Williams Alco AA

[smokymtguy]

I just purchased a Williams Alco Pennsylanvia AA set in the orginal box with a price of 249.00 on the box at a local flea market for $99.00.   The woman I bought it off of  does not know anything about the set, she had a few other pieces of cars, and track and stuff that were a neighbors and she was trying to sell it for them. It has tru blast horn and bell and looks like it has never been out of the box, only thing missing is can see is the instruction manual.  Here is the problem, when I place both units on the track they will start off slow and then pick up speed and run fine by themselfs.  When I place 3 0-27 lionel streamline coaches behind them the lights come on in the units and then just sit there until I either give them a good push, or turn up the power all the way.  After they have run for several minutes the units slow down and stay to make a grawling humming sound and the power unit gets warm where the motor is.  I have taken the diesel apart, and grease the worm shaft and greased and oiled the grease and axles.  A little improvement but not much. The diesel does have a can motor and flywheel, and rubber tires on the power truck.  Pick up rollers are on the front trucks only.  Also the unit will slow up and different parts of the layout and sometimes stop on one switch.  It is the only diesel that will slow down out of my flee.  Any ideas what else I could try.

[brianel027]

Smokey, just a few troubleshooting thoughts.

What size transformer are you using? The Williams locos need something with a little more amperage. Years ago mine didn't run that well off a small Lionel transformer. When I got the bigger 1033, performance was much better.

Have you cleaned the wheels of the locomotive? Dirty wheels can be a problem that will cause less than stellar operation. Just because the loco looks new doesn't mean it wasn't run before.

If this is one of the orginal 027 Alco FA releases from Williams, then it only has one single motor, which you seem to indicate. Even the train train magazine in their review, noted the loco doesn't have much pulling power. Add the dummy unit and three illuminated passenger cars - especially being powered by a small transformer - could very well be the trouble.

Try running the loco alone and see how it performs. Also try running the loco alone with the shell off it and watch how the flywheel turns. Look to see that the wires are all secure... a loose wire that is still nearly connected, but not solidly connected can cause trouble.

Just a few trouble shooting tips. Hope you can figure out the problem and good luck.

 

[Cobrabob8]

I tend to believe that you must have the 027 Alco FAs from your description of them. I have an A-A set of  the scale Alco Pennsylvania RR FAs and they are excellent pullers. They have dual motors and have given me flawless performance since day one. I would clean the wheels and track, and see if you need some more power connections. Your transformer also may not have enough power for this locomotive. Good luck and I hope you get this loco running good. I love my Williams locomotives and would reccomend them to anyone wanting inexpensive and reliable power units.

Cobrabob.

[rtraincollector]

Good news you bought Williams engines . Now should none of the above info help the engines you can return them to Bachmann (as they now own  Williams) and have them go over them i believe its only like $25.00 which to me is a bargain in todays market.

check out this page it has all the info but last time I sent something it took about 6 months to get it back

 

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/service.php

[smokymtguy]

Thank you for your replys.  I dont think it would be the transformer, it is a MRC Pure power dual. I also have a ZW 275 watt and have hooked it up and the diesel still runs the same way.  The power diesel does have only one motor unit, and pulls a dummy.  I will try and clean the trucks and see what happens then.

[sir james I]

Well you did everything right. Cleaned and oiled. Run it alone for awhile and see if it will limber up some. It's a single motor with not much power and Lionels postwar engines were the same way. Nice looking, no power. The latest Williams Alcos have two motors so that should solve the power problem for new owners.

[dwiemer]

The older Williams with one motor were very limited in power.  Good news is that they sell a powered truck upgrade that will allow you to make it two motor.  This will greatly improve your situation.  I believe that you could even power the dummy unit if you wish.

Dennis

[phillyreading]

Bachmann does sell a power upgrade kit, it has four models of kits to chose from on their website. Most of the kits are $140.00 plus shipping($19.00). Considerring that most engines sold today are priced over $300.00, the upgrade kit to me is a good buy. The only problem I had with the upgrade kit was with one of the step ladders(that add detail, allows engineer to climb inot cab) and what I had to do was drill the hole out to nine/sixtyfourths of an inch, otherwise no problems! Be Careful when if you run the unit with the upgrade kit with older Williams engines(say like double heading a train with two powered units) of the same type, the upgrade kit has more powerful motors than the original Williams motors for the GP-9's, at least that's what I experianced.

Lee F.