# 322



## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

Here's a new to me 322 Hudson I just picked up.. It's a great looking and running engine after I got through with it.. I love the Hudsons and K5's and I pick them up whenever I get a chance and the price is right. I'm finding that the prices on Hodsons seem to be coming down compared to K-5's.


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## flyernut (Oct 31, 2010)

I meant to say "Hudsons",lol...


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Click on the three dots in the upper right and you can edit the post after the fact to fix the typo's. I do it all the time.
I have a theory about the increase in demand and therefor price of the K5's. Gilbert never made any PRR equipment for the K5 to pull. No passenger cars, no cabooses nor freight cars except for thee low volume cars lettered for the PRR. Over the last decade Lionel had greatly ramped up production of PRR cars. They make six car passenger sets and innumerable freight cars. The box cars and hoppers are also made with multiple numbers. Including all the multiple numbers of cars there are over 50 Lionel AF PRR cars. AM makes heavyweights and Budd's in PRR plus a lot of freight cars.
There is now a much larger demand for inexpensive engines to pull these PRR trains. The HW passenger cars look fantastic behind a Gilbert K5, see the picture below. Lionel has only made freight engines in PRR and they cost two to four times what a 312 does. I do not count the Legacy PA/PA set because it was only made in green. AM made PRR passenger engines but they are not cheap and are out of production.
I think these factors have created a greater interest and demand for the K5, it is the only PRR passenger steam engine made in S gauge.


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## Kelpieflyer (Jan 9, 2012)

I have three Hudsons and they're my best runners. Two of them are S.I.T. versions and so far both work flawlessly.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I too love the K5s, well the Hudsons also. Tom that K5 you showed is beautiful. Nice paint.

You need a home loan to buy a K5 with large motor. Same goes for the Hudsons.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

I agree the K5's are expensive, but the alternatives are more expensive if we want Pennsy power pulling the train. For freight trains there are a lot of AM diesels that can be had for $200 to $300, some are getting harder to find. For passenger trains AM only made a streamlined pacific steam engine and these are hard to find and expensive. For passenger train diesels AM made E8's and PA's. The PA set is $500 and the single E8 is $300. Lionel has only made two PRR steam engines, a Mikado and a Y3. Both of those sell for over $500 if we can find one.
That 312AC in the picture was purchased 30 years ago at the DuPage show from John Heck. I remember it well, John told me he had a new in the box 312AC with my name on it.
Here is the same passenger train behind the Mikado. The Mikado is painted accurately in the PRR green that is so dark it almost looks black.


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## AmFlyer (Mar 16, 2012)

Back to Hudsons. I like them better than all the other Gilbert engines, maybe because the first train set I received included a 322AC Hudson. Gilbert made no link coupler NYC cars and in the KC era I can recall only one box car. But we all wanted Hudsons and pulled whatever with them.
In the modern era Lionel has released NYC Northerns several times, made a NYC heavyweight passenger set and made a number of freight cars. AM has made both heavyweight and Budd sets in NYC as well as a streamlined Drefus NYC Hudson (try and find one of those.) There are now a lot of NYC trains to complement the AF Hudson. Pictures below with two of the recent boxcars plus a caboose.


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