Williams Brass

They run very nicely. While they are not "stump pullers" they will pull a decent sized train. I find them to be adequate scale representations, but they do not have the modern sound or intricate detail of more recent models.

The Niagara, Daylight and J are the same engine with different shells. 

I have the regular and streamlined K4s. No whistle, awfull smoke unit, good strong engine, traction tires prone to rot. These were considered very detailed in the late 1980s, but today's non-brass "premium" engines have more detail.

The non-Loewy streamlined K4, IMO, is beatiful...and Williams brass is the only one ever made. 4 were designed and built by the PRR shops.

Maybe a better choice, IMO, is early Weaver Brass.  Samhongsa, Korean products that had some very good detail.  Most are early 1990's vintage with QSI electronics.
A few I have upgraded to recent electronics.
Pennsy H10 Consolidation.

Pennsy L1s Mikado.

Pennsy M1a/b I believe Weaver's first attempt at a brass model.

Pennsy G5

Pennsy A5

Thanks for the replies I seem to remember reading a while ago about 2 different coloured boxes for the williams brass and to avoid one of them which coloured box was this or am I wrong.Those weaver look good I will also research those thanks for the pics

I will forever be thankful for Williams first buiiding models, maybe not great, but models, of steam locomotives and wheel arrangements actually seen in my area, and fired by family members.  Contrarily, Williams also built a lot of the repros of not so great models that once seemed to be all that was available...interesting.  Wonder how many 3 railers

were brought into this hobby by this inroduction of "scale-plate"?

I own no Williams brass but do own Weaver brass. I will also add that the early Weaver brass is a deal. Many folks are dumping them due to no command control or sound.

I bought this fantastic Weaver T-1 from a fellow OGR member....a true deal!

Where do Williams Big Boys fall.....good or bad???

good.

I have 4 Williams Pennsy brass engines - 2 of the late K4s, 1 B6sb, and 1 L1s.  I like them all.  They were all converted to TMCC by TrainAmerica.  The L1 and the K4s have sound, Engineer On Board, and rear electrocouplers.  The B6sb doesn't have sound or EOB but has front & rear electrocouplers.  Here's a photo of one K4s.

These were relatively inexpensive to acquire and have electronics installed in them.  They are excellent pullers and very forgiving of less than perfect track work.

Perhaps by today's standards they aren't considered "high end", but I think they are a good value and I like them.  And we are not talking about paying $800-$1000 for a new K4.

George

Now that my mind is refreshed - I have the Williams T1, three B6sbs, one N&W "J", and the boiler from the Dreyfuss Hudson, all in 2- rail, and all spectacularly rugged and handsome.  Two- railers do not care about electronics yet, but I have found the gearboxes and motors to be pretty much bulletproof.

Several of the Williams brass engines were super-detailed by a group (?) called the "Brass Club".  These engines occasionally show up on the secondary market.  I don't have any so I can't comment on their improved detail.

There are at least three box designs used by Williams.  The last was a silver box with red trim and included the large articulated models:  Big Boy, Challenger, N&W Class A, and maybe others.  The most common and second box design is that used with the Pennsy engines plus others.  They are multicolored and have a picture of the engine in the front.  The first box I believe was white with red trim.  I have the B&O model mentioned above.  It's packed away so I can't confirm the latter.

Jan

hello guys and gals..........

How are the Williams brass compared to Sunset 3rd brass in construction wise ? I had Williams USRA 2-8-2 Mike back in the 1990.   I remember it well and seem pretty well made for its time except the traction tires didn't last long from dry rot.  I wonder if they are in same quality level as the Sunset 3rd brass of today ?  I have a Sunset 3rd S.F. 5011 and this locomotive has a much heavier gearbox (I do my own servicing on the drivetrain) and more "lost wax casting brass details" than the Williams 2-8-2 had.

the woman who loves the S.F.5011,623

Tiffany

I'd take the Sunset 3rd Rail in a heartbeat over the Williams brass.  This is just personal opinion.  I have a Williams brass K-4, but I'd much have a 3rd Rail one.

Mine is also the 5001 Ed, and I'm planning a PS/2 upgrade as well as a real smoke unit.  It looks like I can fit the MTH smoke unit in without too much trouble, perhaps I'll like it more when it's upgraded.

Hope you do. It is basically quite a good engine, even by today's standards.

Ed Boyle

I had 3 Williams brass steam locomotives in the past. The first was the J-1 Hudson made 1985 which many had issues with the bodies falling apart but I was fortunate to get one that was ok. They were loud and choppy runners. He advertised then to run on 031 curves but 042 was the least. I did have to add adheasive weights to the pilot truck. I also had the K-4 made 1986 and a Reading Camelback. Both were great runners but as others stated lacked detail. I let them all go in ebay after replacing them with Premiere die cast versions. 

as has been mentioned previously a number of times, Williams brass before Samhongsa started building for them should be treated as a completely different era.

interesting that you should mention your "upgrade" to a premier model of the Reading Camelback.  i have the Williams CNJ Camelback and while it might be lacking some detail, the MTH tender that was built for their version is extremely out of scale to fit their early sound systems.  it was an easy decision for me to pass on that one keeping the more accurate Williams model.

