I always check the movement of the feed dogs to see which way they are going by turning the wheel by hand. I think some of the White machines turn the other way too.
I would have prefered to get a Singer 9w instead of the WW - but I fell in love with this one - and I love the thread spool holder on the top. The Singer decals aren't as pretty, and I already had a nice WW wood attachment box to go with it.
I was surprised this one went as cheap as it did - but the seller went into length about how it was "broken" and "sold as not working" because of the electric motor. Someone had taken the motor apart and then gave up on it.