Right now I am looking at getting a Proto 2000 GP38 or GP60 to do some local work and switching. (To be honest, an Amtrak F40PH isn't exactly the most realistic way to get the job done)
All who object, say nay
Acela
The timbers beneath the rails are not the only ties that bind on the railroad. --Robert S. McGonigal
My P2K passenger engines (2 E-8 and a PA) have been excellent, but every one of the freighters has suffered from cracked gears. That would include both halves of an FA/B combo and 3 GP-7s. Last month I bought a P1K RS-2 and it arrived with 2 cracked gears. After replacing the offending wheelsets I found the RS-2 to be a pitifully weak puller, able to haul only 9 cars up my 1.8% test grade. The GP-7s can pull 12, 13 and 16 cars, respectively. My Atlas RS-1s can handle 13 cars in comparison.
So my advice is to look for something from Atlas rather than P2K for a better quality drive train, reliable pulling power and nearly equal detail.
tpatrick My P2K passenger engines (2 E-8 and a PA) have been excellent My E7 runs pretty good as well. Last month I bought a P1K RS-2 and it arrived with 2 cracked gears. After replacing the offending wheelsets I found the RS-2 to be a pitifully weak puller, able to haul only 9 cars up my 1.8% test grade. What are you hauling??? Mine can handle that many up a 3-4% grade!!! So my advice is to look for something from Atlas rather than P2K for a better quality drive train, reliable pulling power and nearly equal detail. I am very happy with my protos. Your experience may vary. SFB
My P2K passenger engines (2 E-8 and a PA) have been excellent
My E7 runs pretty good as well.
Last month I bought a P1K RS-2 and it arrived with 2 cracked gears. After replacing the offending wheelsets I found the RS-2 to be a pitifully weak puller, able to haul only 9 cars up my 1.8% test grade.
What are you hauling??? Mine can handle that many up a 3-4% grade!!!
I am very happy with my protos. Your experience may vary.
SFB
I've got about 50 various ones, mostly older production - no DCC - no sound.
Yes a few had the cracked gears, but all were replaced with Proto parts and have never been a problem since.
All are great runners and strong pullers.
Sheldon
Hi,
I've got a lot of P2Ks, and they are fine. Also suggest you look at Stewart / Bowser too.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
I have a few P1K & P2K locomotives. Haven't had a problem yet with them.
You could also look at Athearn as well.
Brought to you by the letters C.P.R. as well as D&H!
K1a - all the way
I have a P2K GP38-2 that is one of my best running locos. It glides along and will out pull my Atlas GP 40-2s.
Joe
I've had a handful of P2K locos and honestly really liked them. I do not think you'd go wrong with one, or several.
Alvie
I have an SD60, an SD60M, two P2K GP38-2's and two GP60's. They are all well-detailed and nice runners. The broken gear problem was an issue with much earlier production runs. I would not let that keep me from buying one or two and trying them out. On the off-chance that there is a problem, the fix is easy. Replacement gears are available from Walthers and you can substitute Athearn gears as well.
John Timm
I have nine Proto 2000 locos and I'm happy with all of them.
Acela026Right now I am looking at getting a Proto 2000 GP38 or GP60 to do some local work and switching. (To be honest, an Amtrak F40PH isn't exactly the most realistic way to get the job done)
I have seen that actually done. Not too long ago there was an Amtrak F40PH being used to move freight cars around in a yard (which will remain unnamed) in Louisiana.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
I only have one P2k, one of their Heritage Steamers--the Rio Grande USRA-clone 2-8-8-2. Very quiet, very smooth, beautifully detailed and just a tad 'light' on her feet for her size. But since I use her mainly as a 'helper', I'm quite satisfied with the lady.
She's a lovely looking Beastie!
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
I have 8 Proto 2000 locos, they all run like tops. 4 of them are older ones prone to have the cracked gear problem, I just repalced them with AThearn gears and a pair of them just survived 5 days of multi hour per day runs on the club display layout. I got all mine on eBay and didn't pay more than $40 for any of them.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
My late-batch P2K GP7/9 (or is that GP9/7?) is a dream. Admittedly, I don't put a ton of strain on any of my engines.
Sean
HO Scale CSX Modeler
I've got now two SD7s the newest one I still need to toss a decoder into. Before doing that on the first engine, it shorted on DCC, but with the new board its jsut fine. I need a baffle for the speaker though.
There's alkso a DC SD60 on my roster thatll darned near pull the walls down, and it mus nicely with a DC SD7o from Genesis. MY three BL2s are marvelous locos as well. The PA-1 is acting up on me, but again, toss in a new decoder, and it might be just fine. Decoderizing isnm't hard on these things there's quickplugs, and if you want to replace the entire board, all you need to do undo the black thingies and resolder wires to identical posts on the new decoder board. Takes longer to warm up the soldering iron than to actually do it. Oh, and an SW8 by them, THAT one's gonna be shop queen, I don't know what's up with it, but it's an older body withou the DCC board in it.
-Morgan
I'm very happy with all my Proto engines. I did have 2 from the batch that suffered from cracked gears, but Walthers sent me new axles free of charge, even though I bought the engines from M.B. Klein.
I've added decoders to some, and added sound to some. I've bought them with sound, too. I have no problems with running any of them.
But, do yourself a favor. Replace the couplers before you even put them in service. If you want your couplers to be the same quality as your engines, you've got to upgrade to Kadees.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
How would you rate their slow-speed running and startup speed?
I have several P2K diesels, some with DCC and some waiting for DCC, 7 in all. I love the detail level on these locos, about as good as you can get for a decent priced product. All of mine have had the gears replaced with Athearn gears and they all run smoothly and are great at slow speed. I must add that none of mine came DCC from the factory so they are either Digitrax or NCE decoder equipped. I would highly recommend Proto 2000 diesels. I don't have any steamers from P2K. If you see one you like, try it, you won't be disappointed.
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
All of my Proto 2000 locos are the Life-Like versions. The GP7s and GP9s run about as good as Athearn RTR and blue box locos, and the FA-1s run slightly better. My best running locos are Life-Like GM switchers. The Life-Like GM switchers have a drive similar to Atlas and Kato locos and they are geared for slower speeds.
The only Walthers Proto locos I have are a pair of Proto 1000 RS-2s. The Walthers RS-2 has a flat can type motor and runs as good as an Atlas RS-3.
With Proto 2000, there is a lot of variability. You really can't make a general statement and cover them all accurately. As a rule, they are pretty good, and as you go from older to newer/more recent, they get better and better as a rule.
The cracked gears are yes, a problem on the older late 90's models, but easily corrected by getting replacements which are often replaced by the maker (Life Like, and now Walthers) or cheap if you have to buy them. You just remove the gear box cover and replace.
The oldest Proto 2000 had good looking shells on essentially cloned Athearn blue box chassis, which were more reliable and better QAQC than Athearns own chassis. The down side is they stll had the crappy coupler mounts, but the up side is they generally ran smoother and quieter than the stock Athearn drives.
As you moved into the latter 1990's, Proto improved the chassis and the shells got more detail. I have 11 of the GP30's and they were nicely done. I bought an E8 and the printing was smeared on the nose and the nose/windshields were not very well proportioned or executed. They were worse than the 1980's tooling on Stewarts, a good deal worse. I returned my E8 and never bought anymore. The SD60 wide cabs weren't done very well, had a wide gap in the cab vs body. The GP60's were nicely done, got one of those. The newer Proto 2000 diesels are either newly tooled and better, or upgraded older Life Like models and pretty nice, but the price is not so nice! The recent P2K seems to be on par with the newer Genesis and Atlas models, give or take.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983