hey guys
what do you guys think of the Williams general motors F7 ABA Scale Diesel set
I have an F-7 Southern Pacific AA set and I can honestly say that
it is quite nice. Good paint. Runs great. Worth every cent. I would
like to get a " B " unit to complete the set.
Chuck
I have the Northern Pacific A-B-A and it is great. Smooth running and great sounds.
They are good diesels. Like others say, smooth running and reliable. The shells are made from old Kusan tooling from the 50’s. The lines aren’t totally right. Especially the nose. I would not pay more than $250 for an ABA set.
Well Williams is the only one that has the Texas Special which I want and its 349.00. I found an MTH Texas Special for 899.00 but I can’t pay that.
$250 is all I would pay because I can’t get use to the noses. I see ABA sets for that on occasion on the secondary market. If you really want them, and can live with the noses, then it won’t hurt to pay the $350.
I have several Williams locomotives and they all work great. The only thing I can say is stay away from Lionel’s switch #6-23010 & 6-23011 in O Gauge, that is the only real problem I have had with any Williams locomotive. Just wi***hat Williams would have more variety in their steam locomotives.
Lee
Are these switches the 022 or 072 modern version. What was the problem. Thanks
Can you had smoke units to these Locomotives?
Who quoted you $349 for the set?
Poppyl
its in the Williams 2006 catalog
You can get better deals from William dealers such as Ma and Pa Junction or Jus Trains of Delaware. Even though they are “sales”, Williams sells their stuff direct at a higher price deliberately so not to compete with their dealers.
Shop around and you may find some Williams Texas Special F3’s for the same price as F7’s. Their F3’s are reproductions of Lionel postwar F3’s and look much better than the F7’s.
TAS studios makes smoke units. How they fit, I don’t know. I’m sure some hacking is required. Three smoke units in an ABA would be awesome.
John;
You stole my thunder. [:)]
Poppyl
These switches(the 6-23011) were made during the 1990’s, look more like Atlas/GarGraves kitbashed switch than an 022 and are close to the 031 track in diameter(have sections), cause major derailments with Williams locomotives and older Lionel locomotives, also loose power at ramdom. I have used a multimeter and have power at the screw heads on the switch so I assume the switch is a MAJOR malfunction and that Lionel won’t try to acknowledge the problem. I have called many repair places that Lionel lists and nobody seems to know what the problem is, even emailed Williams Trains and thier reply is to stay away from this Lionel switch. I have found that the only thing to do with this switch is to replace it with a better switch that you know of.
Lee F.
I’ve got the F7 in two road names (NYC & NH) and I’m thinking about getting the Soo Line version.
I second the suggestion of contacting Ma & Pa Junction, or justrains.com for the best pricing. Justrains has a sale on the F3 Texas Special right now-the AA is on sale for 235 dollars delivered and B units are 105 dollars. I think this is the cheapest I’ve seen the AA units. They really are a “steal” at that price.
The Golden Memories reproductions of the PostWar lionels have been well recieved in tests by the two big O gauge model railroad magazines. The pull alot, are very quiet. The paint is very good. They are reproductions of the Lionels which aren’t exactly scale models i.e.- the front windshields are smaller than scale and have the “postwar squint”. The only real difference is that Williams chose to use their scale model looking F7 pilot, instead of a postwar F3 pilot which are shaped differently and have smoother less detailed appearance.
The F7 ABA is on sale for 235 I believe, but I think the Texas Special is out of stock. The F7 is an older mold, and the nose as stated above is not correct.
Worth every penny…if you pay 229 for the A-B-A set. Get with Marty!!
I think they are tremendous bang for the buck. Sure, there is better out there…at about 4 times the price.
I’m very pleased with the quality, running and value of these sets. You can hook up every car you own to one and it’ll pull em all day long.
Those SOO LINE F7 Locos from Williams are good, but do not look at the photos of the real units.
The difference in the paint schemes suggest they only used a single photo for the paint masking pattern.
Andrew
Just about any Williams Loco is worth the price. They run and run and no one cries when you repaint it.
Here and on other forums I hear a lot of good things about williams trains.