Inasmuch as I still haven't made the leap to TMCC or DCS I'm quite happy with

my Weaver K-4 (with PS1 installed) to go along with my Right of Way mallets and T-1, a

Weaver M-1 and a Williams E6B. All of my brass was acquired after prices plummeted, and I consider them super purchases.  Lew Schneider

I still think buying a Williams brass GS-4 in the box for $365 "buy it now" is a great deal. Don

Don, do it!  I have the brass 746 and it's just gorgeous, might upgrade it to PS2-3 just to run it more.

Bill I have one. Never ran it but paid less than $400 for mine. I bought it just to look at. When I was a kid my parents took us to San Francisco from LA in 1953 maybe 52 and we took the coast Daylight behind a GS-4. My first train ride. I loved it. I can still smell the wonderful dinning car. Don

About 3 years ago I purchased a Williams UP Mikado, an SP 4449 Daylight, and a Rio Grande Challenger from a forum member.

They are all running one form or another of QSI electronics. Since I run only command these days, they are all shelf queens.

As was said, they don't have the fine details of today's high end engines, but I like them well enough.

The challenger has an awesome sound system, and especially the whistle.

I am thinking one day to maybe upgrade it to PS-2, but who knows when that might be.

Rod

As overlandflyer said, they were here first. I remember how excited everyone was in the three rail groups that someone was making a brass scale engine for us. I had five of them.  No ones mentioned the 0-6-0 they made. Beautiful little engine. Don

I've been looking for a Williams USRA Mike lately, but I either haven't found any or I've been too slow to grab one.  Being brass instead of die-cast, there's the possibility of modifying one to model a prototype for my favorite RR.

I have the USRA Williams brass 2-8-2 Southern Mikados and Southern 4-6-2 Pacific as well as the N&W "J".

Now retired to shelves but remain favorites as my first decent representatives of Southeastern steam during the 1980s. Then along came Lionel's diecast Southern Mikado in fantrip green[one of which I had painted realistic workhorse black] and you know the rest of the diecast steam story since the '90s.

Also have the Weaver 4-6-2 Streamline Southern "Tennessean".

I just won a Williams brass southern 2-8-2 steramer in southern green 2 weeks ago.

Williams brass scale engines have a certain look to them that's appealing.

I have the up challenger and nyc Niagara.

 I remember going to a train store and they had a Williams brass up big boy and challenger in a glass display cabinet-they looked so huge compared to the lionel engines displayed.i did not know what scale was until a co-worker explained it to me.

never forgot that sight of those 2 monsters.i have a premier allehany ,n&w class a,etc.

but till love the looks of those Williams brass.

I just won a weaver pa k4 4-6-2 #5410-no sound-this has a whistle cord-pre-war-an way to find out what year it was made-joe

I just won a weaver pa k4 4-6-2 #5410-no sound-this has a whistle cord-pre-war-an way to find out what year it was made-joe

1995

In 1990 I purchased 3 brass Williams cabooses from Train World for $75.00 each.

They are New York Central, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore and Ohio also the black

Sunoco tank car for $50.00. Anyone have these cars?

1995-weaver 5410 prr k4-thanks for the year made-beautiful engine-I couldn't pass it up

-3 weeks ago I told myself NO MORE TRAINS-bought Williams brass southern 2-8-2 and weaver prr k4 brass-I think I have issue and collecting problems.this hobby is addictive-love brass steamers.

Joseph

Stay away from me---what you have is catching and addictive.

How close is the Williams PRR K4s 4-6-2 engine (besides the Bellpaire firebox) to a USRA engine?

Is the Bellpaire firebox part at the top separate from the rest of the boiler shell (in other words, can the Bellpaire portion be unsoldered at the top)?

Dave,

I've yet to see a bad one. Each one was a stump puller. I have a very close friend that collects nothing but Wms brass. His Cabforward is a work of art. Beware, the mallet's are extremely heavy. BTW..Jim Barrett did a test as to lbs of pull. The Big Boy was off the chart.

Is the Bellpaire firebox part at the top separate from the rest of the boiler shell (in other words, can the Bellpaire portion be unsoldered at the top)?

Nope, the Belpaire firebox is part of the boiler shell and not a separate add-on.

I have Williams brass PRR B6sb 0-6-0, K4s 4-6-2 and L1s 2-8-2 models and all run great.  Cruise Commanders make them run as well or better than anything made today.

Thanks Bob, I was hoping it would be a simple matter of unsoldering those pieces .

Do you think, other than the firebox, that the K4s is close to a USRA Pacific?  I could always cut the firebox off and put on a new one.  The K4s is easy to find while the USRA engines are scarce.

I t hink Williams also did a USRA pacific.   I know they did a USRA mikado.   the firebox on the mikado is a little long, but it still looks pretty.    Probably not too easy to notice and unless you study the photos of prototypes well.