Williams 4-6-0

I have one of the Williams 4-6-0 in the Southern Paint scheme and I love it great puller record I pulled was 31 cars with a mixer of metal and plastic scale cars. its a great little engine.

I had two of them die in the same manner -- loss of power in the tender.  Liked the locomotive enough to convert it to TMCC.  IT is a nice runner, but I think WBB quality is not the same as the old Williams stuff.

Very smooth runner.  Finally a traditional loco that's designed right and geared for scale speeds.  I'm just not a fan of early 20th Century prototypes.  This loco is too old-fashioned looking for me.  If they put this drivetrain in their postwar reproductions (Berkshires, Hudsons, etc.) I would buy one of each!

My $.02,

Ted

Here's my Williams 4-6-0.  At 26 years of age it is still a good runner.

I have 2 ten wheeler sets, the New York Central and the North Pole & Southern. Love them both.

Here's the North Pole & Southern on the cover. 

I have the Southern version, and it is a great engine to run. I put a string of Southern Heavyweights (the ones that places blow out at $100 sometimes) and it looks great.

One day, I would like to get better sounds, but WBB says they are looking into better steam sounds and would like to produce an upgrade kit (I've hated their grade crossing only whistle since about the 4th or 5th blow, but would love a higher-pitch whistle for it). I would also like a fan-driven smoke unit, or anything other than a sleuthe.

I have a couple of these engines. The first has been modified with diodes such that it will run at 3-4 smph. The engine runs and pulls great. I got the AT&SF version so I could remove the cab lettering and stamp it with another railroad's lettering. The drawbar was also shortened to close up the cab-to-tender gap.

I would recommend the engine to any conventional operator. 

I have several.  They are very good locos, good pullers, smooth runners at low speed.  Very durable.  They are rather simple locos without a lot of details and such added.  I bashed all of them somewhat: added some details/eye candy - some additional pipes, etc. and added sound - chuff and a real coal load etc.  On one, I removed the body and put a Lionel Legacy Mogul body on the WBB chassis: since the lionel body was a bit longer I added a rear one-axle truck to make it a 4-6-2.  Nice loco.   

Well, that does it for me... I'm going to get myself a C&O version.... thanks guys!

I have 3 including the C &O version. The 2 others will be rebuilt detail wise.....

you will like it!!

I've got two of them. One I added handrails and a "lantern" type headlight, and the other is stock. They run smooth and are geared for slow speeds. Very happy with them.

I REALLY like mine. Mine is the NYC version from the set. I would have love to find one of these from a break up but....oh well. The standard Willams Pennsy porthole caboose in NYC brown does look a bit silly.

 I'll probably get another to paint for a certain obscure logging company I like.

I'd like to see some photos of the modifications that you guys made!

William overall are smooth runners and real good pullers. Get one!!

I have three but one of them is missing in action - somewhere on a shelf, maybe in the workshop.  

 This first loco was bashed for a specific purpose: I used to have a fourth loop on my layout that had a very low overpass - So I cut down the cab roof height on this one to where it would just slip under it.  Added some tanks and pipes along the boiler (I have no idea what they are, just eye candy) and use a Railsounds tender: not the greatest chuffing in the world, but better than nothing.  A little bit of weathering as you can see.  Not easy to make out but I have a teather from loco to tender so they share electrical pickup.  Makes loco run better and the sound steadier.  Real coal load. 

The loco below is the body ofa Legacy Mogul: mine ran, but not smoothly (the only Legacy steamer i ever had any problems with).  I was fairly certain if I sent it back to Lionel they send it right back saying it ran well enough, etc., so I just gutted in for spare parts.  The body shell is excellent, nicely detailed, good looking, so I put it on the ten-wheeler chassis you see here.  The Mogul was a bit longer than the WBB original bodyr, so I scrounged up an axle that matches the look of the front pilot axles fairly well, for a rear truck.  I think this is a stock tender, but it has a speaker, sound, and pickups added to it. Real coal too: I just put a very thick layer of white glue right atop the original cast coal load and then sprinkle crumbled coal onto it and press it into the glue - let it dry overnight. 

