"Finally, the very earliest Williams locos (pre-1987) weren't especially well-made." Correct, and they had to be from a different builder (these early locos are not without charm and can be made to be worth owning - if you keep the total cost way down).
Anyway, it should be mentioned that the Crown Edition brass was made by Samhongsa (Weaver's was too), a well-established Korean brass builder that produced good products. They also built quite a few higher-end 2-rail O-scale locos. They were in the die-cast business as well, and produced items for MTH and Lionel (by way of MTH) back in the earlier scale days. Lionel's die-cast scale L-3 Mohawk and Reading T-1 4-8-4 were Samhongsa products produced for Lionel by way of MTH as the "middle man" (Mr Wolf already had the Korean contacts; Lionel did not).
Or so I understand.
The "good" Williams brass is my favorite line of locos; I wish that there had been even more prototypes offered. They were built to a price (basic but good detailing; no Pittman motors), and really made 3RO worth messing with. My Wms brass USRA Mike with ERR Cruise Commander is a smooth and silent runner, Legacy-slow if you want.
The even later "Masterpiece" Williams brass is another story - they can be even better bargains - good stuff.
Williams Trains has had many identities, many iterations. Unfortunately, Mr Williams was known for caring nothing about archiving or the history of his enterprise. Too bad. It's the most interesting modern O-scale outfit.
