Wondering what it would cost to have a 1990 lionel hudson 1-700E upgraded to a Pittman motor. Also, if I do the upgrade, what else needs to be done for it to work? Can the original electronics stay in there?
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That model still has (to my recollection) a traditional mechanical e-unit, so I suspect you will need to upgrade to an electronic reversing unit.
I've thought about this, too, but have yet to open up the loco and evaluate the practicality of installing the motor. Certainly, all electronics would need replacing - motor driver, sound, radio board. The most likely scenario for me is to leave the Pullmor motor in place and upgrade the electronics to ERR AC Commander and Railsounds. I'll probably leave the piston-operated smoke alone. With the recently Harmonized (K-Line) J-1e Hudson and a recently upgraded 3rd Rail J-1d on my roster, plus a bunch of J3s, this isn't a high priority.
Jerry Williams offered his early O gauge engines with can motors and a bridge rectifier with instructions to wire in a postwar E unit if you wanted reverse. I'm sure somebody on here has the diagram, if I find my paper copy I'll scan it and add it to my post. So you could retain the original E-unit if desired to run a Pittman--though it doesn't make much sense to me, electronic e units are a clear upgrade from a performance standpoint since they don't have the ~6volt minimum to cycle like a mechanical e unit.
Pat @harmonyards is the guy to ask about what it takes, he's Mr. Pittman. 
Yep, get a quote from Pat at Harmonyards. I you want to try yourself then you’ll need to find a reasonable Pittman motor, modify the motor mounting frame, mount a new coupling to the gearbox, replace the AC Eunit with a compatible DC unit. Dollars will add up fast so hiring a professional such as Pat may be the best choice.
Pat has done a bunch of work for me and is master craftsman, though he is humble about his work. The work truly speaks for itself, and anything else you ask him to do will be a first rate job.
The hardest part of upgrading to a pittman motor is finding the pittman motor!!
@Judd posted:The hardest part of upgrading to a pittman motor is finding the pittman motor!!
Yeah, unfortunately the new owners have priced themselves out of the hobby market.
Thanks everyone for your help. I’ll send a message to Pat and see what will come up with for this old Hudson. It sat in its display case for most of its life. It would be nice to get it modernized a little bit.
@Constantinos Sboukis posted:Thanks everyone for your help. I’ll send a message to Pat and see what will come up with for this old Hudson. It sat in its display case for most of its life. It would be nice to get it modernized a little bit.
Well, a good thing to do is tell Pat that you want to modernize it a bit. Ask him what he would suggest on doing to it other than the motor upgrade. He'll probably suggest a backhead for one, a crew for another, coal load overhaul(that is a good thing too), and anything you can think of. If you want a drop plate(deck plate, whatever you want to call it), that is possible for most engines I would think. Depending on what curves you run on, that could even make a shorter drawbar as well. Best ideas is tell him the easy stuff first like what you're running on, and then go from there. Heck, my one Hudson was getting renumbered because I want to keep the MTH version with the same number as the one to have that number. Anything is probably possible, just need to talk over the details.
