Inquiry on P2K 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 locomotives

[tstage]

Hi Everyone!

I was at an NMRA trainshow this past weekend, here in Cleveland. It was my first time at this particular one and I thought it was fairly good one.

The show was located at one of the local community colleges here in town. They had 4 separate rooms (1 very large; the other 3, medium to small) and plenty of variety for everyone's tastes and layouts. It opened at 10 AM on Saturday. And, by 10:30 AM, it was already one happenin' place.

There were modular layouts for N, HO, and S-scales and the Lake County Live Steamers were there with a few of their locomotives and videos. (I might have to check that out when the weather gets warmer.) Needless to say, I enjoyed myself immensely for about 3+ hours and - believe it or not - managed to walk out WITHOUT buying a thing! [:0]

Anyhow, my question is for you Proto 2000 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 owners out there. I saw a few these at the various tables. Beautiful looking locomotives, I might add! I gave them the once over a few times but...just couldn't rationalize the $175 they wanted for them.

I have a Proto 2000 S1 switcher that I am VERY pleased with. I wanted to know how do the 0-6-0 and 0-8-0 steamers run? Are they DCC-ready or do you have to isolate the frame from the motor, like you do with the S1? These were both yard switchers, yes?

I would love to hear from any of you who have purchased these to get your feedback - good or bad? Thanks!

Tom

[twhite]

Tom--I have the P2K 0-8-0, bought it when it first came out. It's a smooth runner, not bad hauler, but I was surprised to see that the pickup is from the loco only--tender's just along for the ride, which means I'm cleaning the wheels more frequently than I would if it had all-wheel pickup. For what I paid, I had hoped for at least tender pickup, but it's not a bad little loco, all in all. My main grouse with the P2K's (my other one is a USRA 2-8-8-2) is that they're not really great haulers.
Tom

[mikebonellisr]

I have both of them,great looking and very good slow speed operation.Both have soundtraxx installed(I had it done by Tony's Train Xchange)So I don't know how difficult it is to put in a decoder.

[Virginian]

I love the 0-8-0's. Mine pull, or push well I think - 12 cars on 2%. They have a DCC socket with a plug in the tender; ready to go if you are into DCC. As you noted, they are lovely little engines, and mine run like a Swiss watch. That $170 is too high. If you shop around and aren't too picky about roadname, and have a bit of patience (unlike me), you ought to able to find one for close to $100. I got lucky and found undec, which is what I wanted, but I was prepared to repaint. I planned to add tender pick-up, but so far I haven't needed it and haven't gotten around to it. Same with the Athearn Genesis'. I was going to double up the air pumps and change the running boards, a la the prototypes on the N&W and VGN, but so far I am in the "good enough" stage on those.

[DigitalGriffin]

The 0-8-0 is a nice little engine. But I'm still new in this hobby so take my word with a grain of salt.

I fitted it with a SoundTraxx PNP DCC board and it works like a charm. The only problem I have is it stalls in the #6 Insul-frog turnouts at low speeds (like 5 / 128). I'm going to take her apart, clean her, and add extra contacts this week.

I'm going to include a post on adding pickups to the tender.

I'll also post a mpg movie of her if you want.

[tstage]

Don,

Yeah, that would be great! By the way, how's that layout of yours coming? Did you figure out a fix for your yard?

Tom

[Anonymous]

My P2K 0-6-0 runs very smoothly but is definitely lacking adequate pulling power. It can barely manage 10 cars on level track. I've always wanted to open it up to see if I could add any additional weight but I've never been able to successfully pry the cab off to remove the boiler. It really needs a traction tire or a lot more weight.
Charles

[Anonymous]

I've always admired those little P2K 0-6-0s (closest thing to the UP prototype), but $175-$250 is just to expensive for a little loco like that.

[selector]

I can vouch for all of the above WRT the 0-6-0. Wonderful little loco, and, regrettably, pulls like one. $175US is high. Look around.

[Virginian]

News flash. One of my P2K 0-8-0's HAS tender pick-ups. Now that's a good running loco. I never even checked, just read where some said it didn't and left it at that. But it definitely does, all eight wheels. Now, the other one does not. But, it seems to run just as well. I'll add pickups sometime. I think it's about number 137 on the list. Live and learn.

[trolleyboy]

Hi some of the later runs came out with the tender pick-up.If you contact LL i'm sure that they would sell you or send you the parts.$175-250 US is way to high a price. I've seen alot of new run ones at LHS's in Canada for $139-150 so definatly shop around.As for their hauling abilities we are talking about a yard engine, they aren't supposed to be able to handle 20 car trains on grades. The real ones certainly couldn't. Just a thought. Rob

[selector]

Yes, it is a yard engine, but mine struggles to pu***wo (2) ore cars up my 3.5% grade. I've tried to pull five regular cars, weighted, along my main, and it has little apparent difficulty until it comes to a 2.1% grade. At that point, it gets about three cars up the grade and then commences to spin. Lots of power, but no grip.

This little fella is a candidate for die cast metal through and through to get another 50-80 grams to the wheels in my opinion. Of course, it would add another $50 to the price.

[DigitalGriffin]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Virginian

News flash. One of my P2K 0-8-0's HAS tender pick-ups. Now that's a good running loco. I never even checked, just read where some said it didn't and left it at that. But it definitely does, all eight wheels. Now, the other one does not. But, it seems to run just as well. I'll add pickups sometime. I think it's about number 137 on the list. Live and learn.

I already contacted likelike about getting those additional pickups for the tender. It seems they were left overs from the 0-6-0's and they are out of them and they have no parts they could give me.

tstage,

I have that video. It was 46 Megs, dark and extremely grainy. I'll see if I can clean it up, recompress it and get it posted this weekend. The video is in bad shape, so I may end up reshooting.

BTW: I finally figured out that yard layout problem after 6 track relays. And it's a doozy.

[tstage]

Don,

I'd enjoy seeing what you came up with on your yard revision.

Tom