I am not impressed with the quality of the Proto 2K Berkshire at all. Was trying to run it at the local club and the main rod was catching on the side rod bolts as they revolved around on the 2nd driving axle, before I could stop, it sheered off the bolt that keeps the eccentric crank and main rod on the drive wheel!! I looked at the other side and there appears to be lots of space between the side rods and the main rod, like a spacer is missing. Since I dont have another similar model of this brand to compare to I am at a loss and am not a happy camper. So I guess its back to Walthers tomorrow for this one. Wonder if I will get the same model back?? IE are they as bad as Bachmann for sending you a totaly different model or different version. Mine is a late run NKP with Mars light and no sound. This will be the last Proto steamer I purchase. My BLI engines I have run like a fine watch, well the Proto did till the side rod caught and broke the main drive rod bolt. Anybody dealt with Walthers on warrenty issues and can give some feed back, good or bad?
I think you will find Walther’s customer service to be top notch. They understand the value of satisfied customers, and I think you will be happy with their resolution.
I’m not sure I would swear off Proto 2K on the basis of one purchase. I have 2 of them (no steamies) and couldn’t be happier with them. I think yours either got damaged in shipment (or by fingers – I’ve seen tie rods on steamies bent by errant fingers before) or you got the 1 in 1000 that slips by quality control.
See, right there’s your problem. You got shipped a BerkSHEER by accident!
[(-D]
Teee-Dum-Dum (Clash!)
[:o)]
I would show you a berkSHEER but I couldn’t post it…
I bought a bachmann 2-10-2 thru an ebay seller and it had trouble right out of the box, the seller replaced it, the replacement is perfect. mass production problems happen and there are rejects along the way, get yours returned. Mine is AOK. Both of them.
I just hope they fix it and not ship me something else, they have been out of production for some time now. Now I like that Berksheeeer! lmao
I would not be surprised if the recent Bachmann Berkshire is from the same tooling as the P2K model; a few months back Kader (Bachmann’s parent) bought out the company making the P2K models.
I have one of the bachmans as well, the detail is on two different levels so its hard to say, the headlights are definatly different molds, mars lights are different. The Proto will probably be up for sale once I get it fixed. I am going over to a few more PRR models with sound. Shame more are not diecast, i still refuse to by from the brand that needs much higher power to run. My BLI’s run just fine on my DC power supply with a box to control the sounds.
The Proto Heritage and the Bachmann Berkshires use completely different tooling- I’ve examined them closely and written up a piece for my RR historical society on the differences.
I’ve had the same issue the original poster described with the Proto Berkshire’s main rod hitting the side rod bolts on one of mine from the first run. Unfortunately, one of the other members of my club was running it at the time, and his solution to it stopping HARD was to turn up the power all the way to try to get it to overcome whatever was holding it back, until it melted most of the wire between the tender and the motor. When he smelled the melting insulation, he finally stopped.
It was a tedious and unpleasant rewiring job.
It seems the P2K Berkshire is the bad apple in that basket. First run had strange colored drivers, a number of people have complained about side rod problems, pulling power seems poor by most accounts, and I understand they are very dificuilt to disassemble/reassemble.
Anyone who judges the other P2K locos based on ths loco is foolish. I have a large fleet of P2K diesels as well as 2 2-8-8-2’s and 2 0-8-0’s. All are great products.
In my 40 years in this hobby I have seen lots of manufacturers who make great products overall, occasionally make one that just isn’t quite up to their usual quality - it happens. Again, judging a whole brand on one product is likely not in your best interest.
As for the Bachmann 2-8-4, I just recently purchased one for a kit bashing project. Having examined it and the P2K model, I can’t see where they share any common tooling. While it has a few minor short commings, it is a very nice model for the price (which is much lower than the P2K). Based on reports from others as well, it compairs failrly well in the detail department and runs well. It pulled 20 5oz cars on level track out of the box. I am in the process of adding about 5 oz to it which should improve pulling power significantly. There is plenty of room to add the weight.
Climaxpwr - glad all your BLI locos run so great, I know many people who have not had that same good experiance, myself included.
As for Bachmann’s service policies, they can’t send you something they don’t have, but in my experiance they always ask you what you would like if they can’t provide what you had. In one case they sent me a whole new loco in a different road, AND returned my orginal boiler and tender shells. As for the quality issue - so many people knock Bachmann, but I have about 30 Bachmann Spectrum steamers now, several had to go back but the replacements where fine. All have been great locos.
After cooling down, I took another look at it, all I need is a new eccentric crank/crank pin boss and the rivit for the eccentric rod to crank connection from walthers and I can fix it in 5 min. I carefully added a bit of a bow to the main rods to clear the rod bolts. Whats really needed is a spacer between the main rods and the side rods, unless some Berkshires have this and some dont. I dont see this part on my parts break down so I am guessing none of them have a spacer. I am going thru my parts containers to see if I have anything that would work. I am going to call Walthers in a little while and see if I can get the needed parts. Either a complete set of valve gear for that side or just the crank/pin boss and rivit. I have built enough Bowser kits to know how to rivit valve motion. I stumbled on the old post lamenting the loss of the Bowser line of kits, that was an intersting read. I miss them as well, good engines if you have to constantly handle them. Pick up my BLI K4, all diecast and substantial feeling, pick up the Proto 2k Berkshire and it feels fragile, which it is. But I also suspect the plastic BLI engines are the same way. Hopefully Walthers has the parts I need and I can get the Berk going again. Rather not deal with sending it back and waiting several weeks for a repair I can do in less than 5 min with the proper parts. P.S. I think most any company sourcing things from China are bound to get a dud once and awhile! Cheers Mike