Overheating Williams Steam

[SJC]

I've had a few Williams/WBB steamers over the years. My friend also has a few.

We've both had issues with nearly every steamer we've purchased (not all but a good chunk) overheating after very little operation. Sometimes the engine will slowly crawl to a stop. My friend has a B&O 2-8-4 with this problem. I also have a WBB J class with this problem. My J doesn't seem to have any performance problems (runs great really) but the motor gets SO hot you'll burn your hand if accidentally touching the flywheel sticking out of the cab. Plus, the shell gets blistering hot as well.

What is the issue and what is the fix? My dealer is friends with a former Williams repair tech from the Jerry Williams days. After several weeks with him, it is still overheating. Not sure what he did but it was binding and he fixed that issue. I've confirmed the engine is not binding nor any obvious issues. Anyone have a fix for the heat? New Motor?

[phillyreading]

From what I have read on this subject your circuit board is most likely the culprit. Replace the circuit board with a new one or use a bridge rectifier rated at; 50 volts, 6 amps and use this instead of the circuit board. Never put straight track power to a Williams with can motors, as the motors are DC and track voltage is AC, the circuit board has rectifiers in it to convert the AC to DC power.

The reason some circuit boards failed has to do with the design of the circuit board, something don't cool properly and causes a slight AC voltage leak to the motors. If this is not corrected you may burn up your motors.

Lee F.

[Srcjo]

I Have been having with a semi scale Hudson running hot and slowing down after several mins of running. i Had a used Reversing board handy,so i changed it out.
jury is still out if that's my problem. I will run it for a few day and double check. I will report my findings. I hate to throw parts at it. from what im reading is it could be the motor or the Board.

[phillyreading]

Some basics on Williams engines; one they use DC can motors, so AC getting to them will make them get hot quickly. The circuit boards transform AC into usable(or pulsating DC) DC by means of electronic parts, and if one of those parts fails and lets some AC pass through then the DC can motors will heat up.
There is more chance that a circuit board goes bad then the can motor.

Lee F.