Williams FANTASTIC FA-1 loco....

Sure is pretty Dave - great find!

 

Does it have the new sound system?  If so, can you post a video so we can hear it?

 

Thanks

Great. Nice engine. I got a JCLines GP9 from Williams last weekend great stuff.

I find that I keep going back to Williams. I like that the engines they offer stick around for a while so I can make informed decisions instead of spur of the moment Pre order only hype. I guess I'm not that kind of guy.

I am pretty sure this is NOS and not TB II. I will check Sat on the layout and let you know. Thanks

Very nice engine Dave. One of the club members has the power and dummy of them they are very nice detail for williams.  

I have the A-B-A set of that - my best Wiliams by miles. AS you said the detail is fantastic for the price. My only comment is I dont like how you can see the light bulb in the cabs so easily  - but an interior fit out would cure that.

 

MIKE

Nice Engine Dave. I have to agree with you on Williams equipment they sure have won me over for my conventional operations. The price point and details are in my book a deal closer. I have now gotten 8 new engines Williams and I have the FA1 L&N set and love it. I also have the new GP30 ACL and that is a great one as well. Thanks for sharing you new engine picture with us all.

I feel exactly the same way, which is the reason most of my engine purchases in the last ten years have been from Williams or from Weaver. I do not like having to decide on a purchase as soon as the catalog comes out or risk not finding it later. Unfortunately, Weaver has drastically reduced their variety of diesel offerings in recent years.

Have the WILLIAMS PRR ABA set. The A & B unit are powered and added an OTT sound board to the dummy A.

 This set is my favorite diesel units.

 

Charlie,  what did you use for the antenna on your lead A unit?  That looks great and I plan to do the same to ours someday.

csam

I have used calscale kits, but the phone antenna on the 2 A units in this video were made from brass sheet and piano wire,

 

but take a look at this article

http://oscalemag.com/wordpress...-part-for-o-scalers/

I too have used HO hand rail sanctions for PRR antenna supports. They work great!!! I had a large supply of Athrean supports from my HO days but the supply is drying up as Athrean goes away from the parts supply biz and into RTR only. It's too bad as I used a lot of their stuff in other applications. 

Got the A-B-A set in New Haven trustee paint, and they are...for the price...most kool! I would like to do something about the friction bearing side frames, and add sound to all three units.  Someday soon. Mebby even power the dummy B unit too.

I picked up the L&NE FA-1 A-A set on the blowout and the extra detail is very nice, but the yellow grab irons really pop on that Western Maryland model   I'm pretty sure my set is older stock, but still TBII.

 

I plan to wire mine in series and swap the headlight over to LED.  I would like to add LED to the red markers & number boards in place of the fixed jewels, but that does not look so easy.

but I hope this is not the end of the 'old' Williams line.....IE great solid conventional runners........

 

I hope that doesn't happen!

Yes I have been picking up a lot of the engines as well from Williams and just got the same WM set a couple of weeks back and was stunned by the nice detail.

Mine is for a repaint project.

 

If you want better lighting I have been using Evans LED's

 

http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/bl-212.html

 

These bulbs LED light at 5-18 volts range and will run on AC or DC.

 

They have 3 different sized bulbs and been replacing lights in my Williams engines with these.

Some I use the small bulbs and stick them in the headlight lens. Others I removed the lens and used the large bulb as the headlight.

For the # boards I used foil behind and shone the LED bulbs at the foil to get good light spread. For marker lights I drilled into the red lens and stuck a small bulb in.

Did the end of the Williams passenger cars as well rear white light and red marker lights.

It looks great like the Williams engine in the photo of the Evans page!

Simple snip wire to existing bulb pull it out and replace with the LED.

 

Trainworld still has some ABA sets of engines of various types on sale at $200 if you mention FREE B when ordering ask them what they have left.

And Pat;s trains has some good deals on AA units.

I just bought a set of Burlington E7's from a forum member to head up my CZ. I have a Williams motor upgrade kit to power the dummy A so ill have plenty of power to pull my 11 car atlasO CZ passenger cars. 

 

I can even upgrade both engines to command with ERR products and add sound and still be cheaper then buying some other mfgs engines. 

 

The WBB has some great engines at great prices at some dealers, don't miss out.

We bought the Lehigh Valley FA from Williams at York in October for his early birthday present.  My son loved it and it was a terrific buy -- I think it was $200 for the ABA from Trainland.  It is a terrific loco -- detailing, power, runs smooth.  Personally, I understand the modifications people do but these locomotives are really nice enough to enjoy, as-is, out of the box.  I find no problems running them at a slow, very consistent speed using a traditional Lionel TMCC set up for dual conventional / command operation.  As I have said before, the only drawback of these and other recent Williams locomotives is that there is no E-unit lock out.  I understand that they can be modified, but doing that voids the warranty and there was really absolutely no reason that they should not have had this feature as delivered from Williams.  But other than that, they are just terrific.  My son loves his, and I am thinking of adding a set of the Western Maryland F3s -- love that paint scheme on the F3 -- based on the excellent performance of the FAs.  

I just bought the Williams FA A-B-A set from Trainworld (a special offer with free B unit).  It is the single stripe Pennsy green version. I have recently picked up several Williams Pennsy GG-1s (scale) and PAs. My other engines are MTH versions: Sharks, Es and F-7s - all Pennsy green. 

For $200 it is VERY tempting for sure......I think you will like them!!! I've even thought about getting a set and powering the B for a real puller!

I actually have two sets of these FA-1 engines.  I plan to convert one of the A unit "dummy" engines to a powered engine by swapping shells. The remaining "non-powered" A-A units will be stored. This will leave me with an FA-1 A-B-A set with both A units powered.

 

Note: I will be adding "diode strings" to all motors and will be adding directional "LED" lighting as well. The forward engine will have a bright headlight and the trailing engine headlight will be "dimmed". 

 

 

I hate to admit it but after the WM set I found a B&O ABA set for cheap and got it too. Since my Great Grandfather was an engineer al his life for the B&O I justified it!!!

You folks have studied the Williams, more than me and I have 2 SD- 90, that I would test to see how long they would run, contiuously, BUT, not today.  I like them,

 

Does Williams have any smoke units at all ??????  In ANYTHING !!!   need O31

curve,  so no more than 15 inch!

thanks

Williams only sells a smoke unit in their steam engines, and it is not that good at smoke output.

I have several Williams engines and if I could afford it, I would buy some more.

 

Lee Fritz

The smoke unit in the 4-6-0 is better than the older units. But yes......there are better units on the market. In my basement smoke is off 99% of the time....on for show to visitors! 

Still WbB locos are my favorite bang for buck.

To my eye that picture looks on par with the Weaver FA detail wise. Has anyone ever 2-Railed one of these? I know wrong forum, but it looks like an inexpensive place to start a conversion project.

Tis, what I have been finding, out,  Need  Diesel,

wished they had smoked on the GP-38

thanks