WEAVER ENGINES

Weaver makes a really good product. As blueluner4 said, they all come with TMCC and Railsounds. They recently started using the updated Railsounds package, so you get some of the crewtalk sounds you'd get on a new Lionel Legacy equipped engine. I've had a few minor problems with some of their engines from time to time, but it's ok because their customer service is excellent and they've always taken care of me. They're a very small company and they're one of the very few companies who still makes some of their stuff (mainly their freight rolling stock) here in the USA. Their brass engines are made overseas, of course.

If you like weathered engines, try ordering one of their engines "weatherized". They'll weather it for you for a reasonable fee.

-Eric Siegel

I have 5 Weaver engines and have had 10 overall.  All but one was conventional(Horn&bell), One with sound. All have been great runners. I have upgraded all of them to PS2 or PS3.  Early Weavers had the drive shaft (RS3/GP38/FA2)  Latter engines came with can motors(C628/C630/SD40-2/RS11/RSD11/U25B/E8) This last group came with either QSI horn and Bell/QSI sound/PS1.  The newer GP38/RS3/FA2 comes with TMCC or conventional and Can motors. 

Doug

I have several dating from early 90's, made by Samhongsa, 2 diesels and an 0-6-0.  All are upgraded to DCS and all are superb runners.

John C,

   Have a full Masonic Train with Steam Engine, runs perfectly, especially with the DCS Z4K TR, smooth as glass.

PCRR/Dave

I have a dozen or so Weaver engines, both steam and diesel, and I like them a lot. Weaver has the best service in the industry, so you can be sure of help if you do have a problem. Here's some information that may help.

First, I assume you are talking about older Weaver engines, since you mention QSI and Proto. First, Proto-Sound is from QSI, not Lionel. It is similar but not identical to MTH Proto-Sound. QSI licensed or sold various versions of Proto-Sound to different OEM's. 

Weaver engines have been available with the basic, licensed version of Lionel TMCC for ten years or more, so you will find four different sets of electronics in Weaver products: TMCC, QSI Proto-Sound, QSI OEM (a predecessor to Proto-Sound), and plain conventional operation. Some of the plain ones have a horn and some have no sound at all. 

My experience with Weaver engines is that all the diesels and most of the steamers are good strong runners. The QSI versions have the usual weaknesses of all QSI products, mainly battery issues and undersized power supplies that can overheat if you pull long trains for long periods of time. 

Some of the Weaver steam engines have issues. The brass ones are subject to the usual production variations of handmade brass locomotives. You can run into production defects that affect operation, such as loose motor mounts or whatever. Older brass engines can be a great bargain or a giant headache. I've also found that the Weaver die-cast 2-8-0, while it is a good puller and runs well at track speeds, is not great at low speed. I'm told that adding an ERR cruise control fixes that issue. 

Some older Weaver diesels have a single, central motor with chain drives to the trucks. I have no personal experience with those. I actually own one but I bought it mainly for display and I've never run it. The newer ones all have the usual twin-motor configuration. 

I have their N&W 4-6-2 and it is a very nice little engine. Control wise, it shows it's age but it runs and pulls great. If I found the N&W 2-8-0, I'd buy it in a second. I've only seen one for sale and it had a broken pilot.

Gilly

TH Club

John, FYI, I have a Weaver SD40-2, circa 1992, which I upgraded to DCS PS2.  Upgrade kit was about $150 through MTH CLub.  Due to the narrow body, it was not the easiest upgrade I've done.  It and another old Weaver are superb under PS2, and can run at 1 SMPH.

I have a weaver U25B engine with QSI so far i really like mine pulls great. 

Thank you to everyone for the responses and information.

If you're considering an upgrade to DCS, it doesn't matter if they have PS1, or conventional or QSI or horn or bell.  All that stuff comes out anyway.

Yes, a modern upgrade involves emptying the shell of everything but the motors and maybe

the bulbs. What a loco had is of no importance (1935 Tinplate can be upgraded, for

example).

ERR Cruise Commander is Lionel command control, and can be controlled by a Lionel

TMCC or Legacy (the newer one) system. It can sort of be controlled by DCS, but

you need both systems on the layout to do it.

Proto-2 or -3 can be command control systems ONLY if you have a DCS system. Lionel's

system cannot talk to DCS/Proto as a Command system.

All of the above can be run conventionally with a transformer (F-N-R).

Future compatibility is whatever the brands offer, but so far both have been careful to

make the new releases backwards-compatible with the earlier in the basic, necessary

functions. You don't lose anything (at least with Lionel) in your older stuff, but it

will not contain the newer features, which may not matter to you (they don't to me).

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There is a short answer. There is an accurate answer. There is no short AND accurate answer.