I bought a Williams PRR S-2 6-8-6 STEAM LOCO on E-bay. It’s new in Box w/ info. It says nothintg about an E-unit. For my purposes forward only is great. There are no switches and nothing in the lit. Are the classic series forward only ?
Thanks, Dave
I think I have the same engine (671) and it has a three position electronic e-unit. Forward, neutral, and reverse all work fine. If your engine has a broken reversing board, a new one will set you back about $29.00.
If not mistaken, some Williams locomotives came without e-units years ago. Not sure about that though.
Jim
Well if that’s true I’ll have to open it up and make it forward only. It’s for a display layout with stops and starts. Can’t have it reversing on us. Thanks for the info. Wonder why they cheaped out and didn’t put a switch in it? Dave
Follow the link below to see instructions on how to lock your William’s trains in forward-only running. It’s the fifth question down the list:
As an aside, William’s locos revert to forward running approx. 8 seconds after stopping.
Jim
Thanks that is very helpfull. Generally the 8 seconds would work for us, but if we got a glitch in power, it could cycle causing an issue, so I’ll probably follow the instructions for the lockout. Dave
The Williams are very easy to change to forward only, use an 8 amp bridge rectifier rated for 50 volts or higher(cost about $4.50) from Radio Shack or other electronics store and wire it straight to the motors instead of the reversing unit. The Williams motors are D.C motors and need to have a rectifier in the circuit when using an A.C. transformer.
The ones Radio Shack sells are 4 amp & 8 amp rated at 400 volts, personally I would use the 8 amp bridge rectifier, don’t worry about the higher voltage rating as that simply means they can work at 400 volts safely but will work at 20 volts just fine.
One note; Jim, I didn’t know that Williams sold a forwards only unit, usually they have the three position electronic reverse that has no lockout feature.
Lee F.
Lee,
I think the early Williams brass and tinplate had forward-only operation. But not 100% sure.
Can I come stay with you and your cats for the winter? Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
Jim
Jim,
I do not know anything about the early Williams or brass & tinplate that they made so I will not comment on that. Only to say that every Williams engine that I have bought had a reverse unit it from Williams, wether I kept the reverse unit is another story!
Can you take 84 degree weather with a slight chance of rain Jim, or hundreds of visitors a day to south Florida? You know that I am only 60 miles north of Miami FL.
Also I am still running my air conditioning some.
Lee F.
You’re killing me, Lee!
It’s 38 degrees (warm) today. Snow and sleet being served up tomorrow night. I’m currently battling pneumonia and a recurring chronic illness. I think I could more than handle 84 degree weather right about now. I’ll meet you at the airport.
Jim