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 [swg]
Acela
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.
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.
I have a few P1K & P2K locomotives. Haven’t had a problem yet with them.
You could also look at Athearn as well.
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.
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.
Some of the Proto GP38-2’s have a issue with the number board lights if you want to convert them to DCC. You need to relocate the wires or just plain remove them if your not into the light thing. As for broken gears the GP60’s and GP38’s never had the problem. It was only early edition GP7’s, 9’s, 30’s, FA’s and a couple more I can’t remember off the top of my head. I’ve got a couple GP60’s and around a dozen GP38’s. Trust me, your going to love them. They are great pullers, very well detailed and very simple to convert to DCC.
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 [:)]
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
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.
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.
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.
How would you rate their slow-speed running and startup speed?
On the ones I have, very good. I have 1 GP38-2, 4 E6’s 2 E7’s, 1 PA1, 1 SW1200.
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
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.