1994 K-Line Alco Diesel Passenger Set

[OScaleRRGuy]

I just purchased this set new on eBay consisting of an O-27dual-motored A unit, dummy A & B units and 12(!) plastic O-27 passengers cars similar to those made by Lionel. Everything appears to be in pristine condition. Upon inspection, the engineering and construction of the powered A unit looks pretty weak. Each 4-wheel truck has all-wheel drive with 2 traction tires per truck. However, the 2 can motors used are very small and are mounted horizontally inside each truck.  Each of the motor shafts have a single brass gear on them. The rest of the gear trains appear to be made of Delrin or a similar plastic. Same with the interior truck frames and gear shafts. The weakest points seem to be the size of the motors and the plastic(!) shafts on which the plastic gears rotate. After searching reviews on the internet, I got comments ranging from that they are "absolute junk" to "although they are somewhat noisy, they are good for what they are", are reliable - for 15 years - and are good pullers - up to 15 cars. Has anyone out there had any experience with this design regarding pulling power, reliability and durability? I don't want to ruin the unit by over-heating and/or over-stressing it. Perhaps I would be better off using it in some light-duty application and purchasing something with more "oomph" (Williams?) to pull this set of cars. I would GREATLY appreciate any input from those with experience with this unit. If anybody at CTT has any input, please feel free to jump in as well. Thanks.

[Seayakbill]

I have a few K-Line alcos that I have been running for years. They are very dependable, only issue I have is slippage with a heavy consist.  Up to 15 traditional freight cars no problem what so ever. For the price of these guys I rate them as a winner.

[krapug1]

I have a number of these K-Line Alcos, and they are more than able to handle the Streamliner passenger cars, and other modern era rolling stock.

One key here is to keep the gears lubricated with SMALL amounts of grease, and if they sit on the shelf for any period, apply a bit more before running.

One important note here (as K-Line makes up more than 50% of my collection), the Streamliner passenger cars are far superior to the cars made by Lionel through the years (2400 series). The K-Line cars are longer, and far better detailed than any  of the 2400 cars no matter what era they are from.

Enjoy !

 

Ken