so, I’ve been looking more closely at my MPC era semi-scale Hudson.
First conclusion is that surprisingly enough, the Sound of Steam soundboard actually appears to be in working condition. It’s emabarrasingly low tech compared to the K Line loco (I see why the whistle is sometimes called the “dying cow”) but it does work. I’ll go over to Screwfix and get some 2-sided foam tape to re-attach it, and re-assemble the tender.
For now, it’s running with a Post-War era, air whistle tender which I think suits it quite well. I’d keep them together but I do like the die-cast, six-wheel truck tender and anyway the colours don’t match.
Secondly, I don’t usually run with smoke (the domestic authorities don’t like the smell) but I tried some smoke oil in it. MAN, this thing SMOKES! The Williams Scale Hudson is pretty feeble and the K Line semi-Scale isn’t much better, but this thing fairly chucks it out. I suppose it’s because it needs such a lot of power anyway, the can motors on the later ones run on a fraction of the power, so the smoke unit is getting plenty of “go”. Mind you the modern 0-4-0 switcher is a strong smoker, too.
Right now it’s on the study floor test loop, and canters round at about 2/3 throttle with a string of MPC and modern hoppers, box cars and a lighted caboose. It’s a nice, brightly coloured set-up and my grand daughter (3) loves it.