Comparsion of brands?

Tom,

I have the recently released Lionel Southern train master.  I think it's spectacular. See Eric's Trains video on it. His review convinced me to buy it .

Hal

I have a few Williams engines and they work very well, and are very good at going through most switches without any problems. The only thing with Williams is that you must add command control to them as they have NO command control stuff from Williams or Williams/Bachmann. 

The Williams Crown Edition engines were made in the 1990's if I am correct and run very well. They work with either the Lionel ZW I have or the MTH Z-1000, also the Crown Edition engines have a different sound system then the newer Williams engines have.

I have one Weaver engine and it is an older one, however it only runs with an older transformer like the original post war Lionel ZW. The Weaver engine don't like the MTH Z-1000 transformer I have and may not like the new Lionel transformers either.

K-Line engines will work with most Lionel or Williams or Atlas transformers. The only thing about K-Line is some of their lower cost freight & passenger cars may have truck issues.

Lee Fritz

You only have to add command control to Williams if you really want that feature.  I, for one, don't.  The Williams by Williams FM trainmaster has been part of my Lackawanna roster since 2003.  Hasn't failed yet.  The more Lionel and MTH I am disappointed in, the more I like Williams.

I like Williams engines and can usually find some bargains on line. The Williams by Bachmann website is completely overpriced!! I use either Train World or Mario's Train's and order online.

Lee Fritz

The only thing I can add to the above is if you decide on a Williams by Bachmann engine don't pay the catalog price. All of their stuff is available about twenty-five percent, or more lower, shop around. 

Great product but their pricing is a real head scratchier. 

gg1man posted:

The only thing I can add to the above is if you decide on a Williams by Bachmann engine don't pay the catalog price. All of their stuff is available about twenty-five percent, or more lower, shop around. 

Great product but their pricing is a real head scratchier. 

Depending on who sells the WBB item you can get it for almost 45% of the WBB catalog price. Try Train World in New York as they have great prices for WBB stuff.

Lee Fritz

I don't think there's any comparison with Williams and K-line Trainmasters. K-line has much better detail including hand rails, fans, sun shades and much, much more. Also they come with sound or conventional. You can get them on E-bay in the $100 range. I have five of them in Milwaukee Road and love them. Don

MTH has offered 2 Train Masters - one is a copy of the Lionel PW loco, and one is better tooling than that. I believe that the first is a RK and the second is Premier. I have a Premier dummy for the Southern, because only MTH has properly modeled that road's Train Masters (they were different in the pilot area).

K-line's (now Lionel tooling?) is a better model than the Williams.

The Williams is more toy-like - but not bad - than the K-line or the "good" MTH version.

I am ashamed to say that I have 9 assorted FM Diesels, the three original Lionel P/W units, a Williams Lackawanna, Williams Virginian, the Southern Pacific (90's Lionel), a C & NW (also 80's or 90's Lionel), the Green CNJ ( also 80's/90's Lionel) and a K-Line PRR.  All of them look about the same and run well. The can motored versions run smoother and at scale speeds. Its all low tech but I never has any problems with any of them.

I paid less than $100 NIB for my WbB N&W Trainmaster. It runs and pulls like a tank,

Conventional, modest when it comes to add-on details, and no sound.

Reliability, power, price and looks.  Williams by a head.  John