Vintage Williams GG-1 Double from 1996

By the description and pictures it looks like a Ott sound system. I had them as a cheap add on to my old Williams "Little Joes". They did make a electric loco sound version. The only thing I didn't like about them at the time was no battery backup so when the engine stopped so did the sound. Don

You may have problems installing the sound unit from the dummy into a powered unit, as you may not have much room for it inside the shell or the shell won't go back on all the way. check the clearence before doing that.

I just swapped out a sound unit from an older F-7 into a GP-38, barely fit inside and the GP-38 was unpowered.

Also I doubt that the person paid close to $479(asking price by Williams) in 1996 for that GG-1 set. I knew an independant Williams dealer who got my some terrific deals on Williams engines and rolling stock. Currently Bachmann/Williams doesn't sell to independant dealers.

Lee Fritz

I recently threw out a bunch of older Williams sales brochures and flyers as they didn't have 'catalogs' back then. Their listed prices were actually quite high for conventional trains but still cheaper than Lionel.  The passenger sets were especially high by today's standards.

Good stuff though as most are probably still running now.

It would be fun to run both units and watch Pennsy fans' reactions as their beloved GG1's sound like diesels.

I bought these Williams GG-1s recently on Ebay as a novelty.

Note: This Williams unit comes with a diesel horn??

As far as I know the GG-1 was an electric so there would not be a diesel engine sound. 

Does anyone want a GG-1 that sounds like a diesel???

I collect NYC and Pennsy stuff. Especially Pennsy and NYC cabeese.  I only run MTH Premier and "near scale" size Williams equipment. My modern diesels are mainly CSX.

I also have a few traditional O-27 size MTH, Williams and Lionel engines and cars that I have collected mainly for the early roadnames and paint schemes. In practice I will park these O-27 size models in the background of my layout since they will give the illusion of trains at a distance.

Yeah, first thing that I noticed was the "GG1 diesel" combo.

If it actually sounds like a diesel, then it's kinda lame.

If it's going to be incorrect, I'd rather have it sound like a Mikado.

It is interesting that 20 yrs ago that was acceptable to produce.  Today you could never sell an item like that, a GG-1 with diesel sounds!   Two A units??  Were GG-1s ever double headed? And this is a Crown Edition!

Hello!A very interesting piece.Anybody remember how excited people were with "The MIGHTY Sound of Steam" when Lionel first put that out?I just repaired a Southern Cresent Lionel with the Sound tender!What a blast to hear one ACTUALLY working correctly!!Thanks for sharing your piece.

GG-1 units with "diesel" sounds!

Williams identifies the sound system as "diesel sounds" on the box.  I probably will remove the sound system and install it in one of my Williams PA dummy units.

I will keep the two GG-1 units as collectibles.  The twin die cast bodies are in mint condition and they have separate engine numbers. These traditional scale GG-1 models will look good with my set of MTH Premier "shorty" aluminum passenger cars. They make a nice set. 

I already have several Williams "scale" engines in various PRR Tuscan and green paint schemes.

Here is an MTH PRR 60 foot aluminum passenger set that I have that will match the recently acquired Williams PRR semi-scale GG-1s. I intend to keep the engines and cars as "display only". 

Note: I operate mostly full scale Premier engines and cars on my layout.

The November 1996 Williams sales flyer which I have states that the Williams GG-1 has a True-Sounds recording of traction motors and a single note GG-1 horn. Therefore the information on the Williams box for this set is in error. The GG-1 does NOT have diesel sounds according to the Williams sales flyer.

Before you do anything, try firing it up on the track to hear what it does...might make you want to keep it in there on maybe not put it in anything else. Let your ears do the thinking on this......just my thoughts... 

The sounds from this engine are definitely not diesels.  They do sound like they might be traction motors.  They rev up and down with the voltage applied to the engine.