Opinions on Williams Steamers

I had a Williams 671 turbine, and was very impressed with it. It ran smoothly and quietly and was a terrific puller. The smoke unit gave off prodigious amounts of smoke for years until finally giving out. I'd recommend a Williams train to anyone.

I have heard comments that are mostly positive about Williams steamers. There have been a few negative posts, but there are plenty of those with all the makers.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy any Williams product. Do yourself a favor though and buy from a good local shop if you can. If you have any issues, it is better to deal local than over the phone.

I bought their PRR S2 after much success with diesels.  Like the diesels, it'll pull just about anything you put behind it.  I am very pleased with it as I wanted a postwar type steamer that was not a post war piece.  The S2 pulls all the heavy cars like the milk car and cattle car.

I have two scale Hudsons (NYC and GN), a Baldwin ten-wheeler (C&O), and a Pennsylvania J.  They are all recent Bachmann production.  I am very pleased with all of them, and they are great pullers.

I have two and both run great. Only complaint is they have very little smoke output now.

The only steam locos I own are the 4-6-0's. I have two of them....both are fantastic.

My wife bought the C&O 4-6-0 for under the tree.  Great little loco.  Excellent paint, runs like a top, nice and even, but not too fast, even at full throttle.  Pulls whatever we put behind it.  I disassembled to check the grease in the gearbox and it is nicely put together - I did add a touch more grease.  Also the smoke amount is very healthy, although it uses more fluid that others I have.  Make sure you use the Williams fluid.  I suspect most of the issues with smoke come from people not following the directions and using something other than the Williams fluid.  in a nutshell, if shopping Chinese reproduction postwar style locos to actually run, I would rather buy the Williams and save the price premium over a conventional classic Lionel.

Smoke unit is poor, it spits fluid all over the nose of the engine.

I went through 4 671 turbines within 3 months one year. All were warranty replacements. As I recall, most, if not all, had sound board ground issues and I think one had a motor issue. They ran great and the sound, when it worked, wasn't that bad. My only gripe is the idiotic use of hot glue to hold the smoke unit in. It would only take a few minutes of operation to heat up the glue and it would start melting, causing the unit to come loose. I was very happy with the smoke output and overall operation of the smoke unit (except that hot glue!). I eventually requested my money back as opposed to engine #5...

A GP9 I had was a strong, solid performer and a great product. 

I have a Berk, Turbine, and semi scale Hudson. All are pre Bachman and have been trouble free. The smoke output varies from engine to engine. The motors are the same ones used by Lionel and MTH in their semi scale engines and K-line used in all of their engines including scale ones. I pull trains similar to what the Post War originals would have pulled (8-12 traditional size freight cars) without overheating. 

Pete

I own two of the williams engines

1,4-8-4 GS-4 Daylight engine runs very well pulls 21 Coca Cola Freight Cars with no problem.  Smoke unit went out within the first 2 weeks of owning it. and after replacing it two times i got fed up with it and swapped it out for a Modified Lionel Fan Driven Smoke unit.  While I had her apart I also Added an operating Led Mars Light, and Replaced the Headlight with an Led.  I also Added Marker Lights to the Tender and a Backup light. Now this Engine is absolutely Bullet Proof and Looks Awesome especially with the Custom Coca Cola Paint and Decals.   Other than the aforementioned issues I have had no problems with this engine.

2. I have the 2-6-4 Girls set engine which had the same problem with the smoke unit and again I swapped out the Smoke unit and Added Led Lights to the Engine and Tender. Again I have had no problems with this engine except for the Smoke Unit. 

I only used the Bachmann Smoke Fluid in these units and they still quit working. 

These Williams engines are truly basic and reliable even more reliable than the Old postwar Lionel engines that I have.  I would recomend these engines to anyone that is wanting to purchase an engine or set that you want to take out of the box and put on the Track and run without any problems.

In my experience the Williams diecast steamers come in three catagories:

-the 4-6-0

-the scale Hudson

-all the other traditional size steam locos

The 4-6-0 has the best gear ratio and motor size for the loco. It's pretty much perfect from all operating aspects.

The scale Hudson has a big motor, but is top heavy and geared tor 200 MPH speed and has trouble going slowly without stopping. A cruise Commander from ERR solves this problem nicely.

The traditional size steam locos are a mixed bag. The motor is on the small side, plus the gear ratio is on the tall side, meaning it runs too fast and has trouble pulling a big load. I have seen a number of these locos with burned out motors from running too fast and too heavily loaded.

While I don't have any of the Bachmann / Williams steam engines I do have 3 of the scale GG1s and they are great runners and each can pull any one of my passenger trains made up of 11, 18" cars from Lionel and MTH. They operate fine on 048 Fast Track curves and I paid between $200. to $225. for each.

