Even though I lean towards scale locomotives and rolling stock, I still have a soft spot for tinplate. Sets that intrigued me the most by Lionel in the prewar era were always the ones that mixed the two. Case in point would be the scale Hudson with the Rail Chief cars, and the 763E heading the 2800 series cars in freight and work train outfits. I've already acquired the Rail Chief by Lionel Trains Inc. long ago, and figured the latter would be a great addition, too.
However, as a person who doesn't have the money to afford an excellent condition 763E, especially in gray with the gray coal tender (let alone find one), I figured it would be easier to assemble a modern version with Lionel Corp. Tinplate. My parents already gave me a lovely Lionel Corp. 2810 crane car two Christmas' ago, and I acquired an excellent condition 2815 gondola in red.
The most reasonable answer for the locomotive seemed to be the no. 785 gray Hudson Lionel Trains Inc. produced in 1987 - it has gray paint, the die cast coal tender, and open spoke driving wheels. Plus, some can be had for as low as $250.
The only problem is, obviously, the couplers - the 785 has the knuckle coupler while the 2800 cars have the box couplers. I was hoping that MTH/Lionel Corp. would release the two transition freight cars they announced in 2015, but sadly those were cancelled. However, I figured to do this myself by replacing a tinplate truck on a 2800 car with a postwar/modern truck with a knuckle. Has anyone done this? I know some have replaced box couplers on some prewar products, but I would like to know the process and experience from others more into tinplate than me.
