Upgrade? Williams New York Central Hudson Eng# 5405

Well, there are tons of options available, how big is your wallet?

 If it’s one of the early brass Hudson’s that has the modeled coal bunker and no coal load. I’m assuming this seeing the brass in the chassis pic. . You may be limited as to what you can squeeze into the tender. Are you looking to upgrade it to command ? Add sounds ?   Dallee makes some nice products if your sticking with conventional control. If it’s the tender I’m thinking of. Again space may be an issue.

 As far as how your engine runs now. Is the shell coming into contact with the board when you secure it to the chassis ?  You say it runs fine with the shell off. Can you relocate the board somewhere else in the tender. These engines also were built without a flywheel. If the engine stops abruptly when throttling down. It doesn’t have one. Many owners back in the day added one and it made a noticeable difference in how they ran.

If you run conventional these early Williams are pretty bullet proof. New Williams has a similar board with more compact components, in particular the relays.

The shell is either pinching a wire or pressing the circuit board against the frame. I would make sure the board can't contact the frame with some mylar packing tape under the board.

You can add a Railsounds board if you want sound and still keep that E unit or just convert it all to command control.

Pete

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Well, there are tons of options available, how big is your wallet?

GULP !

Yes - I run conventional with refurbished ZWs.  There's no room in the tender for anything larger than the stock board as you can see.

Yep - no flywheel.  I can see that being an issue stressing the gears -- no? 

I'd like to stick with my ZWs since my 8x8.5 layout doesn't warrant anything too fancy, in y opinion.  However, a chug and whistle would be nice.  I figure steam/smoke would be cost prohibitive and pricey.

I also believe this engine was rated for O52 as it derailed on y curves UNTIL I cut away the engine notch which was restricting the tender drawbar. Yes - I still need to clean that job up.

I'll try placing some electrical tape in key places within the tender in search of a short. Then there's putting together the connecting rod puzzle.

So, given a space restriction in the tender, how inexpensively can I get away with whistle, chug and 'maybe' smoke?

I really like this forum and all the help you guys provide!

Ponz 

As John says, lots of options, yo might consider doing a search for Williams ERR or Brass ERR for example to get some idea of what one can do to those old locos.  Like most things, you can spend as much as you are willing.

Oh - one more thing I forgot to mention.  The pickup rollers spark as she goes around.

Ponz

No matter how you shake it down Ponz, you are looking at a couple hundred bucks minimal to add at least a sound and reverse unit package to that engine.....Dallee offers these in small footprint boards that most likely could all fit in the boiler shell and then mount the speaker in the limited space in the tender....another option, is to put a coal pile on top and remove a section of the bunker to gain real estate in the tender shell....but you’d better know what your doing for that task, or you could have a hot mess quick!....as others have said, these Williams are really fine runners.....no need to worry about a flywheel. Sparking at the pick up rollers can be a couple of things....one, is the roller good and free? Can it spin very nice? A tiny drop of light oil on the roller pin helps that....second, I’ve seen these early brass Williams rollers not quite extend down as far as they need be to make good solid contact on the track, almost like they dangle....just enough to make them spark, or lose contact momentarily.....ever so slightly tugging down on the roller helps this condition...not to much, or you’ll bust it...hope this helps.........Pat

FWIW, you can stick the electronics in the locomotive as well, there's nothing chiseled in stone that says that has to be in the tender.  If it fits into the boiler, it will work in the locomotive.

harmonyards posted:

No matter how you shake it down Ponz, you are looking at a couple hundred bucks minimal to add at least a sound and reverse unit package to that engine.....Dallee offers these in small footprint boards that most likely could all fit in the boiler shell and then mount the speaker in the limited space in the tender....another option, is to put a coal pile on top and remove a section of the bunker to gain real estate in the tender shell....but you’d better know what your doing for that task, or you could have a hot mess quick!....as others have said, these Williams are really fine runners.....no need to worry about a flywheel. Sparking at the pick up rollers can be a couple of things....one, is the roller good and free? Can it spin very nice? A tiny drop of light oil on the roller pin helps that....second, I’ve seen these early brass Williams rollers not quite extend down as far as they need be to make good solid contact on the track, almost like they dangle....just enough to make them spark, or lose contact momentarily.....ever so slightly tugging down on the roller helps this condition...not to much, or you’ll bust it...hope this helps.........Pat

I'm leaning toward putting the cash toward a more modern steamer.  I have an old Lionel mechanical whistler I could modify to pull behind her if I like.

Thank you - Ponz

gunrunnerjohn posted:

FWIW, you can stick the electronics in the locomotive as well, there's nothing chiseled in stone that says that has to be in the tender.  If it fits into the boiler, it will work in the locomotive.

That's a thought.  I'll take  a look