We’re both new locomotives in question brand new and if so did you properly break them in? DC or DCC? somethign may have to be adjusted with one or more of the CV’s etc.
i have a large fleet of GP 7’s and 9’s that i have been running for years. they are from atlas and p2k. the atlas engines run so good right out of the box, they make the p2k’s look bad even when they are broken in and tuned up. seems like about the time i get a p2k running halfway decent, the axle gears crack and even though that is an easy fix, it is frustrating
i will giive the life like sw’s credit for running smoothly at low speeds but compared to a kato nw-2, they won’t pull a sick stripper out of bed.
when we have the occasional operating session, all the guys who draw the drill job want to use an old atlas gp-7 with the kato drive for yard switching.
Yes, I have replaced a few gears that LifeLike and/or Walthers provided for free.
And, yes I’ve tuned up some electrical pickup issues on two or three. But they all run smooth, have good slow speed, pull well and have great detail.
All have their original motors even my brown box FA2’s.
Atlas makes great locos, but their pricing, selection and availablity does not fit my needs and I would rather stay largely with one brand since I run DC. Atlas could only provide the GP7’s on the above list, and these are the locos that fit my era. Additionally, I refuse to “preorder” and wait for models, so Atlas availablity can be hit and miss for my desired undecorated units.
My other diesels are mostly Athearn Genesis F units and Intermountain F & FP units. They too are all excelent products.
I’ve never had a poor performing Proto 2000 loco and I own somewhere around 80ish. The only problems I’ve ever had was the normal cracked gear issue that literally takes less then a minute to fix and one SD45 that had a misformed gear that was also replaced free of charge. All my Proto loco’s run just as well as any of my Kato or Atlas loco’s.
Changing CV’s can help a lot, but you cannot change them with the E-Z. Little off the subject, but I would look a a Digitrax PR 13 and Decoder Pro soft ware so you can read and write new CV’s. You will be happier with the limitations of the E-Z. (I ran my E-Z for 3 years)
Sometimes, engines gearing are geared low, for more pulling power but slower top end. Case in point is my Proto 2000 E-7 with QSI sound. No matter what I do with the CV’s, it is a slower engine. My Proto 2000 E-6’s and Erie Built are a good 40 sMPH faster. There has been many post about the PK E-7 being slow,just the way they where made.
I have never had a Atlas or Kato, but I am very happy with my Protos.
well,hope Im not the only one interested in this rewire procedure ,I have a lot of older p2k and need all the tips I can get. so what exactly is the pick-up issue ? and what is the fix? thanks so much in advance …Jerry
I have many P2K locomotive and have never had any problems with them except the BL2 cracked gear problem when they were still owned by LifeLike.
I own only one P1K engine, a DL-109. It had those chintzy plastic clips holding the pickup wires to the trucks and circuit board. When I installed a sound decoder into it, I soldered all of the connections.
I don’t know if P2K is using those cheap clips now, but Athearn RTR products do, and most of them are loose from all of the rough handing before they reach a hobby shop shelf.
It seems that whatever brand you purchase today, they are using the plastic clips for wiring instead of solder because it saves time at the factory in China.
I don’t know about the GP, but the FA uses a drive that’s an exact copy of Athearn’s diesel drives. It has 12:1 gearing, which means it should run a little faster than your Atlas RS-3. Have you checked to see if the worm shafts in the trucks will turn freely? How does the motor run if disconnected from the mechanism? All of these things should be very easy to check.
I’ve got quite a few of P2K locos and they are pretty nice runners.
Assuming your track and electrical connections are fine, check the loco wheels for grime. Then, you may need to lube them, particularly the motor shaft bearings. I just went through this with two P2K PA units and had a hard time - because I missed two of the bearing points. So follow the shafts carefully from the motor to the end of the shaft. Oil with the probler lubricant, and DON’T overdo it.
One other point… the P2K and a lot of other mid to higher priced locos are geared to run more at speeds close to the prototype. Sometimes that seems “too slow”, but it is very representative of the real world.
It seems like with the pre-Walthers era Proto stuff (i.e. when it was Life-Like) it was a little hit-and-miss as far as quality. I’ve heard people say the issue was that different Proto models were made by different companies in China or wherever, so that some were very good and some weren’t, but I don’t know if that’s true.
It seems like for example the E-units I have from LL are very good runners, as are my SD-7/9s. However their GP-9s didn’t seem nearly as good, and I’ve had problems with my 0-8-0 and 2-8-8-2 (the switcher never ran great, the mallet did for a year or so then stopped.)
In any case, I find Atlas to be pretty much no.1 as far as consistently smooth running diesels across the board. Stewart and Kato are both very good also.