I don't own a 736, but I do own two 2046 locos from 1950. Both are excellent pullers, very reliable and run like champs. I hope to buy a 736 some day, as nothing beats the 4 drive wheels per side and the side rods. I do own two of the newer, smaller Berks. I have an NKP and a C&O. Those locos are also good runners, although not as massive as a 736.
Cobrabob.
Toy Trains, they are not just an adventure, they are a way of life !
Traindaddy.....Fabulous condition!
Jack
IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.
Jack: It's the 1953 four window with die-cast trailing truck. (I know that the three window earlier version is, perhaps, more desireable but this one was well within this "older" guy's budget and super fine for my purpose)
From the picture, I can't tell if yours is the 3 window cab version (1950-1951) or the 4 window version (1953).
Jack: (Don't tell anyone. It was "E-Bay")
Traindaddy......sweet! The shell condition of both the steamer and the tender are great. Paint, handrails, cab, boilerplate lights, driverods clean. Someone took good care of them. Where did you finally find them?
Jack.
That is a beautiful 2046 and 2046W. They still have that smokey black appearance which is hard to find.
that is one fine looking engine!
The decision: Thanks for all your advice.
Here's a Hudson for you:
(My first car was a 1956 Hudson just like this one, with a 5-liter straight-6 engine. Check out the 4-tone paint.)
Bob Nelson
Bob.....the scale Hudson Nazi.
How about if I just borrow yours to make sure that I would like one. You wouldn't want me to make a regrettable mistake and get stuck with a 773, would you?
That's right--no soup Hudson for you!
(Maybe a Husdon if I come across one!...;-)
lionelsoni Isn't it wonderful how toy trains can capture your imagination and set you to dreaming of make-believe experiences in a world of model railroading fantasy?
Isn't it wonderful how toy trains can capture your imagination and set you to dreaming of make-believe experiences in a world of model railroading fantasy?
I take this to mean you won't be gifting it me to any time soon.
I could live without a Berk if Bob Nelson would sell me his scale 773 Husdon for what he stole picked it up for.
Based on the freight cars I have, a couple of accesories, and the 1033 90 watt transformer I have, I must surmise he bought the 1473WS set in 1950 which was the only year that particular set was offered, and before I was born. Mom was pregnant with me and he must have read some tea leaves or had some power of positive thinking thing going and expected a boy. There were no fetus sex tests way back then.
My 2046 bias is purely sentimental. But I know my Dad was proud of how well I took care of the trains, even at a very young age. Amazing how well parenting and guidance can work!
I am certain many of the guys on the forum got their first trains in fairly much the same fashion as I did. "It's for the children!!!!" Wind up trains were the poor man's train......and if you had children, continuously winding those suckers up with your parental thumb must have gotten old real fast producing prodigious blisters in the process.
I believe this was the dawn of the "But honey, our boy needs a real electric train" excuse reason that caused the postwar uptick in the sale of AF and Lionel trains, even when money was still pretty tight. I know my family was skating on thin ice financially back then; but somehow my dad, working 6.5 days a week, squirreled the money away.....no credit cards back then either.
Bruce,
That was me not Jack. The year was 1953, and that was with OT that week. I checked with my Mom this morning and she said that he spent the normal paycheck, but he made $10 extra with OT and worked Sunday cutting trees to make up the money he spent on the set. She said that he took home between $37 and $39 a week back then. He was a lineman with NJ Bell Telephone.
Hope that this helps,
John
servoguyJack, What year did you get the set? Your comment about your dad making $49 a week is a data point for me. I am trying to develop a small data set of what salaries were in the past. Thanks Bruce Baker
You might add this to your data base.
Union "Elevator Constructors", one of the elite and best paid of the "Building Trades", received 75 cents an hour for a 44 hour week in the mid 1930s (Great Depression). They install, modernize, and maintain elevators and escalators for the Manufacturers. Pay varies from city to city based on what other local Building Trades receive. This is in New England. This is considered a "dangerous occupation".
After World War II, 1940s, the pay for a Journeyman Mechanic rose to $1 an hour again for 44 hours. When I entered the business in 1955 a Mechanic received $2.92 an hour for a 40 hour week. By the early 1960 it was about $3.50 but a Medical Plan and Vacations were finally added. In the 1970s runaway inflation caused sharp pay raises and was followed by a deep Recession, as bad as now. The construction "boom" of the 1980s and 90s plus the switch to microprocessor controls again built an elite work force with hansom pay to match. Today we pay our Mechanics around $44 an hour for a 40 hour week.
That 700E / 5344 Hudson for $75 in the 1937 catalog, if Lionel matched wage inflation, would cost $4,350 today. China labor helps to contain costs.
Don U. TCA 73-5735
Bruce: Data point..........NYC 1959 $53.00 Hope this helps!
Jack,
My first engine/train set that my Dad got me was the 685 Hudson, that came in the 2201WS Four Car Freight Set, in 1953 and sold for $39.95. He was a lineman for the NJ Bell Telephone Company taking home $49 a week. I was real small and he saw my eyes light up when I saw that set and he bought it. He was also working cutting trees part time. I still have the set today and it has been for all these years one of my most cherished possesions that will be handed down to my son.
I don't have a 736 Berk in my roundhouse, but it is on the aquisition list.
If any of you think for one split second that I am 2046-biased, er, well,......you are right. Not ashamed to admit it. But my life will not be complete until I have a postwar Berk in the stable.
The 2046 Hudson was the very first engine my Dad bought for me but not the first one he gave to me. I think he delayed giving it to me because he thought it was too heavy, too difficult to put on the track, and the details like the handrails too delicate for a youngster just starting out.
I would get both engines. Someday I will have a 736, I already have a 726 so it would be an excellent companion for the 726. I also have the 2046 (the later version with white lettering), its probably in the worse condition compared to my other engines but it has alot of charactor and history. ( I thought about trying to restore it but that would be so wrong) Its a real workhorse and I am proud of it, and I think its my favorite Hudson that I do have or one of my favorites. Like I said, get both engines eventually, anything made by Lionel in the good ol' US of A in the pw era is awesome.
Give me steam locomotives or give me DEATH!
Berkshire Junction, bringing fourth the cry of the Iron Horse since 1900.
John: I might just do that. Thanks for the tip.
Traindaddy1,
Next month on August 14&15, the greenburg Show is at Raritan Center in Edison, NJ., just over the VZ and the Outerbridge. I find the best prices there are at the August show. Last year I picked up a nice 2055 w/tender for $75. It might be worth the trip.
lionroar88Don't sell yourself short... buy both! ;)
Don't sell yourself short... buy both! ;)
Follow-up: I decided to "go-for-it" on both.
My budget for each, realistic or not, was set at around $230 for an engine and a tender. My usual venue: "E-Bay". (please, no comments)
I was outbid. The 736 went for $260 and the 2046 for $240.
Well, I'll just wait on the platform. Another train always comes into the station
Many thanks for all your advice.
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