MTH or WILLIAMS engine?

[Anonymous]

I'm looking at two steam engine, MTH RAIL KING #30-1137-1 LACKAWANNA 2-6-0, the other a Williams #5016 4-6-0 camelback Lackawanna.
i'm buying to run, not to collect and store. Whats a better engine in the long run?
here are the links
http://cgi.ebay.com/MTH-RAILKING-LACKAWANNA-2-6-0-STEAM-LOCO-TENDER-LN-OB_W0QQitemZ6035460431QQcategoryZ4730QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/WILLIAMS-LACKAWANNA-4-6-0-CAMELBACK-STEAM-LOCO-W-OB_W0QQitemZ6035460844QQcategoryZ485QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Which would you buy if you had money burning a hole in your pocket???

[pbjwilson]

The Wiliams is much nicer. The MTH is a very basic starter set engine. And the Camelback design is way funky cool.

[jefelectric]

Don't know if you care or not but I don't think the Lackawanna ever had any 2-6-0 locomotives. Also all of the Lackawanna locomotives that I have seen pictures of have Silver smoke boxes. Actually the started out as silver but turned gray after they were used for a while. They definitely did have camelbacks but I am not sure what wheel arrangement.

On the practical side I have a Lionel Reading Camelback, which has a cast boiler, and it is really top heavy & derails very easily when going around a corner. You might want to consider this if you are running on 031. Mine flipped over on an 042 curve and if my grandson had not caught it, it would have taken a 3' dive to the floor. Since the Williams is Brass it might not be as top heavy but still would be more top heavy than a conventional loco.

[spankybird]

I have the sister B & O engine. This is a PS1 engine. A good smoker but the gears are noisy as compaired to MTH engines of today with worm gears.

[prewardude]

Go with the Williams. I also have that MTH loco, and while it's built like a tank, it's not a very smooth runner (slows down a LOT on 031 curves).