Does anyone own the Williams NYC or Williams NS GP9? I wanted to know if the paint/paint schemes were prototypical. I have read that the logo on the NS was “squished” and that the grey and lightening bolt on the NYC was actually lighter than the Lionel. I am thinking of getting one of each, but wanted to see what they actually looked like before I purchased them. I have only been able to find pictures from the Williams catalogs for both but nothing “real.” If anyone has a “real” picture of either they would be willing to post, I would appreciate it.
I just bought a Williams NYC GP9 at the beginning of the March. The lightening stripes are very crisp. I’ve never seen a Lionel original, so I can’t really speak to the color match.
I’m planning on photo account somewhere soon so I can post pictures here. I’ll use the GP9 as a test subject for posting pictures.
The locomotive runs smoothly with the usual ‘Williams viggor’. Pulls pretty well too. The head light bulbs are mounted low on the chassis, so from the outside the headlights look kind of dim.
I don’t have the NYC or NS GP-9’s but I have a couple of other GP-9’s by Williams. I have a Pennsy two unit set, one powered and one unpowered with a horn unit in it, I upgraded to the True Blast-2 diesel horn and bell. The other GP-9 is a Reading Lines diesel, it has the True Blast horn and bell unit installed by Williams. Both of my GP-9’s run great and pull a lot of freight cars, close to 20 two bay hoppers, they seem a little more powerful than the Williams SD-45’s. I have DCS and run the Williams with variable track voltage and notice that the GP-9’s start at a lower voltage than the SD-45’s and run at a lower voltage as well.
This is an old post, but I wanted to know if you knew the years that Williams produced engines with “horns only” and how much of a problem was for you to upgrade to the True Blast II.