Williams N&W 611 question

The price is high for Williams Brass J, Check Ebay.  The Brass are pretty easy to tell, and the Box and instructions will state it.  If you want to run it, you need to have it test run to see how it runs, no binding, no distortion of rear trucks, tender trucks etc...

Mine is a very smooth runner.  Good engine, but I have seen some earlier versions including Weaver that were not well constructed, so you need to be careful.  G

Originally $850, they sell between $200-$500 on eBay.  I watch them because I have the $850 variety, and think it is a stunning model, at least with 2- rail flanges and tender trucks narrowed a bit.  True N&W folks can find flaws, but I am not aware of any except maybe the shape of the cylinder caps.

Patience - do not worry about high mileage; these things rarely wear out.  If display only, wait for the 2- rail version.

Go to ebay and look up prices for Williams brass J completed listings......

EDIT: A quick look says $250-480 plus shipping for the J......The cars a bit less than your offer too......

Do not be too quick on the cars.  Die cast aluminum might be collectible.  But let's say for a minute that there are five K- Line 21" extruded aluminum cars - those alone might hit the $850 mark.  Then you have a true bargain. 

My opinion? That scale length J would look silly pulling anything shorter than 18" cars, and while I have no interest in such shorties, all indications are that even they command big bucks if K- Line extrusions.

The price is high. For a display piece, I'd suggest checking out the MTH Premier PS-1 611. I agree with Bob on that this engine looks better with longer cars. These 21" cars (80' scale) would look great with this engine. WEAVER N&W PASSENGER CARS

quote:

True N&W folks can find flaws, but I am not aware of any except maybe the shape of the cylinder caps.

Basically, the Williams scale J is pretty good. I guess like all models, one could pick it to death. But, the thing that bugs me is that the trailing truck has a brake cylinder molded on the outside of the trailing truck. Not a big deal until you notice it, then it sticks out like a sore thumb. Up until a few years ago, the MTH scale J's had the same defect...imagine that.

Just an FYI........

If I am not mistaken all 'modern' O scale streamline metal cars are extruded aluminum and not die cast. The two processes are completely different and yield different end products. Just keeping terminology straight.....

Dwight,

One other thing you may want to keep in mind, you are going to have to do some painting on the Williams J to get it to look really good. The class lights, number bezels and five bright pieces of metal across the front top streamlining need to be painted silver and the sides of the wheels need to be painted black. There is one on the bay right now, but, there are better models of the scale size Class J available.

Around 1990, Williams offered Crown Edition painted 15" aluminum streamliners with color window strips, not silhouettes. The N&W Powhatan Arrow set looks beautiful behind a J.