Opinion on Williams locomotives

They are very reliable loco's because they are basically no frills.  I don't know how long that will last as Williams by Bachman is updating their electronics package.  We'll have to see how robust the new sound system is.

Williams locos are "O" Gauge Energizer Bunnies. Maintained as their instructions specify, they keep going and going and going  .  .  .  .

Bigger ones - SD45, U33C, SD90 - are really impressive.

I like the New Haven EP-5 "Jet" and the Minneapolis & St. Louis GP9. Both have dual motors, like most diesels.

Williams has a wide variety of diesels and electrics based on Lionel postwar classics: Santa Fe "Warbonnet," Rio Grande, Canadian Pacific, Pennsy F-units and GG-1's.

The steam locomotives are good, too. They are based on Lionel's 773, 746, 646, and steam turbine.

I don't think that new sound package will be changing much.  Probably just the "Tru-blast".  I'm guessing the current reverse boards will stay the same.

Williams locomotives currently available however are great.  I have two steamers and love them.  Most are built pretty much just like the postwar Lionel locomotives other than updated electronics and can motors.

This comes up very often here. In my opinion, Williams is the most dependable out there. I own 5 Williams engines, 3 F3's, one F7, and one 671. All are great engines. The Choo-Choo barn uses mostly Williams because of their dependability.

Rob

If they are 10 to 15 years old they just keep on running.  Like the Energizer bunny.  You do not have to worry about burnt boards, batteries and repairs are easily made, but you will have to chase parts.  Have 10 and you put them on your layout and the people will enjoy operating them.  Have no worry all though the horn is weak, they just keep on pulling cars.  I you like to highball--no worry.

I meant the sound board itself will probably be the only upgrade from the normal Tru-blast board.  I'm interested in the new system myself if it gets good reviews when it comes out.

Wow, Liam 98,.

Is that how the "better Williams 746" smoked right out of the box or did you modify it to be the smoking monster it is in your 1st video clip? If it's a stock 746, then all I want to know is besides running reliably, are all conventional Williams steamers so robust at making smoke? I thought MTH were great smokers but your 746 certainly is a great matchup smokewise with the MTH steamers I have.

Every Williams I own was and has remained perfect.  In particular if you need a loco you will run a lot - say just let it run on a store display every day for hours, or so, nothing will out-do a Williams.  

But I have to say, I wish they had sound.    But they run so well.  In particularly, the Baldwin 10-wheeler steam loco is just a beautiful, smooth running loco.  I have three I was so impressed . . . 

Williams even before Bachmann were great pullers. The smoke effect was very little compared to MTH's smoke output.

I have about 12 Williams engines; a GP-9, an S-2 steam engine, three SD-45's, and six F-7's (two sets of ABA units). The GP-9 and the S-2 are the strongest of the Williams engines I have, must be careful not to give those two much power from the start or close to instant derailment using a post-war ZW.

The passenger car are rather nice, but watch out with the Crown Edition era as some have fixed couplers, in other words the couplers don't open. All passenger cars I have seen in the Williams line have two light bulbs inside, some are wired straight from the center rail roller to each bulb and others have a connecting wire between lights for more constant lighting.

I have over 15 passenger cars by Williams, before Bachmann.

I don't have any new WBB engines as yet, only one freight car; the Plasticville tanker, waiting on the Plasticville hopper by WBB to come. I am considering a newer GP-38 by WBB in Reading Lines from Western Depot.

Williams needs to have more caboose selections!! I have an N5C caboose and that is the only style of caboose currently made even by WBB.

Lee F.

Jim:

If you want a used Williams (a.k.a. a Jerry Williams engine) that is conventional all the way, has a F-N-R-N-F unit, electronic horn and runs as smooth as glass, contact me on my profile.  I have one I can sell you.   If you want new as in Williams by Bachmann (referred to as 'WBB' by many), I would trust the opinions of those on this forum as my expereience is with pre-Bachmann Williams trains only. 

Good luck.

