LIONEL vs WILLIAMS : GP-30

Does anyone have a video of the sounds? 

"Does anybody have both the lionel and Williams GP30's to make a true side-by-side camparison?" -- Falcon Service

 

"Does anyone have a video of the sounds?" -- Liam

 

You guys wouldn't want to confuse us with facts, would you?

Andrew, could not find one, took the shell off, and not even a pot on the board. To be fair though, for the money, it's hardly a deal breaker. I'm sure that if you MU 2 or 3, they would sound quite OK.

Here is a video of sounds on the williams GP30.

A comparison of sounds taken off someone's video and played back on computer speakers is going to be of marginal value, I'm afraid.

You're in luck with the Williams GP-30s, then (assuming you like black diesels).

 

Different tastes here. I've always liked the UP yellow and grey, and think the Great Northern orange and green was a thousand percent nicer than the blue they went to. An old retired railroad worker I know once told me they called blue liveries "loser blue," because it seemed to be bad luck. Like the Rock Island, blue was the last color they went to just before the railroad disappeared.

Also, BSB tended to show rust a lot faster than the green and orange.

 

Anyway, why did GN go to blue anyway?

That's why they make Cadillacs and Volkswagens! They will both get you where you need to go... but do you go coach or first class !!

Guys - Tonight, I lashed up a trio of Williams Santa Fe FP45s (two powered, one dummy with full sounds) on a string of five Lionel "Silver Range" lighted domes, turned the lights off in my train room and let 'er rip!  Even the portholes on the units light up...  it just doesn't get any better than this.  These units pull a heavy passenger train up a Lionel 110 trestle set with ease, the sounds are great, bright lights -- and the best part is, I picked up the two power units for $70 a pop new off ebay, with the dummy sound unit for $45 bucks!!  Williams made my night.  Got my GP30 on its way

To modernize their image.  It was the 60's after all...

 

Classic Trains did an article (sorry, I don't have the issue # handy) some years ago about Canadain Pacific rebranding as CP Rail.  Great Northern blueification was covered in a sidebar to the story. 

 

Rusty

Like always, it comes down to what you are looking for and enjoy. Williams makes up the majority of my engines. I enjoy postwar style trains and layouts and what Williams makes comes closest in style and durability, at what I expect a toy to cost. The lack of fine detail results in less damage from accidents and rough handling. I'm the first to admit that I don't know enough about the prototypes to nitpick incorrect details and I'm quite content in my ignorance. If they have a passing resemblance to the real thing they are good enough for me. 

WbB by a mile. The under $200 shipped is a DEAL. I have a MTH GP-30 I bought at a show dead. Just the board, replaced by a WbB DCU....but even that unit I have $175 or so in....about the price of a new WbB loco!!!

I got mine last week in UP colors. The detail level is just how I like it - nice enough to look good but not so nice that it's overly delicate. I don't think the yellow looks washed out, I think it looks like a real engine that spent a few years operating in direct sunlight. Also, colors tend to look darker on layouts since the light isn't as bright as being outside on a sunny day, so the exact "correct" yellow would likely look too dark on my layout.

 

It runs ok, at least good enough for me. All I'm going to do is weather it, install a cutoff switch for the sound system, and put in an Electric RR Cruise Commander after I get my Lionel Legacy Controller next month.

 

Cheers,

Ken

I have purchased and received both the WBB NYC and ACL GP-30's.  Both run and look just fine to me!  Now, if we could only convince WBB to produce dummy GP-30's.  These engines cry out to be run in pairs.

 

Curt