Lionel MPC 783 Hudson in action

Great looking layout, and nice engine. Looks like the old girl still runs like a champ.

Very nice. I have this and the 785 and they run great.

I don't have the 783 but after watching yours run I wish I had one.  I do have the 785 and although I like it I must admit that it does not run as well as your 783.  Thanks for the video 'cause there ain't nothing like listening to the growl of an open frame motor. 

I remember my local hobby shop had a poster before it came out for $560 I think and I was just getting into O gauge and I thought I'll never spend that much on a engine.

A few years later I paid $750 for mine and that was a good deal at that time.

They have stood the test of time!!!

Show-off

Fantastic! Layout looking great!

Gee, Jim......I can remember the when the product flyer came out.....seems like yesterday! Where did the time go?

Peter

Great engine, great video, great layout......here's the flyer.....

Thanks for the video, Jim.......conventional sometimes can be so sweet!

Peter

Very Nice

Jim:

    Nice layout and nice run for the 783. I'll have let mine out of the box and let it get some fresh air and exercise as you did for yours. Nice video.

    Thanks!

John Knapp

Erie, not Eerie

Jim;

Love the video and your layout. I have both the 783 and 785 on my display shelves. My new layout is setup with Legacy, so one of these days I have to figure out how to run some of my old conventional engines on the layout.

P.S. Would have been MUCH happier if you hadn't pointed out how old they are!!!

My Dad was proud as a peacock when he purchased the 785 and scale caboose. He put it on the mantle under a glass case and I have still today. I actually ran it on the layout once. The early rail sounds of static and the barking seal whistle cracked me up. Maybe some day I will put an updated sound system in it. 

Jim - I really liked the video... I watched it twice! 

Fantastic Jim....always loved your layout!

Alan

Way cool Jim! Thanks for the video. I just bought a 783 a few weeks ago, was wondering if the all sounded like it was grinding something. Mine was a slug in the beginning, but I made some improvements. I added some spacer washers on the driveshaft and took some play out of it, and pulled all of the drive rods off and ground the burs off. IT made a lot of difference. So thanks again for the great ride around the layout and the music that only a Lionel train makes.

Engine runs like a champ. Enjoyed the trip around your layout. Great detail.......Paul

I too remember when the 783 came out. I was in the middle of raising a family and at $500 a 783 was unobtainium. At that time,we didn't think it could get any better. I finally bought a clean,used one up a few years back for $200 and replaced the old SOS electronics with Trainsounds from a baby Berkshire tender. She's still a fine runner and a looker as well as the best Lionel offered in 1984.

I have the 784 B&A Hudson which is now a very smooth runner, even at slow speeds. Initially it was not a good runner.

Turned out one of the magnets for magnetraction was not positioned correctly and it caused the drivers to pull up tight against the side of the frame.

Lionel repositioned the magnet and it has been great since a month after I got it new many years ago. 

A few year ago I added TMCC and Railsounds 4 and it is even better than ever. I put pick up rollers on the tender (has the Railsounds in it) and I can use the tender behind my conventional locos with the added Railsounds  also.

Nice video, nice layout. The 783 was my first scale Hudson. Sad to say I was very disappointed, I took it out to Lionel and it was worked on but has never been a good performer.

Great video Jim. By the way, enjoyed your layout and commentary in the Great Layout Adventures vol 7.

Thanks, everyone. 

It's interesting - I started collecting Lionel postwar in the early 80s about 30 yrs after the ones I owned as a kid had been produced. Now that MPC products such as the Hudson are 30 yrs old they seem almost as nostalgic to me.

Postwar reminds me of my youth in the early 50s, and the better MPC reminds me of those years in the mid 80s when we couldn't wait to see what were the hottest new products coming out of MPC Fundimensions and later Dick Kughn's Lionel. At the time, there was no MTH, no Atlas, .... etc. Lionel was the only game in town and had our full attention for exciting new products.

I've got to drag more of the Hudsons off their shelves and put them all together in a video.

Jim

Jim:

I never tire seeing your trains performing on your wonderful layout. Please keep making & posting videos.

Tony -- Up on "The D & H Bridge Line"

PS: I did miss seeing Homies or Aliens riding on the back of the caboose. 

Times sure change faster than we think. It's kind of odd to think 'modern' era trains are that old now.

Always been excited about Lionel scale Hudsons, and the 783 is no exception. Nice to see it getting a good exercise after so long.

For those curious about the somewhat bipolar operating personality of the 783 (and 784), was their bearings often caused binding on the motor brush plate against the worm armature. This was fixed on the 785 in 1987, and later on the 5340 in 1990.

Very nice loco!

I have the similar 785, and have never heard mine with the SoS turned off. I'll have to try that next time I run mine. It's on my layout now with a passenger run of seven different Lionel and Williams New York Central passenger cars in two-tone grey.

Nothing like, good old MPC.

An all-time great layout, one that could be featured in "Great Model Railroads" if not for klambake editorial predjudices, and a real pleasure to see an O gauge train being run almost fast enough! 

Pete

These are very affordable engines on today's market. I upgraded the 784 and 785 with a large can motor, ERR and  railsounds 5. They now run side by side with the newer legacy and odyssey engines using the legacy system. I simply did not want them sitting on my shelf unused. 

romiller

Very nice Jim, really enjoyed the video. 

