Williams 16" aluminum passenger cars

[dwiemer]

  I just got some repainted passenger cars from a reputable dealer on ebay.  They look great, but....two of the cars are starting to fall apart.  The trucks, while they look great are not fast angle and on a few the sides are bent to where the wheel set falls out.  I do not want to return the item as it looks great, but, I do want to repair them.  Also, the couplers are long body mounted and not operating. 

Has anyone a set of 16" Williams aluminum cars that they can perhaps look at to see the following:

the type of couplers

the trucks and wheels, what kind are they

also, the observation car is missing a light for the marker lights,

And finally, can anyone recommend any replacement parts to repair this.

Thanks.

Dennis 

[mpzpw3]

I have a set of  Williams aluminum passenger cars from about the early to mid 80's that have the same trucks and couplers as what you are describing. Last I checked, Williams does not have any of the new versions, which of course have operating couplers and much better trucks. I began retrofitting the cars with Lionel trucks and couplers, which are almost a perfect fit. I was using the postwar 2500 series parts catalog, and I believe the light truck was part number 492-1, and the truck with no light was 490-1. I think I ordered them from Olsen's, but can't remember. Alas, I only did one car, as it became obvious that it was too expensive. I think at the time it was about $35.00 per truck, plus about $2.00 for attach parts. $70.00 a car times 4, and I decided to buy a new set!!

Prices for these may have come down, as it was a couple years ago I started that project. Williams may also now have them in stock. I would definetly give them a call, and if they don't have it, you may want to search to toy train parts guy's advertising in the various magazines.

From your description of the trucks/couplers, it is identical to the sets I have on my cars. I feel fairly confident telling you the trucks are not worth trying to make work! The couplers sag, the wheels don't track, and a lot of friction is created when they are not derailing, which isn't very often, as they are always derailing. PLEASE don't confuse these old Williams cars with the new one's!!!! The newer Williams passenger cars are a vast impovement over the old cars.

Good Luck, and if I can help with part numbers or anything, let me know.

[phillyreading]

Dennis,

What roadname is on the passenger cars?

I have two sets of Williams pasenger cars; a Santa Fe set 16 inch long and a Reading set 14 inch long, the Reading are plastic body and non-working couplers and are giving me problems with the wires coming off at the center roller wheel.   Also on the Reading set there are three wheels on each truck, the one at either end has grooves and the center one has no grove.   The Santa Fe passenger cars are close to scale and look like extruded aluminum, and have working couplers, both sets have two lights in each car, and have two sets of wheels on each truck.

Would like to help with a remedy for the 16 inch Williams passenger cars but don't know of one.

Lee F.

 

[dwiemer]

Lee,

     I am not sure what the original roadname on these were.  They were professionally repainted to Lackawanna and the guy did a great job.  They are certainly aluminum bodies though.

Dennis

[daan]

I don't have these cars, but I assume that the axles end in a point and are beared in the plastic frame of the trucks. (Lima used to make it that way too in their h0 models) After a while, the plastic frame bends out and the axle's won't stay where they should be.

The cheapest trick is to bend back the truck sideframes and use a thin metal wire from one side of the truck to the other to prevent it to bend back. If you paint it black, no one will notice the wire.

That doens't solve the high friction though on the needle point beerings. For that you can make a simple truck by using U shape metal strips with a small hole drilled there where the needle point fits in. Sometimes only a dent or pit in the metal is enough. If you have some skills on soldering you can make a complete truck fron simple sheet metal or yellow copper. The truck sideframes of the plastic trucks can be cut off and glued on the boxtype truck you made yourself.

Or simply buy spare trucks from other models (on ebay there are a lot of possibilities, may be you can even order them)

[Anonymous]

Have you tried calling Williams ? 

I have bought several parts from them over the years. The service guy is very helpful, and their prices were very reasonable for parts.

Hope this helps.....Tim

[dwiemer]

Daan, actually, these are not the needle point axles, instead, it just ends in a flat cut off piece.  I have taken a closer look at the wheelset as the car rolls on the track.  I do notice several times where the wheels do not turn, just slide.

Tim, I have not contacted Williams yet, I figure to do that as I was hoping someone might have an idea on a aftermarket item that was better.  I don't want to invest too much money in these as we could quickly surpass what the cost of a K-line set would be and in that case, I would use these for show and buy a K-line set to run.

Thanks for the help,

dennis

[jefelectric]

Dennis,  K-line used to have a nice set of 6 wheel trucks that they sold separately.  LHS has two sets in 2 rail for 26.95 a pair.  Don't know if anyone has any of the three rail anymore or not.  I checked MTH, Weaver and Atlas and they have none listed for separate sale.  They may have them listed as spare parts, but that usually makes them more expensive.  You could check this on their web sites.  None of these sites are particularly user friendly so it will take some time.  Best way is if you know the cat no. of a car that had the trucks you are looking for.

[mpzpw3]

Well, looks like no answers yet. Again, I would greatly encourage you to call Williams and see if they can set you up.

I have a solution, but it should be a last resort, as I don't think you will be all that happy with it. I was able to get my set to work with a couple items. First I had to use electrical tape to tape the couplers to each other, to solve the sagging problem. Second, go out and buy some fast-angle wheel sets for the cars. My parts dealer swore they wouldn't work, but they do, just not perfect. The truck assembly will withstand some bending (not a lot, but some), to get them back into "gauge". Oil the axle tips, and see what happens! It helped my set out enough to stay on the tracks anyway.

The next problem you will probably have is the wires breaking for the lights. Don't wait for that to happen! They do not break in a good place for soldering. Cut the wire in half and solder about a half inch of flexible wire to the halves.  Your cars should work acceptable, but not great. Sorry I don't have any other ideas.