Mine's still a work in progress.

Good choice.  I just had mine upgraded to TMCC/RS.

I don't have the Williams 4-6-0 but I had a Williams Pennsy S-2 for a while and it was a good running engine, pulled about 30 freight cars. Sold it as I wanted to purchase a different roadname for my model railroad.

Lee Fritz

As another poster mentioned wanting, I also would like to get just the engine.  Are any of you forum sponsors doing set breakups on these?

I converted one to PS-2 for a customer.  Very nice operation on PS-2.  It uses the 385 style motor, so should have plenty of pulling power.  G

Unless they are just not available, these were sold individually.  I bought all three of mine as just the loco.  The price, several years ago, is in the range that I recently paid for Lionchief Plus locos, and I'd much rather had any of those, so I don't consider them a real bargain.  But they are a solid, good running conventional loco, very durable.

Edit: here ya go . . . I always check big river first, they sell everything.  Reasonable price, too.  They have other roadnames, too.

http://www.amazon.com/Williams...+by+bachmann+baldwin

I have the same C&O WBB 4-6-0 lined up as likely my next purchase, so please let us know how things go if you pick it up.  Someone posted a video on YouTube of a Pennsy version and it looks like it'd be a fun engine to have, here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GU0-WBWutw

Note:  not my video, just one I found via Google.

Best...Rich

If anyone sees a sale, I'm going to get a C&O one based on the good reviews here...

Assuming we're talking about the same thing, it looks like Mario's trains (one of the forum sponsors) has it for $229, not sure how much they charge for shipping:

http://mariostrains.com/index....hesapeak-ohio-detail

Good folks to deal with. Made my most costly purchase from them!!

And $229 is a good price today. When they came out they were in the $190 range so $229 is about as good as it gets today.

IIRC over $200 ship FREE.....just call them to check.

Looks like TrainWorld (another sponsor) has it too, but I like AMCDave's idea, giving them a call (or email?) to ensure about shipping and inventory seems like a good way to go:

http://www.trainworld.com/manu...locomotive-co-40602/

Thumbs up for Mario's great to deal with and as AMCDave mentioned free shipping on items over $200.

I think I have shared this rough, shaky video before, but it may give a little idea of the slower gearing and seuthe unit operation.  I'm very happy with my C&O.

I'm not much for the light gray color of the UP version, but this is great price from Pat's for one to bash...

http://www.patstrains.com/View...Details=View+Details

Robert

I paid $179.00 on Amazon last fall for the Lakeshore Limited set. That's how I got my second engine. I researched all the usual retailers, and that was the best deal. If anyone would like the cars from this set let me know. I'll keep the track and transformer for future needs, and feel like I got a good deal.

Modified with scratch built, re-located headlight to better emulate the actual AT&N prototype; new (actually 1940's die-cast), smaller tender from daBay; Dullcoted; ERR DC Commander installed (gearing so good that Cruise was not needed); Electrocoupler; no sound.

Good, almost great, loco. Runs better than most high-end locos, steam or diesel. 

Best thing that Williams has done since the good old brass days.

Not great: cheesy rods and crossheads, some detailing is clunky even by forgiving standards, nice original tender is USRA and too large for -most- Ten-Wheeler applications.

I have the 4-6-0 C & O version but it has not been modified or even taken out of the box yet.   I will take it out next weekend and post a pic or video if you just want to see the factory edition.   Bought it from Mario's as well.

I also really liked the Circus 4-6-0 version and was torn about whether to get that one instead. 

I just remembered that I did a video of mine a year or two ago. Enjoy!

Lee, the Mogul wasn't Legacy, it was conventional.

That looks like the Senco sound tender. They came with pickups and a speaker inside. You played a record player into the track.

Love mine. NYC from from the set. BTW, I love the whole set. 

Bill

Yeah, you're right.  It was a good loco, but mine had an oscillation at low speeds, partiuclarly running backwards, I think it was bad gearing.  I usI run this little pubby a lot now.

Very nice jobs on those upgrades! Got some really good ideas.