CLEARER PICTURES ADDED. Question on a replacement tender for a older K-Line 3003 Pacific (Hudson) is the tender to engine too close?

I use a diecast tender from Marx that was used on the 333's with a tilt coupler! I got it from ebay, then stripped off the the old paint, shot it with Testor's gloss black, decaled it, the finished it off with a semi-gloss coat. K-line did make a tender for their 3003. It was plastic with Lionel couplers. You can find them on ebay.

The Marx 333 first used the diecast tender, but most of them used the plastic tender that looked like a shortened American Flyer Hudson tender, usually lettered Southern Pacific lines. engine and tenders were approximately 3/16" to the foot, or 1/64 size to match their tinplate scale cars.

The plastic tender that K-Line used for their 333 clone was from the Marx 1829, which was slightly larger "scale" as the 1829 went with the Marx deluxe cars.

Marx most have really have been friendly, with all the SP tenders they made!  Real Reason?

Pictures added with more questions?

Can't stand it. The Marx 333 was a 4-6-2 Pacific, not a 4-6-4 Hudson; there was, indeed, a (plastic only) Marx Hudson that had a different boiler/cab/etc and used the 333 chassis and had a 4-wheel passenger car truck under the cab to make it a 4-6-4. K-line issued a loco with this plastic boiler, also, I think (circus train?).

The photos are a bit dark, but the tender looks quite good with the K-Marx 333, to me. I have used one of these K-Marx chassis in an extended 666 project (below); they run beautifully. The modern can motor and well-geared worm drive make this loco perform better that many, many fancier locos.

Hi D500, you are correct as it is a Pacific and not a Hudson (Hudson 4-6-4/Pacific 4-6-2). I believe the difference was that the Hudson had a larger fire box (did some research). Will not make the mistake as it was sold to me as a Hudson. I just powered the engine with test leads and it seems to be geared down a lot. The tender is nice cause it uses a hall effect connection on the tender axle to produce a steam sound and has a recorded bell/whistle. Also the colors between the tender and the engine are very close even if the tender has a plastic shell.

Close-coupled is good; the real question is whether it will take your curves OK. I've sometimes found it convenient to make drawbars with optional slots for different spacing for different curve radii. I've also modified some different Lionel locos with shorter drawbars for a better appearance, without compromising the ability to negotiate sharp curves. It takes some trial and error.

I have a Marx 333 which is a great runner, but the drivers look small for a Pacific-type. A passenger loco in army boots?

Passenger locomotives should have larger drivers than freight locomotives as a general rule.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Passenger locomotives should have larger drivers than freight locomotives as a general rule.

You don't say! My 333 Marx 4-6-2 is assigned to freight trains on account of short legs. Atlantic Coast Line actually used many Pacifics on freight trains so there is a prototype excuse for it.

I'm sure that there were times that passenger loco's pulled freight and freight locomotives pulled passengers in real life.

Thanks for the picture ACE, The tender I chose looks a bit like your 333 tender and the engine/tender spacing looks close. The tender I chose is a bit larger and has 6 wheel trucks instead of 4. Did the Pacific's use tenders with 6 wheel trucks?

Your combination loos good. If you can negotiate your curves, run with it.

If your trying to stay with an authentic K-Line tender then K-Line used 2 different tenders with this engine. Early version used a small tender made with Marx tooling. Later versions with sound used a USRA style tender made from new tooling.

The later engines themselves were made from new tooling because the old Marx tooling wore out.  There are only very small differences between them.

RonH posted:

Thanks for the picture ACE, The tender I chose looks a bit like your 333 tender and the engine/tender spacing looks close. The tender I chose is a bit larger and has 6 wheel trucks instead of 4. Did the Pacific's use tenders with 6 wheel trucks?

Your tender with the six-wheel trucks looks good and there are plenty of prototypes for that. My 333 tender is kitbashed from two small Marx tenders and I would put 6-wheel trucks under it if I had some that would fit.

 just one prototype example of a Pacific with 6-wheel tender trucks.