Try this...
W <- lapply( sim , function(x) `@`( x , W)[[1]] )
V <- lapply( sim , function(x) `@`( x , V)[[1]] )
You'll get a list of the first W
of each of the 5 top-level lists and the first V
of each of the 5 top-level lists.
The @
operator is used to access named slots in an S4
type object.