I forgot to mention above.  My Williams 773 hudson pictured above is a pre-bachmann williams.  I ended up putting an ERR TMCC cruise commander and Railsounds into it to slow it's speed down.  The 746 J class is a Williams/Bachmann product and is built just as well.  Haven't made any changes to it.

How do WBB (Williams by Bachmann Brothers) steamers compare to the original Williams (pre-WBB) steam engines? I know the WBB's track records are no where near as long as the pre Bachmann Williams, but so far, do they seem to be as dependable and reliable workhorses, good pullers and what about their smoke capability. Better smokers than conventionel Lionel steamers, about the same or worse? For those of you owning both Williams and WBB, how do they compare and rate one on one, head to toe (or cow catcher to tender coupler)?

Perfect! No problems with any of my Williams engines. They can be upgraded for command control as I have had a couple of mine converted to PS-2.

You need look no further.  They are kind of the Timex of toy trains.

I had a GP9 and an S2 671. The GP9 was a fine engine. Ran like a top and could pull a house down. The 671 was a POS. I went through 4 warranty replacements before getting my money back. Dealing with Bachman was a waste of time as they could have cared less about the problems. I run only MTH PS2 or PS3 engines and DCS and am VERY happy with them. 

I own 10 Williams engines, 3 steamers, a GG1, and 6 diesels.  One is a Williams Crown and the rest are a mix of Williams and WBB.  All run great!  Smoke output for the steamers is not very good and sound is OK, but not great.  For the money they are my first choice, hands down!

I have a set of Williams Santa Fe F3s and a set of Williams silver U.P. Alcos (2023s). The Alcos have an E.R.R. sound system in the dummy and a Tru-Blast in the power unit. Both are pre-Bachmann and both are for sale. E-mail me if interested. 

I agree with everyone. Very, Very dependable. Have added sound in the tenders of my Steam engines. Sound in the GPs and F3s by placing battery in the fuel tank.

Bob at Western Depot was Great at helping with additions to the Timex of the train world. Unfortunately he passed away a few weeks ago. His son Robert is available and can assist.

RIK

i own a few of them and love them.  

I don't think Bachmann has changed much, if anything about the steamers.  My 773 (pre-bachmann) and 746 (post bachmann) are both built well.  They all use seuthe smoke units (if you're familiar with their G scale steamers, same idea), which work ok, but no puffing and mine tended to spit fluid around the stack.  I removed the one from my 773 when I upgraded it to TMCC, and unplugged the one in my 746

Last week I got my 6th Williams locomotive. An ABA set of Pennsy Sharks. I have a nice assortment of Williams locos. I also own a C&O BL2, Santa Fe F3 ABAs, B&O NW2, PRR Alco FA AAs and a PRR Small Hudson. All perform flawlessly and are great haulers. I would reccomend Williams/ WbB to anyone.

Bob.

Thanks for all the replies, guys!  You've eased my mind.  As for all the offers on engines for sale- I'm fussy about types and roadnames.  I'm a deisal fan-I like steam engines-but my dad, uncle and countless other family members were GM&O veterans.  I worked 9 years for the ICG, and always resented them for taking over one of the proudest names in railroading. The GM&O geeps had some of the best paint jobs around.  Hurts me that more are not available.  Though I'm from Alabama (No, no banjo on my knee) my railroad is going to be located in California-Arizona.  So I've got to come up with something plausible as to how a Williams GM&O GP 38 got out there, but I'll find a way.

Like everyone else has mentioned Jim, Williams engines are very dependable and offer great value for the money.

I currently own 3 Williams steamers and 7 diesel engines and everyone of them run well.

If you are planning to run these engines conventionally than buying Williams is a great way to get the most bang for your buck.

Steve Tapper

Bought a Williams GE U33-C Diesel Santa Fe not long ago.  Saturday the rear truck fell off the motor because of a loose screw. 

The shell was a little bit of a chore to take off.  There are 4 screws plus a tab from the shell that snapped into metal frame.  The tab from the shell was wedged in so tightly it finally broke off as I was attempting to get the shell off.  Not a big deal since the screws realign everything properly.

