Weaver engine

Phillyreading,

 

Any good Transformer will work well.

 

Good luck. John

Yes.

I forgot to ask, what about coupler height? Will the couplers match most Lionel, MTH and RMT cars? I have a few Weaver freight cars, so if any problems I can use the engine with my Weaver freight cars.

 

Thanks for the info on the transformers.

 

Lee Fritz

I have one of those.  Works fine (one of best runners I have).  Many hours, and still has original tires.  It's a perfect match with Lionel and MTH. Yes, it works fine with any postwar transformer or current MTH transformer.

 

I upgraded it to PS2 about 13 years ago, so it still gets used regularly.

Thanks for all he information about the Weaver engine, I may put in my bid for it. The price is about $90.00 plus shipping. Compared to new engine prices it is a real bargain!

 

Not sure I will upgrade it at any time unless I can get a real bargain on the upgrade.

 

Lee Fritz

I have a number of earlier Weaver engines and have had no problems with any of them with the QSI in them or them running. One thing you may want to remember is that early weaver engines did not have fly wheel motors and they will stop on a dime at faster speeds...................Paul

I have 3 Weavers from  1991-1993 era and all have flywheels.  All are ps2 and all run fine and always have.

Paul,

I have a few Williams engines with the QSI sound system and like it better then some other sound systems.

Any way I usually slow my engines down to a slow speed before stopping them, I don't just turn the power completely off because some engines will come to a complete stop and send some freight cars flying.

 

Lee

I have two Alco C630's I upgraded them to TMCC and added marker lights.  The Asymmetrical Alco trucks could have a plastic third wheel set, which inhibits shorts as the truck moves through switches or tight curves.

 

Again these have early TMCC upgrades, electro-couplers and additional lighting added.  These units have flywheels, but only TMCC, EOB upgrades required the flywheel tach-strips.

Mike CT

Lee i have a weaver U25B with QSI and they will not run with MTH or chopped sinewave transformer. The post war is fine running it and pure sine wave transformer.   

Mike,

That's interesting about the Weaver C-630 having an insulated set of wheels, I upgraded a Williams SD-45 that had that same feature to metal wheels because it stalled at certain places on my layout, it had traction tires and plastic wheel set.

 

Lee Fritz

Coupler height: all 3-rail O-gauge knuckle couplers are nominally of a "customary standard" height and design, so all can work together. This is based on the Lionel PW knuckle coupler; Lionel totally dominated the market so it only made sense to be compatible.

Like IBM in the mainframe era: all must work with Big Blue.

 

- Marx 3-rail never did this, one of the few missteps that Louis Marx & Co made, I feel.

 

- Having said that they "work together", be aware that, in reality, there has been a broad spectrum of actual performance from different brands and versions. All will couple together,  however. Weaver rolling stock plastic couplers are among the worst at "operating" - won't open far enough to couple, won't open far enough to uncouple. I treat them as dummies.

The loco couplers are fine.

    

Thanks for the info! I have a post war ZW that I plan to use, so I will try that one first.

 

Lee Fritz

I find that interesting since I have several U25B/C630( QSI sound) that ran fine using my Z4000 before I upgraded them to PS2/3

Yes it will run on the mth Z4000. I knew that but didn't mention it sorry. The z500, z750 and z1000 they won't run on them the bell rings all the time.   

Your welcome Lee!

That's good information to know. Doesn't make sense, but then again nothing surprises me any more.

Interesting enough, the Weaver C630 trucks are the same as the MTH Imperial SD70Ace. Also the can motors have the same worm gear and are interchangeable with the MTH engines that use the same style power truck assembly. Makes it easy to do an upgrade if you can find a cheap donor. 

Lee:  Recognize that if the engine has QSI sound, it does not have TMCC or other Command Control system.  It's not a difficult installation but it will cost you $150 to $200 bucks to install it.  If you are running conventional trains, there is, of course, no need to upgrade the engine.

 

Paul Fischer

FYI, the z500, z750, and z1000 have chopped some wave output so qsi and ps1 sound systems will not work. The qsi and ps1 will work on the z400 because the z4000 ispure ac output and was designed to work with qsi and ps1 sound systems including the programming of them.

FYI, the z500, z750, and z1000 have chopped some wave output so qsi and ps1 sound systems will not work. The qsi and ps1 will work on the z400 because the z4000 ispure ac output and was designed to work with qsi and ps1 sound systems including the programming of them.
Note the only Weaver locos with vertical drives that did not have flywheels were the E8's.

I think we know that by now. 

