Question about Weaver Steam engines

I had three of the LAckawanna Poconos   Out of the box tey had problems with the siderods not being quartered correctly on two of them  The third one the siderods just fell off.  they went back to Weaver at that time for repair   When they came back two of the three had TMCC issues  I have since sold one off and upgraded the other two to DCS  They run great and smooth but they arent great pullers  5 Passenger cars is their limit.  I also have the LAckawanna PAcific  Upgraded that to DCS also    Nice engine but also not a great puler.  The 2-8-0 BAldwin was the best of the bunch I had  Worked great out of the box and is a good piller.  The difference with this one is that it is die cast and the others are brass   The difference in the weight is a big difference in the pulling power

I have two in N&W Livery. A 2-8-0 Consolidation and a 4-6-2 Pacific. Both are TMCC and are runners. The biggest drawback is no speed control. This limits the quality of low speed operation. Sound is so-so. Other than that, detail is very acceptable considering their vintage. Both are candidates for full-blown PS-3 upgrades.

Gilly@N&W posted:

I have two in N&W Livery. A 2-8-0 Consolidation and a 4-6-2 Pacific. Both are TMCC and are runners. The biggest drawback is no speed control. This limits the quality of low speed operation. Sound is so-so. Other than that, detail is very acceptable considering their vintage. Both are candidates for full-blown PS-3 upgrades.

Hello guys and gals...

Are they better made than sunset 3rd engines ?

Tiffany

I too had trouble with poor pulling power with my two Poconos.  Weaver added weight to both, but with little improvement.  I resolved to fix this myself.  Alas, on my first attempt it only took a cheap set of Lionel traction tires from a vendor at a train show to improve their pulling ability.  The original tires were made of a slippery material and as smooth as a baby's a.., you know.  The engines went from pulling only five passenger cars to twelve; and heavy Third Rail/Sunset cars to boot !  I have pulled over twenty freight cars on level track.  When double headed there is no limit. They run very well and sound great.  I love the digital speed control using the boost and brake buttons one click at a time allowing to power brake instead of drifting.; very smooth.  And they look great!

Tiffany posted:

Gilly@N&W posted:

I have two in N&W Livery. A 2-8-0 Consolidation and a 4-6-2 Pacific. Both are TMCC and are runners. The biggest drawback is no speed control. This limits the quality of low speed operation. Sound is so-so. Other than that, detail is very acceptable considering their vintage. Both are candidates for full-blown PS-3 upgrades.

Hello guys and gals...

Are they better made than sunset 3rd engines ?

Tiffany

Nope, not even close. Better than MTH RailKing, not as nice as Premier. Typical of 2000 vintage scale Lionel.

I have the Weaver Milwaukee 261 in 2 rail. It runs well after break-in.

Dick

The Weaver brass CP Empress 4-6-4 #2816 from about 2008 is pretty spectacular IMO. It has TMCC and EOB and runs pretty well.

Rod

I've work on several over the years and purchased a new one just before they closed.  I'm not impressed with their gear box.  Seems to be the weak link in an otherwise good engine.  Even with cruise it's not the smoothest at slow speeds.

I have three. Early 2816 which I put a QSI unit in, a Berkshire and Canadian National U-4 with TMCC. All are good runners and pull good....................Paul

Tiffany posted:

Are they better made than sunset 3rd engines ?

Tiffany

I think this is a difficult question. I have several 3-rd Rail engines. Only one Weaver.

Cosmetically, the Weaver, is indistinguishable from the 3-rd Rail engines. Here is a shot of the Weaver CP2816 side-by-side with a 3-rd Rail CP3101.

Which is "better?' How can I say as both required repair and did not run "out of the box."

3101 was repaired professionally and has continued to run well since being returned about 15 months ago. 2816 ran for one day after being returned from Weaver and then died again. I replaced the electronics with ERR stuff and it now runs fine although the smoke element seems burnt out. Feel only cold puffs coming from it . . . no heat.

Sadly, neither company gets even a passing grade from me in regards to reliability.

I think older Weaver brass models (by Samhongsa) were a bit better then Williams of that period and had better detailling; newer Weaver brass locomotives are close but not as good and as detailed as 3rd Rail in my opinion. Here is a video of first a UP Weaver 4-8-4 (with QSI) and then a UP Williams 4-6-6-4.

Regards

Fred

bluelinec4 posted:

I had three of the LAckawanna Poconos   Out of the box tey had problems with the siderods not being quartered correctly on two of them  The third one the siderods just fell off.  they went back to Weaver at that time for repair   When they came back two of the three had TMCC issues  I have since sold one off and upgraded the other two to DCS  They run great and smooth but they arent great pullers  5 Passenger cars is their limit.  I also have the LAckawanna PAcific  Upgraded that to DCS also    Nice engine but also not a great puler.  The 2-8-0 BAldwin was the best of the bunch I had  Worked great out of the box and is a good piller.  The difference with this one is that it is die cast and the others are brass   The difference in the weight is a big difference in the pulling power

I have been looking for one of those Lackawanna Poconos for a while. Thats a bummer it doesn't pull more than five cars. Enjoy them! I have the brass NKP Berkshire #759 but haven't upgraded to DCS yet.(So I don't run it)

I have a few Weaver locos; brass, except for a die-cast 2-8-0 and a PRR C-class 0-8-0. The brass ones are just fine. The NKP Hudson is a tad light (easy to fix). Less toublesome than 3rd Rail, noticeably. The early (80's - 90's) Weaver brass was Samhongsa-built, like the Williams brass from the same era, as well as the die-cast Lionel Reading T-1 4-8-4, NYC L-3 Mohawk and all MTH locomotives in that era, so far as I know.

Samhongsa built good stuff - the early Weaver brass (NYC Hudsons, PRR 4-8-2's, others) are nice work - like the Williams of the same era. The Weaver may have had a bit more detail.

The later Weaver brass was built by unknown - to me - suppliers. Some (most?) is excellent.