Williams Santa Fe 110 O Scale with train sounds

[jag8630]

I recently purchased a used Williams Santa Fe 110, and having a problem with starting in forward, it is very sporadic, any help would be appreciated.

[phillyreading]

I have about 12 Williams engines and two that have the Train Sounds.
Have you cleaned your track and wheel surfaces really good? That would be the first area to look at. Second could be a loose wire inside the engine that is causing a sperodic short or open effect. Usually the wire from the center roller pickup area has a problem with coming loose or breaking apart, so check it.
Also have you checked the grease in the motor and truck assembly? It could have dried out and is causing you problems. Cure for that is to remove all lubricant that you can and re-lube with fresh lubricant and re-assemble.
FYI, motors need to be removed by taking out phillips head screw at truck assembly on the underside. Tip to re-assemble motors; make sure the motor can turn freely by spinning the top of the little flywheel by hand and the wheels turn as well.

If you are having another type of problem, please describe it in detail.

Lee F.

[jag8630]

Lee, thank-you for the reply,  Yes I keep the track really clean and have also been cleaning the wheels better also, and did solder a loose wire on the pickup connection when I first got the Loco., but after reading your note, I rechecked the other pickup wires and found a broken wire which was not noticed because they had put a lot of liquid elect. tape on the connection, thank-you again.  That has solved my problem.  I have another question, it seems this Loco., must have had a Qsi, remote also because of the additional circuit board, I will try to send a photo for you to view if you are familiar with Qsi, controllers.   Joe G.

[phillyreading]

Joe G.
Are you referring to the QSI circuit board that has the station sounds and engine sounds in it?
The Williams that I am familiar with have the QSI Industries circuit board for sound effects only. When you start out a low voltage you should get the announcement, "Train leaving on track 10, all clear to leave." Or some announcement like that. Also should get diesel engine revving sounds, and horn if whistle or horn is pushed while running at a good rate of speed, if it is a diesel engine that the QSI circuit board is in. If you have a transformer with both bell & whistle features like an MTH Z-750 or Z-1000 you can get the bell to work, at low speeds the bell rings and if left on will go away until the lower speed is reached again and will come back with the bell ringing.
A steam engine will have the steam engine sounds and bell feature, I was told as I never had one, and steam whistle.
There is NO remote control feature for your Williams engine from the Crown Edition era unless somebody modified your engine from the Williams set-up.

I have never had a Williams engine go bad on me, just some minor work and it runs again. Like Joe a broken wire or something but that's it.

QSI was also used by MTH in their PS-1 sound systems. Another note; QSI has other electronic systems so anything is possible when you buy a used engine.

Lee F.

[phillyreading]

Williams was working on another sound system or something to put into some of their cabooses but it never happened, I think is was a Pennsylvania special. So if you see what looks like a quick connection socket but can not figure out what it was, it was dropped from ever being produced.

Lee F.

[jag8630]

Ok, I think that must be the sound board, not familiar with the Williams, and that they used the Qsi sound board, there is a quick connection on the diesel and must be what you spelled out. again thanks for solving my problem.   Joe. G   ps.  the Loco really works great now.

[phillyreading]

Joe G.

Glad you got things working correctly.
What type of quick connection are you referring to? Is it inside the engine shell or at the outside?

With some of the newer(around 2008) Williams engines, the diesels, they have an extra plug-in on the circuit board that the motors get wired to. Supposed to be for an extra set of motors, I am not 100% sure as I have not used that connection.

Lee F.