I recently picked up TMCC and am trying to find an NYC Hudson. I know that lionel made 2 commodore vanderbilts, Idk which is the best. I also am looking for a j1 type hudson thats not a 700E. If anyone can help me let me know!
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Oh, there may be some stuff around...
The Commodores came in the "wrong color" light gray/silver, the "right color" dark gray, and at least 2 Tinplate Imitations, one red, one blue. These are all mechanically identical, I believe - and all are 700E's (modern production) underneath. TMCC. Pullmor AC motor. They run well for the technology.
Lionel's J3a - un-streamlined and streamlined (both Century and Empire State Express versions) are great locos. I have them. eBay sometimes has them at good prices.
K-line's TMCC J1e is beautiful. Often at a good price.
The Vision Line new Legacy 700E (not the old 700E) is a great piece, I understand. Don't have one. Waiting for the prices to drop below used-car level.
To go farther afield - and you may not be at this point, yet - a used MTH PS-1 scale NYC J1 can often be had economically, and can easily be re-fitted with TMCC with Electric RailRoad Co. kits. Around $200 for the re-fit.
3rd Rail has offered various NYC Hudsons in the last several years. Some (all?) with TMCC. Not necessarily with cruise control, I think.
There are some differences between the silver Commodore Vanderbilt and the later Charcol gray version. Both have TMCC but the dark gray has a wireless tether. The silver one has scullin disks and the dark one has cast spokes. The only Lionel J1e with Command is the Vision Hudson. The 1990 has railsounds but is conventional. Like D says the four J3s (two unstreamlined, one Dreyfuss, and one ESE) have Odyssey plus the latest ESE J3 with Legacy.
If you want a J1 with TMCC 3rd Rail made a J1a and J1d. These have early TAS Saw boards w/o cruise and Suethe smoke units but otherwise very nicely detailed and running engines.
D mentioned the K-Line J1s. Probably the best bang for the buck. Two have TMCC w/o cruise and one has K-Line cruise. The non cruise engines can easily be upgraded to cruise with an Electric RR board.
Pete
Sorry to jump on coat tails here..... What kind of Hudson is the PWC 773 from the 2000's? Is it a J1? What's the story with the not-2426W tender it came with? I have one, love it, but always wondered.
If your talking about the vanderbilt tender one, the engine I believe is j1, but because of the quality issues, and the tender I really dont have any intentions of purchasing it. Ive decided to go after the lionel dreyfuss hudson from I believe 2002, and the k-line hudson with tmcc, thank you all for your imput 
Thanks for all the replies guys! I'm really trying to go for a scale K-line one, but who knows what I'll end up with. Are the commodore vanderbilts also full scale? because I'm really trying to get a full scale hudson too, just got O-72, and I wanna get some use out of them with a bigger engine ( the only 2 TMCC engines I have are an NYC GP-30 and NYC 0-8-0 yard goat, one from 2004 and the other 2001). Both of these engines aren't that big so I'm really trying to get a medium sized NYC engine.
This thread:
https://ogrforum.com/...gines-large-or-small
By rrs on3/19/17
Might give you more options. It's a discussion about what is scale, semi, tmcc, etc. And item as well as engine numbers.
OGR Forum "want to buy"??????
Thank you all! Someone is offering me a K-line NYC Scale hudson #5343 for a very very nice price and thats the one I have decided on. However as a backup I may look into the Vanderbilt tender one.
I have two. The Century one and the one with the Vanderbilt Tender. I love them both. Im more of a toy train guy than prototype person so the wrong tender on the 5343 doesn’t bother me.
