i ran my pink steamer tonight & i tried using a mth z-750. it would run good on higher voltages, but the low speed wasn't there. i put my lionel zw 275 back on for power & it ran a lot better at low speeds. i'm not sure why? with the mth z 750 on a slower speed, it would go around a few times then after each time around it would get slower & slower until it would stop, & not always in the same place. with the zw 275, just getting the power on about 6 (soon enought to light the bulb) it would  pull & never slow down. i like the horn botton a lot better on my mth z 750, but that's about it. the zw has a sweet spot that i have to find to get the whistle to work.

i ran it again tonight for about half an hour & it only got warm. maybe it just needed broken in? it did get pretty warm after i put 15 freight cars behind it & let it run another half an hour, but that would probably be normal. it's a great puller, & i love the whistle.

i like their berks myself, although i don't have one (yet). i also like the gp9's. i have a lionel sd24 chassis with a williams norfolk southern gp9 shell on it. it looks awesome. I've got a lot of comments on it. i wish williams would do a blue comet set, & a sd9, sd24, or a hi hood sd40-2. the only one of the three i would think they might do would be the sd24. they could use the gp shell & all they would have to come up with would be the chassis.

i bought a pink Williams girls set & it showed up here at home today. it looks great & runs pretty good too. the whistle in the tender is sweet. when i first started running the engine, it had a loud squeak in the drive rods that drove me crazy. i had to take them all appart, clean, & adjust them. one of the main rods was rubbing the wheel as it turned. after i got done with that it runs real quite.

theres a couple things i don't like.

I'm not a big fan of only the back axle being geared to the motor. i would have figured they were geared together, but their not. are all Williams steam engines like that?

the motor seems to run pretty warm. almost hot enough to burn you by touching the flywheel. also, the flywheel action sucks. kill the power & it slides to a stop. it's nothing like my railking steamers.

all in all i do like it, i just expected more.

are these can motors in these steamers?

i do agree, they would look better on at least 22" radius track. the sd9's don't look funny on the 18", but anything any bigger does look a little out of place. most of my engines are athearn & run pretty good on the 18" radius track. it is very rare that i have a derailment, & when i do 99% of the time it's a car & not the engines. if you like the 6 axle engines you would be better off going to at least a 22" curve. you can always go with a 5x8 layout. that would give you the room you need.

i run 6 's sd9, 2 sd45's, 4 sd40-2's, a 2-8-4 berkshire, & a 4-8-4 niagara on 18" radius track. they run well on the bachmann roadbed track, but on some old non roadbed track a couple of the sd9's would derail. after i went to the bachmann track it stopped.

I run my bachmann niagara 4-8-4 with a centipede tender & my rivarrosi 2-8-4 berkshire on bachmann 18" radius track with no problems at all. is the 18" radius a different type of track?

i would send them both back if it were me & exchange for new one's. that is if that turns out being your problem.

that's what i was afraid of. i might look into dcc sooner than i thought. thanks

can you run an automatic reversing module on a reverse loop with just dc power? I've not went to dcc & i dought i will, & i don't like the idea of throwing switches all the time. i would like to go with a double reverse loop on a dogbone type layout, but if a automatic revering unit can't be used on just dc, i'll have to change my plans.

thanks

it looks to me if it runs fine without the tender, & runs bad with it, that the problem is with the tender somewhere. try running it with the tender, but without the wiring connecter hooked up. if it runs fine that way, the board is bad in the tender. no the electrical connector should be rubbing the wheels, can you move it to where it isn't rubbing?

i misspoken, i didn't use 400, it was 800. i wasn't thinking when i said that.

what's a pencil sharpener? just kidding. i would like to have one of those old crank style sharpeners.

I'm getting ready to start on my first layout & i need some help. i have a space of 5' 6" by 7' 4". i thought about doing a double level with two tracks on bottom & three on top & the center cut out in case i ever need to reach the back side. i would do this with no turnouts at all, just five ovals of track. i would be able to run five trains at once this way, but I'm not sure how it would look.

what would you guys recommend? does anyone know of any sites that have track plane on them i could look at? i want at least two or three train operation at once.

i could go about 3'-4' longer, but i would have to be able to break it in half & pull it apart so i can reach a window (in case it ever needs cleaned or some type of maintenance. how is that done, & be able to align the tracks back together?

are the typing eraser's still available?