Williams steam engines

Williams not Weaver - sorry for confusion

I have had several Williams engines upgrades to TMCC/RS using ERR electronics. Work great. Not a Big Boy or Challenger. 

The early Williams & Weaver steamers are brass and were built by Samhongsa of Korea. Assuming these are 'Crown Edition' (the very first few brass Williams steamers - a Hudson and a Dryfuss were built by another company and are not good quality) they are fine locomotives and well worth upgrading with ERR and TMCC. If you like smoke you will want to upgrade that as well.

The quality of Williams brass is all over the map. The only ones I have experience with are the Williams NYC Niagara, and their two Masterpiece Hudsons from the early '90s. The former has limited detail but one of the best drivelines ever made and very smooth runner. The Hudsons have fine detail and run well as well. The non Masterpiece Hudsons are much different in appearance and mechanics. Like Sam says, best avoided unless you like to tinker.

Hopefully someone who actually owns the engines you are considering will chime in.

Pete

According to Frank Vacek who worked for Jerry William for many years and who designed the Williams scale Hudson, the Samhongsa ( Korean made ) locomotives are the best ... as C Sam said. 

Although not a Big Boy, I have a Crown Edition camelback and it runs fantastic!  Like a Swiss watch!  I also have a WbB scale B&O Hudson and it has had a few minor problems in the two years I've owned it ( bought it brand new ). 

As with ALL Williams locomotives, including William by Bachman.  the smoke output is poor which is part of a good reason to upgrade to Legacy or DCS. 

Upgrading my Williams steamers is on my to do list.

Williams Trains has had many lives and many incarnations, and very little about them can be generalized unless one refers to the era of production.

The Samhongsa scale (of course) brass production was a wonderful period; there were a few pre-Samhongsa brass locos that were not mechanically top-rate (they looked good, in general) - Baldwin brass(!) diesels and a couple of NYC Hudsons and a B&O 4-6-2 - all of them improvable - and the late Masterpiece Series - high quality and I think built by a builder that did/does 3rd Rail and the Smithsonian Dreyfuss.

The other Williams production tended/tends to be more toy-like (and run like toys), but there are some nice exceptions. 

Any loco with a motor can be "upgraded" to TMCC and the like; "replacement" of the electronics is a more accurate way to think about it, and ranges from simple-easy to tedious-involved, which, in turn. depends more on the customer's desires than the nature of the machine. Me - I want command, cruise, headlight and Electrocoupler/Protocoupler. Sometimes sound. That's usually it.

Also to consider is the cost of the finished project. When you add ERR electronics and the labor to install (unless you do it yourself) you are a couple of $100 in just the 'replacement electronics' (a better term for sure!) and if you add sound it can be another $100 or so. Using MTH's PS3 will include sound for around $200 + labor if needed. 

The early Williams steamers did not smoke well which can add more $$ to your upgrade. Depending on the price you are paying for the bare locomotive, it is often a better choice economically to purchase a 'used' locomotive with the features you want...

I was able to pick up both my Williams brass K4's for about $100 each.  Both had QSI board failures.  I've put a rectifier and E unit in one and run it quite a bit.  My plan is to add cruise commander, smoke and sounds to both.  If your price is right, the are a great bargain in my view.  I've seen several others like the 4-8-4's go for less than $200 and the Weaver PR 4-8-2 seems to go for about $250-300 on a good day. I just found a Williams PRR L1 2-8-2 locally for $175 as well, so they are out there and can be a great bargain.

You could almost consider them to be the cheap first step into the "scale" world.....

I really like the B6 switcher.  I have three - one was converted from 3-rail.  Also have the N&W "J", a converted T1, and a converted S2 turbine.  I am quite happy with all of them.  The B6 appears to be 17/64 scale, which is fine with me.