece. It looks like someone got a hold of a reproduction name plate (or original) and a piece of oak and cut to same length as original and placed two T-rails straights together. The wood could be original, not sure without a close up inspection. The reason I bring this up as I just purchased a display board (almost $1000.00 for it).

This is my second one. I bought a display board about 6 years ago with the hope of one day buying a 700e. That never happened and I sold the display board for $900.00 ( I paid $775.00 at an auction house). Display boards are rare as Lionel made very few for their new 700e in 1937. Depending on condition, you can get one for around $700 on the low end to $1000.00 plus!

Here is a picture of the one I just bought (note the single piece of straight T-Rail).

Just to clarify what constitutes the make up of the original 700e display boards:

1. The wood is walnut

2. The nameplate does say Series 5340 and is stainless steel and not aluminum.

3. The t-rail track as previously mentioned is one piece and exactly 26" long

4. The nameplate will be tacked to the base with the small rounded head nailed as shown in the picture above

5. The wood base has chamfered (angled edges but just before it reaches the bottom surface it has a 90 degree cut

to the bottom surface that is +/- 1/8" tall

6. Base at the bottom is 3 -15/16 wide and 28" long.

7. Tacks or nails used to attach track to base are flat head

Treasure House made some nice bases in the 50's for the 773 Hudson and they made up plates that said 773 instead of 700e.

I believe they made the bases the exact same sizes and out of walnut. The bases had super O track on them which

is more relevant to the 50's Hudson and then they stamped the bottom with the Treasure House rubber stamps.

So refreshing to see that at one time in Lionel's history they actually installed a 'proper sized' pilot with correct sized wheels instead of the awful 'Training Wheels' that are almost universal on their premium scale steamers in recent years!

Perhaps the China shops had a few million of them from somewhere that they needed to move?

I like this one so much better with its scale pilot wheels.

@c.sam posted:

So refreshing to see that at one time in Lionel's history they actually installed a 'proper sized' pilot with correct sized wheels instead of the awful 'Training Wheels' that are almost universal on their premium scale steamers in recent years!

Perhaps the China shops had a few million of them from somewhere that they needed to move?

This engine was made in 1937 thru 1941 (engines not sold in 1941 were sold in 1942) and Lionel did not not "0ff shore" production. Though the tooling for this engine was made in Italy. Josh Cowen wanted to make a 1:48 scale of the NYC J1E Hudson. And for the time he did a fabulous job. The "training wheels" you point out, were used for allowing engines to use tighter radius turns. Not every parent did want to buy an O-72 radius layouts for their child back in the 30's thru today. The grown up scale modelers of today are more prototypical and build layouts with wide radius curves of O-72 and more.

@Dennis LaGrua posted:

When the 5344 was reproduced and introduced in 1990 as the 5340 by Lionel under Richard Kuhn, great pains were taken to come out with a model that closely mirrored the original right down to the display board. There are very small differences but they are barely noticeable. What is different is the addition of a smoke unit and the rail sounds. While I would not feel comfortable running and wearing out an original 5344, I enjoy running one of my 5340's. It pulls 8 NYC 20th Century Ltd passenger cars with ease.  The choice to run a $550 engine (that looks nearly identical) and a $3000 antique that collectors always just sit on a shelf, is not a hard one to make.

Dennis, you can run a 700E Hudson as long as your careful and your layout is sound (track is good for no derailments) and your not going to wear it out. Atlas O track is very close to Lionel T-Rail track. Of course I'm not saying to use a 700E as a daily runner. But once in a while is okay. I recently ran my 700E (and also double headed with a 1-700E) at my clubs layout and she ran for about 4 hours total time, it never got warm and performed flawlessly. I'm 62 yrs old have owned my Hudson for a couple years now and I don't want to spend the rest of my life watching it on a display board. I plan on running my Hudson at least once a year or every other year and enjoy it, like Josh Cowen intended for it to run.

Here she is running...

https://youtu.be/vOhPCEu_REI?si=_tLQGjphvyUVTc6K

@Dennis LaGrua posted:

The choice to run a $550 engine (that looks nearly identical) and a $3000 antique that collectors always just sit on a shelf, is not a hard one to make.

I forgot to point out... If you can find a decent 700E that is not warped or missing pieces and has no damage for $3000.00 BUY IT! That is a steal. I paid $4900.00 for mine. A typical 700E in decent shape is around $4500.00. A very nice one, goes for $5000.00 to 5500.00. If you find a beauty, flawless with all boxes and box flaps or instructions etc. Your in the $7000 + range...

Thanks for that video above Richard. What a treasure!