Williams Electric Trains

[Roy]

I think Williams' idea was to provide good quality engines without the overpricing associated with Lionel-brand product.

As far as I know, all Williams O gauge engines have DC motors. One could rip out whatever sequence reverse is in such an engine, and run it on DC. It's simpler, and there's less to go wrong.

[webenda]

It seems to me that Bachmann is adding little to the Williams line and is letting much just die away.
Yes there are several additions but many more deletions.

I agree. The Williams U33c is one that is no longer listed on the Williams by Bachmann web store.

A few hobby stores still have a stock of old Williams trains (at the old prices.)



The additions are a little pricier but they do not appear to be Lionel knockoffs so the price increase makes sense. [opinion]
Bachmann raised all the prices when they purchased Williams. As a result I lost interest in the new Williams.

On the other hand, the new Williams by Bachman 70 ton switcher will run on O-27 curves. I clicked [BUY] on Western Depot's advertisement on May 1st and it arrived on May 6th. I'll do a report on it next month. In the mean time, here is a photo.

[webenda]

Another photo, sun shining this time.

[Roy]

I wonder if anyone has done an O scale, standard gauge conversion of the Bachmann Whitcomb 50 tonner? Seems like a natural.

[bluelinec4]

I have two of the 70 toners. Nice little engine. I started with one but it’s not a very good puller. It uses little can motors in the truck very similar to lionels rs3 and gp38. I had them painted in south Brooklyn railroad by Christene Braden

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Another photo, sun shining this time.

Might I trouble you to post a photo of the underbody so I could see the "little can motors in the truck"?

Thanks!

[HONDO74]

I will add my 2 cents to this since I bought some Williams trains. This was back in the 1990s. I seem to remember in the early 90s that Jerry and Mike had a falling out when Mike got involved with Weaver. I think Mike had some kind of deal with Samhongsa that everything went through him.

Williams was stuck with a lot of product and he started dumping it, A lot of it went to Train World/Trainland. They had big ads in CTT and that was who I was buying from. Always enjoyed talking with those young ladies with the Brooklyn accent. You make the call and say I want to place an order and you get ( Wa Da Numba ).

First item I bought was the Williams Shark nose diesels that came with the 4 brass freight cars. I was not interested in the engines only the brass cars. I got the whole set for way less than I could buy just the cars.

Then I bought the Mopac F7 ABA set. The A is powered the B has the Williams diesel sound system and the other A is a dummy. I took the power unit out of the A shark and put it in Mopac dummy A. One of these days I will dispose of the 2 dummy A sharks.

Next up but not from TW/TL I bought I bought the Williams B6 brass switch engine and the E6 brass engine Picked up some more of the Williams brass cars and bought a couple of 3rd rail brass car. These were selling for a fraction of the original price and all brand new. Those engine are not highly detailed but fit right in with my prewar and early postwar Lionel. Just part of my brass collecting period.

[webenda]

Another photo, sun shining this time.

Might I trouble you to post a photo of the underbody so I could see the "little can motors in the truck"?

Thanks!

What you ask for is not always what you want.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

What you ask for is not always what you want.

And you can't always get what you want, but if you try some times you get what you need.

Wonder what it might cost to just get a body shell?

[Roy]

Wayne, does your 70 tonner have traction tires?

[webenda]

Wayne, does your 70 tonner have traction tires?

Yes, one axle of each truck is powered and one wheel of each powered axle has a traction tire.







The motor is the same size as a Mabuchi FF-130 (I measured it.) I was not able to get the shaft diameter.

[Roy]

Thank you, Wayne. I'm surprised that only one axle per truck is powered. It's hard to see, but it looks like there should be room for another worm and gear set, on the motor's other end.

[HONDO74]

This Williams 70 toner kind of reminds me of the KLine MP15 engines from years ago It had the motors in the trucks also

I had one that I received when I was a member of the KLine club. I think I got mine for $25 dollars.

This one...

[webenda]

Thank you, Wayne. I'm surprised that only one axle per truck is powered. It's hard to see, but it looks like there should be room for another worm and gear set, on the motor's other end.

The pickup roller takes up the space where a gear would go and the roller can't go between the axles because the motor is there.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Thank you, Wayne. I'm surprised that only one axle per truck is powered. It's hard to see, but it looks like there should be room for another worm and gear set, on the motor's other end.

The pickup roller takes up the space where a gear would go and the roller can't go between the axles because the motor is there.

Thanks. Drive has similarities to a Q-car drive for trolleys. Adapting these drives might be possible for other uses.