It took a few minutes to get the screw through the truck back into the motor.  All works fine now. 

I also tightened the screw on the front truck which which was not as tight as it should have been.

Otherwise it runs fine.

my first WBB engine, a GP9 had some electrical problems with the sound. someone on this forum sent me a email on what to look for and how to fix. and now it runs fine, so I bought a scale GG1 with matching 6 car 18" passenger set.

I have the "U boat" - it runs really well and its a pretty chunky beast. Mine has always worked perfectly. The only thing I have done is add extra lighting. One day it will get some crew.

MIKE

I just bought my first 2 Williams Engines as a result of reading this forum...

A Scale GG-1 and a E7, both Pennsy.

My first 2 Pennsy's!

I have a kitbash of the old Grand Central Depot on one part of my layout and will be building a kitbash of old penn station (interior only) to house these 2 new engines and soon passenger cars.

Here are some pics of my unfinished layout: Old Grand Central Depot and the Harlem Cut, both under construction.

I've noticed I have to tighen the truck screws every so often.  Not a show stopper.

The EF-4, and PA's will run on O-31. BUT, be careful of the overhang.  You might have sideswipe issues.  O-36 might be better.

Changing the lights to LEDs will get you a brighter light with less heat.

GE type sidefrms for the U33C would be nice!

I have a E7 ABA set. Being able to add motors to the dummy B unit was nice and easy. This remains my "best puller". I also bought a BL-2 and EF-4. Both outstanding value for the money.

Especially for our club modular layout, I like being able to drop an engine on the track and just run. No fuss, no muss. Seems like many of the high end locomotives want to be stroked and coddled from time to time to keep them running.

Gilly

Hi Jim.

   I have a NW-2 switcher, an E7 ABA, a Metroliner set and an F3 ABA. There was, I think not to long ago, a post about not enough gear lube in the power trucks. This was true with my PC F3's. They seemed a little noisy and they had hardly any lube at all. If you buy newer stuff I'd check before running. I haven't checked my other units yet but will before I run them again. They will pull stumps!

Tony Sincius

TCA# 97-45101

I have 4 Williams Pennsy steamers from the 1990's - two K4s,  one L-1s (Mikado), and one B6sb switcher.  They were conventional when I purchased them.  I had them converted by TrainAmerica to TMCC w/ electro-couplers, EOB, and sound (the B6sb doesn't have sound or EOB).  They are extremely reliable, good-looking pullers.  I love them.  They all run on O31.  However, the B6sb needs 042 with cars coupled to its front coupler due to a limited swing arc. 

Below is one of my K4s (late version) pulling a freight.  Photograph by Mike Mattei.

George

Sounds like you guys need to discover loc-tite 

Works great for that kind of stuff

it's Loctite the name, and use the blue not the red or else you will not be able to remove the screw.....

I've had the screw that holds the truck to the motor come loose on my WBB U-Boat too. I put a spot of nail polish on the joint line after tightening it back up, and it hasn't come loose again. 

Just test run my ATSF PA's with great success. Very little throttle is needed to get them running. Hope to have some fun with them over the next few months as **** is coming and the living room floor will have track going everywhere!

For the price, I am quite happy with the performance of the engines.

Frank

I never had a screw come loose on my Williams engines, mine are from pre-Bachmann era. I have several diesels and a steam engine.

The little window insert pieces fell out of my Williams caboose, that's about the worst thing to happen.

One thing that I have noticed is some switches by Lionel in the O gauge tubular track won't work properly with Williams engines, some kind of design problem, so I went with Gargraves track a few years ago.

Lee F.

Likely caused by the wide rollers Williams uses. But some of them can be changed out to work with Lionel rollers.

Rob

I have 16 locos and all but two are Williams. They are great. I have had a few issues, but nothing major that couldn't be fixed for a relatively small price. Another plus with the Williams line is that they can be converted from dummies to powered units very easily with the dummy upgrade kits. This is a big plus if you like to run long trains. If the level of detail isn't up to your liking, you can add detail parts that greatly enhance their appearance.