More Williams F3s

Williams trains are a great deal.  They run fantastic.

There are guys here who love the latest technology in model trains an there's nothing wrong with that. I've chosen to keep things at a moderate cost,  simple,  reliable and have no need for remote control operation on a simple display layout that runs four loops continuously.  Being conventional operator, I have a few older Williams engines in my collection. (GG1, Alco, FM).   I wish they had rail sounds and better horns but they are all strong pullers and run great at a reasonable cost. As the only company in the O gauge market who owns their own factories, Williams products are usually of excellent quality.

When Williams came out with these, I thought they were great. I quickly bought the Santa Fe warbonnet, Santa Fe blue/silver, Rio Grande, and Western Pacific. Got the B units for all of them. Sold the warbonnets, as I have too many. 

I have to say after all these years, I still think they're great. They're like Swiss watches. The way they creep around the layout with little noise pulling whatever I put behind them still puts a smile on my face. I paid $225 for an AA set when they were just released, and I see that the blow-outs on the one's that are still out there are in the $200.00 range. Not bad for a no-frills loco. The WP version is my favorite. Classy paint scheme on a well built platform. 

I think there's a lot of value in the Williams F3's. The nice thing is that you can modify them without loosing any real value. If you must have a black roof on your WPs, mask it and paint it. I swapped the shells on my Rio Grande and Santa Fe's so that the RGs would have a silver frame and trucks. Looks much better IMO. So much better that I'm going to paint the black RG frame and trucks silver. No big deal, as they were priced so well when new. 

I have a friend who has me put DCS in many of those and drill out the dummy marker lights for LED markers.  

Williams trains work very good, although they don't have command control installed. The Williams engines have dual motors unless it is a streetcar or similar. I have found great prices for Williams at Train World in New York,  almost 50% less in price then the Williams website.

Lee Fritz

I got a Williams SD45 a month or so ago.  I'm intentionally trying to break it.  I'd just like to know how much punishment they can take before needing an overhaul.  At present, it's pulling a 26 car consist.  Each car is weighed down quite a bit so it's pulling around 25 to 30 lbs. of rolling stock and doing so without any issues. 

I've been running this engine for about 3 hours a day and it's still running like a champ.  The Williams engines are very durable and appear to be well built.

I have numerous Williams F3, PA, FA, E7, GG1 locomotives as well as Metroliners and E60's.  All are as reliable as day one and no issues.  Simply reliable!!!! 

Williams broke new ground by pacing a new SD45 body on a FM Train Master frame. It was fastened by a pair of screws under each end instead of one screw above each pilot. I replaced Train Master parts - fuel tank, truck sideframes and handrails - when Williams made those SD45 parts available. As posted, this beefy unit still runs like a Hamilton watch and walks away with long trains. This is a custom BEE LINE paint scheme, The number of the NS Heritage Unit - 1067 - is the number of a Reading SD45 in reverse.

Williams SD45 truck sideframes camouflage the wider spacing between center and inner axles.

I personally like the SCALE Williams diesel units such as the EMD Nw2,  BLW RF-16 sharks, ALCo FA-1, and the E7's. I wish that Jerry Williams made some GE diesel units for his motive power line up before selling to da Bachmann!

I LOVE F3s and Williams gave me a great way to get quite a few of them at a reasonable price.

phillyreading posted:

I have found great prices for Williams at Train World in New York,  almost 50% less in price then the Williams website.

Lee Fritz

Agreed. But my issue as mentioned above wasn't so much pricing as supply. When looking for the Western Pacific AA units was amazed as to scarcity. In fact, I think Train World sold their last WP set a few weeks before I called. Found these at Western Depot (who also has nice pricing).

Not sure what is going on with Bachmann/Williams and releasing engines and rolling stock in O gauge. I had to go to an online vendor to buy some WBB items as their website(WBB) claims they sold out the item.

Lee Fritz

I have five sets of the F3s.  Western Maryland is my favorite although the Penn Central F-units used to roll through my hometown. Regarding product availability, there's a thread of complaints on the WBB forum about the "new" catalog and lack of new product or road names.

I sure wish Bachmann would bring back the 'Golden Memories' series.  They were the greatest.

Earl

"As the only company in the O gauge market who owns their own factories, Williams products are usually of excellent quality."

First, I am not sure that - in fact I don't think so - Williams/Wbb owns its own factories in China. I have never heard that Williams ever "owned" a factory.

Second, so far as I know MTH does still own a factory in Korea, in which their steamers (and other die-cast?) are built. 

Third, I have bought some modern-era (after the excellent Samhongsa brass era) Williams diesels/electrics, and have had to fix a couple right out of the box. Bad solder joints, incorrect washers in truck suspensions, a few other things. Not that I don't like Williams, I do (I don't mess with the toy-size items, usually), but they are just another company - mostly good stuff, some not so much.

But, items 1 and 2, above - fact or legend? Don't know.  

It sounds like the Wms/WBB F3s are very close to the original Lionel PW F3s in size and appearance. 

More recently, Lionel produced some scale F3s. Were the scale versions more different dimensionally or detail when compared to the Lionel PW versions and Wms/WBB Golden Memory versions?

EIS posted:

I sure wish Bachmann would bring back the 'Golden Memories' series.  They were the greatest.

Earl

You said it. I’ve been doing my best to play catch-up on some of the trains I missed. Would love to get my hands on the Texas Special F3s. Saw a set on the auction site a month or so back but they went for crazy money.