One of my aunts had one of those and I used it at times. It did have problems with doing heavy weight fabrics especially where more than one layer met. I can't remember who it was that reported that their Featherweight did not have that problem. So it may vary from machine to machine.
There was a time when I switched machines and she wanted the one I was upgrading from (also a '50s Singer but heavier duty) and loaned the Featherweight to the sewing group at church. Then later, after that aunt's death, my mother discovered that another of their sisters did not have anything and arranged to have it sent to her. I do not know if her daughter, my cousin, still has it or not. This is only one of the times we switched different machines within a group of family and friends. At one time I bought a machine from a friend and some years later sold it to another friend that had a cabinet machine and wanted a portable to take to a sewing group.
I am currently involved with a group from several towns that evolved from a Linus group. We needed to change leaders a few years ago and were also getting requests from agencies for sizes other than what Linus does. We are now called Blankets of Love and do whatever size is requested. MOST are done the same way Linus does theirs but the sizes vary.
We meet at my church with me being in charge of unlocking and locking up afterwards and another gal in charge of what we make, with what, for whom. The church has allowed us to use quite a bit of storage off of the Fellowship Hall where we work. We have been given a number of portable machines (no Featherweights though) and may have as many as a half a dozen of different brands and models. Then there are those like myself that take our own over. I currently have Singer's model 6234. What I really like about it is the way you wind a bobbin without taking it out of the machine.