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Standard gauge Lionel Hiawatha Hudson

RoyBoyRoyBoyOGR Forum Member MEMORIALIZED MEMBER

Hello all,

 

I have been nuts for the Milwaukee Road since seeing the solarium cars backed into the Milwaukee Road's sandstone stub station in Minneapolis when I was just a tadpole.

 

In the local TTOS chapter, we have a standard gauge layout at the mall. Today, I received a Standard Gauge Hiawatha Hudson built by Lionel some years back. It's a Lionel standard gauge Milwaukee Road F-7 streamlined Hudson steam locomotive with TMCC, Railsounds and smoke. It was listed on eBay as a fixer-upper, and I snagged it at what I thought was a good price.

 

It must have been one of the locos they used for parts, or it was DOA and whomever tried to fix it was unsuccessful. It's banged and bashed and scratched and dented, (just like the pictures showed it was, no complaints from me about that) but the funny thing is, it's never been run.

 

It's sad to see such a beautiful machine so badly abused. It's heavy, too. I'll build up my upper body strength by just putting it on the track.

 

It will be fun to breathe life back into it. I've already tested the motors and drivers, and they seem to work. I've heard that a number of these locos were DOA and that was probably this one's story.

 

So, here are my questions:

 

What is the catalog number of this locomotive?

 

Is Lionel the only parts source for these locos?

 

What was the major problem that these locos experienced when they were new? I'm thinking that it was in the TMCC system, or the sounds, or the smoke. The RS3 sound board is missing also, but the power supply board is there, along with the motor driver and the radio board.

 

A couple of key parts are missing.

 

a) the center rail pickups complete assembly

 

b) wheels and axles for the tender. The truck sides seem rather flimsy, BTW, but I have almost no experience with Standard Gauge repair.

 

Anyway, it will keep me off the streets, as they used to say back in the day.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

Last edited by RoyBoy
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SH Southwest HiawathaOGR Forum Member

I have this engine and it may be my all-time favorite train of any gauge. I saw that one on the Bay, thought about bidding, and decided I had enough projects on my plate. 

 

To address your questions:

 

Catalog number is 6-13004. That is the number for the whole set; the locomotive was not for sale separately.

 

As far as I know Lionel would be the only source for parts.

 

I am not aware of any chronic, specific problem unique to the Standard Gauge Hudsons. The early version of TMCC had a variety of problems, mostly DOA radio boards, but nothing endemic to the Hiawatha and its twin, the NYC Commodore Vanderbilt. The only problems I have had with mine were a chronic problem with the headlight circuit in the TMCC board, which I eventually solved by wiring the headlight directly to the power pickup, a burned out smoke unit, fixed with a new resistor and wick, and a couple of the stamped sheet metal tires coming adrift from the drivers, solved with super glue. Or maybe it was JB Weld - I forget. 

 

By the way, the sound board is RS4, not RS3. I don't know if there ever was an RS3. As far as I know it went from RS2.5 to RS4. If you can't get the specific board for that engine, a generic medium size steam board should be fine. Or you could get the RS5 board for the 0 gauge Hiawatha 4-4-2, which has an air horn instead of a whistle. The sounds on this thing are superb - the speaker is huge and that makes all the difference. 

 

Neither the center pickup nor the tender wheels and axles should be a problem. I am pretty sure the tender uses standard 500 series wheels and axles, which are available from any of several prewar parts dealers. I get most of my parts from Jeff at The Train Tender. I'm not 100% sure about the wheels and axles and my Hiawatha is in the box and buried under a lot of other stuff, but I'm pretty sure. If you can't get the exact center roller set from Lionel, it shouldn't be rocket science to mouse one up. I suspect a regular Bild-a-Loco pickup (just the pickup, not the whole plate) could be made to work, if that's not what's there to begin with.

 

I would advise starting with Lionel when their parts department reopens in a few days, and then move to Plan B if they don't have what you want. Boxcar Bill should have whatever TMCC parts you need, at a discount. You can contact me offline if you need any help - you have my e-mail. If necessary I can pull mine out of the box and look at the areas where you are missing parts to give you some advice on what might fit. 

R RingoOGR Forum Member

Hello Everyone,

I've been thinking about adding the Lionel 6-13004 Hiawatha Standard Gauge set to my Christmas around the tree/room carpet layout mix. For Xmas 2017 I had 3 Lionchief sets on 060, 072, 084 fastrack circles around our tree and a postwar 726 running from one end of the basement to the other with an 096 arch around the other loops of the tree. I'd like to replace the 084 fastrack with tinplate standard gauge track. There are a couple of Hiawatha sets new in the shipping cartons on eBay and I so want to pull the trigger and buy a set. I've been watching YouTube videos and reading threads here on this wonderful forum about it. I talked to Mike our standard gauge guy at the last Lakes and Pines TCA meet who runs standard gauge trains at the meets and some shows as well. He owns one had nothing bad to say about the Hiawatha set. I really haven't found any bad words about it. Mike did say the TMCC board could be an issue at some point, or it could show up dead but that there are local guys here in the Twin Cities who could repair them. So that said... Will the decision by Lionel to pull the plug on EER affect repairing this set if a board fails???  I plan on running it in conventional mode. It's a big investment and don't want to loose out if it can't be repaired. Sorry for my rambling on...

Thanks for your help, I really want to get a set!

Best Regards, Russ...

N navy.sealOGR Forum Member

RoyBoy,

To be historically accurate, The Milwaukee Road's second generation Hiawatha locomotive should not be called a "Hudson".  Rather, The Milwaukee Road, which was the first railroad to design a 4-6-4 locomotive, called their design a "Baltic" on the blueprints.  Unfortunately, Milwaukee's never-ending money problems prevented it from being the first to build a 4-6-4 loco.  This honor goes to the NYC who had the funds and built the first 4-6-4 locomotive to their own design, which they called a "Hudson".

Bob Nelson 

Last edited by navy.seal

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