I have the Pennsy S-2 steam engine and it works very well, Williams before Bachmann, pulls more then 25 freight cars on my layout. The smoke unit is somewhat of a problem, if it will smoke but otherwise no problems with the engine. Use the Williams smoke fluid and be extra careful when filling the smoke unit, overfilling it will cause it not to work.

The True Blast 2 horn is very good in it.

All my Williams engines work very well, I like the diesels better because of having two motors in them, and front & rear couplers.

Lee Fritz

Agreed. I have 2 Williams Brass steam engines and they run fantastic. Very smooth. Aside from what Kevin stated earlier.

Thanks for all the replies. I don't run smoke, so that won't be a problem for me.

Re Williams by Bachmann. 

Ive been away for a while. 

Is the Williams product better or worse since by Bachmann? 

Are cars and engines being redone/re-engineered?

I have older diesels and like them.I think they are good values.

Smoke units are the same/they just released their own 4-6-0 and I have heard nothing but good things about it.  Still Stump pullers and run after you try to kill them

For a little while just after Bachmann took over, a few months later there were problems with the reverse boards, seems like China had  a batch of bad circuit boards shipped out but other then that no problems to report with the new Williams by Bachmann stuff. Bachmann offered to repair the circuit boards when you shipped the engine to them, no swapping out of circuit boards as they wanted the whole engine sent back.

FYI, I don't have any new WBB items so I can not say about the quality other then reading about stuff on here or on the Bachmann website under Ask the Bachmann.

The only new WBB items I have are the Plasticville hopper and tank cars.

The older Williams before Bachmann performed very well, and like some people say they were almost stump pullers. The Crown Edition line was some of the best by Williams.

Lee Fritz

I have a full scale Hudson ERIE which pulls all 6 of those "Blue Comet" 72' passenger cars without a problem. Spits out lots of smoke and mineral oil which the impresses the kids.

I also have 3 Semi-scale Berkshires and 2 of those semi-Hudsons am pleased with all of them they look impressive were packaged with nice looking care.

My only complaint about the outter box is that they are thin and tear easily but I can accept it if it keeps the prices down.

The 60 footer passenger cars are outstanding and I was a little late accumlating them as I missed out on the Pullmans.

Trainworld has had great sales thelast 2 Christmas's and I melted the credit card because gut feeling the prices are goin up!!! 

Also great pullers all of them

I plan to add a Semi-Berk Great Northern as t's on sale at TW great price.

I have the full scale Cab Forward and I really like it!  Matt

The only Williams steamer I have is a scale B&O Hudson which is a before Bachmann model.  It's a smooth runner and pulls well.  I'm ready to buy another one.

I just purchased a New Haven J-class and out of the box the sound did not work.  If you purchase from an online store maybe ask them to open and test it first before shipping to avoid the hassle of having to send it back in case anything is wrong.  BTW I purchased from Trainworld and they were very helpful - replacement is on its way (of course I had to pay shipping to return the tender, but they gave me 1/2 off shipping on a set of passenger cars).

don

I have been running Williams engines for 7 years now. Only once I have I seen a real problem. I bought a used NH F-3 set that would not run more than an inch at a time. There was a wire rubbing under the flywheel on one motor. I bought a new set of the NS f-3s and a wheel fell off one truck. Overall, that is nothing compared to the many troubles Lionel has had in the last few years. I still buy Williams engines. For a guy who has no trains but wants to get into conventional trains, I highly recommend them.

Rob

I have a Williams by Bachman 484 B&O blue Mountain type steamer ( traditional ), modeled after the Cincinnatian ( although the proto type steamer used on the Cinci was a Pacific type )   It was new and came out of the box this past November and has been running for hours at a time practically everyday since.  Very smooth operation.  Great puller.  No problems mechanically thus far.

The smoke unit, however leaves a bit to be desired.  As mentioned earlier on this thread it spews smoke fluid out of the stack and all over the smoke box.  It also puts out a rather meager amount of smoke as well.  The True Blast Whistle is better than I expected.

This steamer is my only Williams steamer.  I recommend the Williams brand whole heartedly.  I also own 2 Williams by Bachman Train Masters and a scale Williams ( pre Bachman ) GG1.  All run fabulously and are fantastic pullers.  I did notice though ( as Im sure most of you have too ) that as soon as Bachman bought Williams the prices began to increase and have been doing so ever since.

Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like the majority are happy with their Williams steamers.

Gentlemen,

   I do not know about the Williams by Bachman, but my old original Williams GG-1, E44 and City of San Fan Deisel would have to be shot with a shotgun to keep them from running, simply quality engines that have lasted for ever.

PCRR/Dave

All the Original Williams Trains were Quality stuff, the UP City of San Fan happens to be my favorite.