Buying a power kit for your non powered unit makes sense! But there is always the factor that the new power unit is faster than the older powered motor unit is and may cause long term stress to the older motors and gears. You have an older Williams engine and the parts kit is for a newer Williams engine, it does work, but with some minor problems, you have to enlarge the screw holes, go up 1/64th of an inch, on the steps of the F-7's engineer ladder.
This is what happened to me with a set of A-B-A F-7 Santa Fe engines that I had, and I also had another F-7 powered Pennsy diesel to use to swap motor kits from. Now I have the two older motor kits in the Santa Fe diesels and the new powered motors in the Pennsy F-7. I put both the new powered F-7 motored diesel and the old powered diesel on the same track and ran them around uncoupled from each other to see if one was faster than the other and the new one was much faster.
You might want to buy two motor kits, I know it is more money now, but it may save money in the future. Will not be able to control both engines from one circuit board, as the new motors use less voltage and that is why you must have the motor match as much as possible.
Other option is to buy a used Williams diesel very close to the model you now have and swap the motors over.
Lee F.
for Williams al you really need to know is it 2 axle or 3 axle trucks then goto some place like http://www.mapajunction.com/ and get the parts about 30% less than from bachmann
By the way marty is in Maryland too
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Sorry I'm a little ify on this posting a picture thing. Hope this helps. BTW feel free to repost on the Bachmann site.
A re-paint both does and does not make sense. I bought it from a store. It was an older train that he had in on his display layout and is now selling used. However we are in Maryland so who knows. I will ask him next time I get down there( it will be a while).
My most pressing question now is: What is this locomotive... is it a F-3 or an F-7 or an ALCO unit. It is important because I plan on buying a power kit for the dummy unit. I will try and post a picture asap.
I have a K-Line little black box ( what I call it) to activate horn or (throw switch) Bell which seems to work if using my old post war transformer on my williams so there another way but finding one not sure how easy that would be.
rtraincollector I'm starting to think it may have been a repaint someone did years ago as I myself never seen that high of a number on a model train (5 digits)
I'm starting to think it may have been a repaint someone did years ago as I myself never seen that high of a number on a model train (5 digits)
I too think that this is a repaint or re-stencil job for the WM, both cab numbers being the same, and that high numerically, is not a factory paint job unless both were powered A units. As to what kind of sound system, you must either open the shell or try the engine on one of the following transformers to be sure; an MTH Z-1000 or modern Lionel ZW(not a post war ZW), or Atlas transfromer with both horn & bell feature.
You got a nice set of Williams engines for the price. However they are about 7 years old or better, as Williams stopped making the WRL line a couple years before selling to Bachmann. You will probally have just a horn in the unpowered unit.
BTW, I did not see any Western Maryland F-7's for sale in the new Williams by Bachmann line-up. So hold on to those engine as they may be worth a few dollars years from now.
Can you open the powered unit, take the shell off, four to six screws on the underside or bottom, and see what the circuit board looks like or has on it? I can probally find some info for it on the Bachmann site. Or you can go to www.bachmanntrains.com and click on ask the Bachmann section, post on there for better info than on here as they deal mainly with Williams items.
Ok allow me to fill in a few more details.
I bought the set used from Sidetrack Hobbies ( I happen to live about 30min away from it). It was an old display model they were getting rid of. So I am quite certain it is fairly old. Definatly before the sale to Bachmann. I do not have the box, just the foam insert it was in. It does have WRL ( of was it WRY???)on the bottom. But no other manufacturing markings. The 51923 number is the cab number on the outside of the body shell just below the cab window. The same number is on both the power and dummy unit. I wil research tonight to find the proper name for the paint scheme or I will post a picture tommorow. Thank you again for your help.
first of either Williams or Williams by Bachmann you got a good set. 2nd the number you giving actually on engine or on the box? It sounds to me a number on the box which would be different than on the engine. Also the only Williams by Bachmann that I could find that was O and F-unit was F-3 and it had different paint scheme than your describing so i thinking probably what you have is befor the sale to Bachmann which is good either way. I have 2 Williams engines both are trainmaster's one PRR and the other Virginian and love them both. Williams makes some good engines. Now the price I would still say you did good as to get a new set they list as Laz said but depending on dealer they can be about about $220.00 so you still saved your self $100.00 and I can't find western Maryland either so if is the road name you like you did great.
I can't find the item number of your engine in the Williams by Bachmann catalog, so maybe you have pre Bachmann engine or Williams only. Will need more information than what you have given. No match for a number starting with a 5, numbers don't go higher than 47900 or so.
A Fireball is an F-3 diesel by Williams.
A new AA set of F-7's by Williams lists for over $320.00 in the Bachmann catalog, so you got a decent deal. Can't tell you more without more information, as the cab number don't match my info for Williams. I am using the 2010 printed catalog.
I have some knowledge about older Williams engines and maybe I can help you find out what your engine has inside, as to a sound system. If it has WRL stamped on the bottom of the unit it is a Williams Reproduction Line made by Williams before being sold to Bachmann and may have just a horn, or maybe NO horn. If the box it came in has on it Crown Edition, it has the QSI sound board with station leaving announcement, the bell can be accessed at lower speeds after the station leaving announcement plays and the horn is accessed at higher speeds. Usually the QSI unit is in the second unit or unpowered A or B unit.
True Blast-2 has both horn and bell sounds and needs a transformer with both buttons in order to get the two sounds, also you can only get one sound at a time with TB-2. TB-2 was used by Williams before being sold to Bachmann, so some older Williams only may have TB-2 units. The newer TB-2 units look a bit like the older horn only units by Williams, so to deffinately tell use a transformer with both Horn/Whistle & Bell features.
Hi ZIGG,
Don't know about the color sheme that you have but according to the Williams site the F7AA list for $369, so I think you got a good deal. Here is their site....
http://www.williamstrains.com/2011/2011_williams.pdf
Try to do a search on E bay to see if you can find those numbers.
laz57
I am a bit of a newbie and need a little help. I recently purchased a used Williams locomotive for $125 and I can't seem to find any information. This is my first Wiliams train.
It is a Western Maryland cab unit. A-A set I believe it is a full scale F-7. But could be wrong. The paint scheme is black with some gold stripping(It is NOT a "Fireball"). Engine # 51923 on both units?
So my questions are: Where are the marks on the locomotive that tell me what it it?
What is it?
Did I get a good deal?
Thank you for your time.
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