Weaver I5 Hudson Upgrade

Very neat & clean work Sid,….that’s a smooth runner ….good job!..

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

Very neat & clean work Sid,….that’s a smooth runner ….good job!..

Pat

Thank ya Pat. These brass steamers are always nice and smooth with PS2/3. Just a nice simple engine.

Great work Sid. Was there any issues with grounding and the brass? I know some folks have said working with certain engines interfere with the signals and make it a pain to ground. I have a Weaver Canadian Pacific Royal Hudson that I have to work on getting upgraded by someone at some point in time, don't know when exactly I will be getting that out to whomever.

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

Great work Sid. Was there any issues with grounding and the brass? I know some folks have said working with certain engines interfere with the signals and make it a pain to ground. I have a Weaver Canadian Pacific Royal Hudson that I have to work on getting upgraded by someone at some point in time, don't know when exactly I will be getting that out to whomever.

Thanks Dave. No issues, has ground and center rail pickups on the tender.

Sid, really NICE video and how to. Really enjoyed it. One of my favorite engines. Mine graced the cover of CTT many years ago. I purchased the first run of these from Weaver and ended up ordering the MTH one years later. At the time EOB was the hot setup and that was added to get cruise and 4 chuffs. Good job with the tach sensor. The flywheel just doesn’t seem to go with the motor.

I don’t want to sound like a prototype snob. I have the Weaver Bradley cars. One was even converted to a grill car. These cars did run on the Clipper if they added coaches. But basically the Clipper was an all Pullman train except they were Parlor cars. Not sleepers. The cars haven’t been done. But the lettering is available from Clover House. While not totally accurate as far as window placements. The easiest solution for me was to buy some GGD Pullman Sleepers. Remove the interiors and replace them with Parlor chairs. Then just remove the cars names and add the names for the Clipper. I believe the cars were named after actual ships. Seeing I was running scale length cars. The train had a Diner and the only solution was a 3rd rail brass one.

Late in life I’ve seen a clip of it pulling a baggage express train with a caboose on the rear. Just doesn’t seem right. The I5 may not have got the notoriety of an N&W J or the NYC shrouded steamers but to me it was the ultimate in streamlined steam.

Great video as always Sid. These engines are beautiful.

Great video Sid. You took a great engine and made it even better. 

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

Great work Sid. Was there any issues with grounding and the brass? I know some folks have said working with certain engines interfere with the signals and make it a pain to ground. I have a Weaver Canadian Pacific Royal Hudson that I have to work on getting upgraded by someone at some point in time, don't know when exactly I will be getting that out to whomever.

I used to hear that, too - but, after 3 dozen or so Train America and ERR TMCC upgrades, mostly steam, I can't say that I have ever experienced that pattern. A few locos have been a pain, but not many, and seem to have just as often been die-cast as brass.  (Of course, putting ERR in a plastic-bodied, can-motored diesel or electric is about as straightforward as it gets - but I don't do lots of features on anything).

As a couple of examples: my Weaver brass Southern Tenneessean Ps-4 Pacific was very cooperative, but my die-cast MTH P&LE A-2 Berk ERR/Railsounds upgrade still seems to have a poor grip on ground/common for no apparent reason. I can see no more painted contact surfaces to take down to bare metal. Space aliens is my guess at this point.

So, Dave - do that CP Hudson yourself. Read the instructions a couple or three times, ruminate on it, familiarize yourself with the engine under the hood after you get it naked, take a deep breath, and do one step at a time. No hurry. What's the worse that could happen? Don't worry about the sound at first - just get it running and enjoy that - then tackle the sound.

Great conversion!

@D500 posted:

I used to hear that, too - but, after 3 dozen or so Train America and ERR TMCC upgrades, mostly steam, I can't say that I have ever experienced that pattern. A few locos have been a pain, but not many, and seem to have just as often been die-cast as brass.  (Of course, putting ERR in a plastic-bodied, can-motored diesel or electric is about as straightforward as it gets - but I don't do lots of features on anything).

As a couple of examples: my Weaver brass Southern Tenneessean Ps-4 Pacific was very cooperative, but my die-cast MTH P&LE A-2 Berk ERR/Railsounds upgrade still seems to have a poor grip on ground/common for no apparent reason. I can see no more painted contact surfaces to take down to bare metal. Space aliens is my guess at this point.

So, Dave - do that CP Hudson yourself. Read the instructions a couple or three times, ruminate on it, familiarize yourself with the engine under the hood after you get it naked, take a deep breath, and do one step at a time. No hurry. What's the worse that could happen? Don't worry about the sound at first - just get it running and enjoy that - then tackle the sound.

I would if I could. I am not tech savvy when it comes to these types of things. I cannot solder anything, I usually get easily frustrated when working in small areas like these have. I will find someone good to work on it when I am ready to send it out. I have already had a few people do some work for upgrades, and I am currently waiting in the wings for two engines to go out for an upgrade by another person. See when things come up. Thanks for the information, and the advice.

Beautiful job, Sid……..fantastic engine and transformation!

Peter

Great job!  A really nice install on a great looking Hudson.

Which tether did you use and are they available?

Thanks!

- Mario