Thanks, Alex 

Jim Policastro posted:

I decided to give my older Lionel 783 Hudson some exercise on my layout today pulling modern freight cars (with caboose, of course!). Grabbed a camera for some quick, hand-held, somewhat shaky shots.

Hard to believe that the engine just had its 30th birthday last year! It was my first "serious" purchase (in terms of $$$) after my return to Lionel 3-rail from HO.

The Sound of Steam was turned off so I could hear that Pull-more motor growl and lots of high speed wheel noise. 

 

Jim

The postwar-style Hudson 4-6-4's are fantastic locomotives. I know how time flies, my #704 Santa Fe Hudson is now 20 years old, has LOTS of miles on it, and still gets run constantly. However, no growl here, just a little buzz getting started and the whir of the motor brushes on the commutator. Here are some videos with the sound turned off. 

Getting started and going somewhat slow.

Moving a a good clip with a bunch of scale cars. 

Like the #783, the #704 is based upon the #773 which is very close to 1/48 the size of the NYC J1e. While the Santa Fe certainly had Hudsons; they were not like these, so I really can't say that it is a scale Santa Fe Hudson. None-the-less brings me a lot of joy. Incidentally, the #704 Santa Fe Hudson was originally cataloged in 1950 along side with the #773 NYC Hudson, but was not produced until 1996.  

The St Fe Hudson from the Warhorse set has always been one of my favorites.  It doesn't have all the fancy electronics of others I have, but that is part of the beauty of it.  It runs great, always was a hit running on the North Central O Gauger's layout in Mundelien, Ill.  I have several Hudsons, and having the St Fe example is a superb runner.  To see it run with a long string of ATSF and other Western Rails box cars behind is a pretty sight.

Jesse

I couldn't get your video to go full-screen.  But one of the things I like about it is that hint of wheelspin at start-up.  That's a very prototypical touch which is just about *impossible* with today's rubber-tired locos.  Gosh I wish Lionel would give us the option of installing a steel-tired wheelset in place of the grooved one!

I have all the semi scale hudsons from MPC/LTI era. One thing I did was overhauled all the motors, cleaned out the old Lionel grease, cleaned off the shafts, ensured all the coupling pins and magnets were set, replaced bearings as needed,  then re assembled using Red N Tacky #2 Grease and labell oil. Overhauling these like I did greatly improved the performance. Biggest difference was in the 783, The Commodore Vanderbilt and the Warhorse Hudson.

As promised, I uploaded a video of my other early/modern Hudsons.

It is in a new thread:

Here

Jim

I've got a 783.  And although it runs fine now, it was a nightmare getting it that way.  It took long months of work before I was finally able to finesse it into doing anything but growl and crawl.

I also added 700E valve gear to it, which I think Lionel should have included from the start.

Would I get another of these "early" non-DCC Hudsons?  Maybe.  But not a 783.

Ted Sowirka posted:

I couldn't get your video to go full-screen.  But one of the things I like about it is that hint of wheelspin at start-up.  That's a very prototypical touch which is just about *impossible* with today's rubber-tired locos.  Gosh I wish Lionel would give us the option of installing a steel-tired wheelset in place of the grooved one!

It looks like the attachments have to be opened rather than the in-text embedded to get the full sized.

I like the spin of the wheels at the start as well. It did come with extra blind wheels with traction tires, but no need. It will pull 30 full scale cars which is all that I can handle on my track.

texastrain posted:

The St Fe Hudson from the Warhorse set has always been one of my favorites.  It doesn't have all the fancy electronics of others I have, but that is part of the beauty of it.  It runs great, always was a hit running on the North Central O Gauger's layout in Mundelien, Ill.  I have several Hudsons, and having the St Fe example is a superb runner.  To see it run with a long string of ATSF and other Western Rails box cars behind is a pretty sight.

Jesse

Lionel did a good job on the #704. It does have TMCC and haunting sound system to give the impression of an old steamer at the end of its career. It took a lot of hours of operation for it to loosen up and I rebuilt the motor with ball bearings to get rid of the motor grinding noise. However, the motor shaft is ever so slightly bent which is why it there is just a bit of noise and hesitation at the start. 

 

texastrain posted:

The St Fe Hudson from the Warhorse set has always been one of my favorites.  

Lionel did a good job on the #704. It does have TMCC and haunting sound system to give the impression of an old steamer at the end of its career. 

It's been mentioned a number of times over the years that the Warhorse Hudson is blessed with a particularly great whistle - just one of those unique engines where the electronics and the acoustics came together just right. Many have commented that it has one of the best whistles of any steam engine, before or since.

Great videos, Locos and Layout Jim.

I never really "got" the allure of the postwar Hudsons. That is until we acquired a PWC 773 this past Christmas. 

Just can't believe how smoothly (for an AC motor) it runs. It's a majestic beast.  

Great layout and wonderful subject matter, Jim.

You probably know I'm a sucker for a good MPC thread!

TRW

I wish to give out a big "thanks" to fellow Forum member Daniel, I received today the K Line NYC Hudson purchased from him.  It is, without any doubt, the most detailed Hudson I have seen.  It is the 5344 and will be getting ERR upgrades in the future.  But, it is a Hudson example I have been seeking and now have one more item off my list(s).

Great layout and nice ride.  What a BEAST!  Hudsons are special steamers.