Beware the early Weaver engines did not have vertical motors.  They had a horizontal motor with 2 shafts that powered both trucks with a chain drive,plastic u joints and shafts.  I have never owned one but I hear they make nice dummy units.

 

Look at the bottom.  If there are shafts running to the trucks it has the chain drive.

The engine he is bidding on has can motors. The early FA2, RS3, and GP38 had the chain drives and were originally designed for 2R with fixed pilots as with the early Atlas engines.

I hope the engine has can motors like suzukovich mentions. It is an Atlas C-630, cab # 5308 Reading Lines, and is a Weaver Gold Edition.

I don't plan on upgrading it, so just having can motors, even without flywheels, would be good for me.

 

Lee Fritz

The C630's pictured have can motors and flywheels.  Most likely a product of Samhongsa, made in Korea marketed by Weaver.

 

 

 

The early 90's Weaver E8's, that I have, had vertical can motors without flywheels.  I replaced those can motors with flywheel can motors from Frank Timko.   Both sets of molds eventually became MTH property. 

 

 

Yes, it is a Samhongsa-made loco, and a very fine loco, better than modern Chinese,

I heard that at one time Samhongsa made some engines for MTH, so I am happy to know it is a really decent engine I am bidding on. I won't say where.

 

Lee Fritz

Lee, it's a very heavy loco.  Weaver weighted it down.  That may be why I have 22+ years on the traction tires.  Mine (LVRR)had horn only, not the sounds, so I have had no experience with the effect of varying transformers.  When MTH released the upgrade kits, it was the second that I tackled, the first having been a Weaver SD40-2 of equal vintage (probably the same frame and running gear).  Hope you get it.

 

As an aside, I bought these 2 and a 0-6-0 from a little hobby shop in Columbia MD, with a guy named Mike Wolf behind the counter, Mike's Train House.

Note the huge cylindrical weight, E8 model. I don't remember the individual weight on the C 630, but the fuel tank/speaker housing and under frame add-ons were diecast.  The  fuel tank on the E8 was plastic.

 

 

RJR,

 

Does the Weaver C-630 weigh more then the MTH 4-8-4 Reading T-1? That engine is heavy and runs great. Like I mentioned before I will not be doing any upgrade to the engine unless maybe cosmetic.

 

I have 3 Williams engines that have the QSI sound system in them so I know a little of what to expect far as the sound system.

 

Lee Fritz

 

The C 630 has a plastic shell and also has traction tires.  A guess, would be, it is not as heavy as a die cast steamer. 

Mike's guess is probably correct.  There are  blocks of lead.  Heaviest diesels I have.

They have can motors with flywheels.

Lee

 

In answer to your question.

 

The Atlas C628 shell is three separate sections and is better detailed. The Weaver Shell is one piece. MTH bought the Weaver molds for the C628/630 and other than PS2/3 installed and new frame are the same engines.

 

 First 4 photos Weaver Alco frame with QSI sound that I just bought for a Kitbash project. note the lead weights.

 

 

 

 

 Next is a MTH Imperial SD70Ace. Motors and powered trucks are the same. This had been a donor.

 

  My current inventory of Weaver Alcos C628/630 all were upgraded to PS2/3. and lead weights were removed. Engines are still heavy without the lead weights.  (Pic was taken in 2014)

N&W C630 PS2, Motors from a Dead MTH SD9, Electronics from MTH RK PA1

SCL 628 PS3,  Motors, Electronics from a MTH NS SD70Ace 

SP C630/PS2   Motors, Electronics from a MTH CSX SD70Ace 

 

Thanks for all the replies! I will be paying $97.00 plus shipping for the engine, as I won the bidding on the auction. I will try the Weaver engine with an MTH Z-1000 or a Lionel KW as those are the two transformers I have available right now.

 

Lee Fritz

I understand about the QSI system as I have it in 3 Williams engines and it is just a sound system and a circuit board for motor direction control. I know the QSI has no command capabilities and not sure I even want to add command control.

 

I have the DCS system and may run the engine with track voltage setting.

 

Lee Fritz 

Lee, apart from the personal preference of type of control  I think you'll find it to be one of your finest locos, and definitely a cut above Williams.  It's size makes it more akin to MTH's Premier rather than RailKing.  I have never regretted investing in DCS for it.

Lee

 

Congratulations on the win. You find that the engine is a strong runner. You can also use a BCR instead of a 9v battery. As for size. The engines are scale. The price you paid is just about right for that engine. On my three Alcos he most I paid was $90.00. They are also excellent candidates for upgrade to DCS if you so choose.

 

Doug