Schom;
For years I wanted no part of Proto & it’s Life-Like heritage.
I broke down & bought a couple & have never regretted it.
My PA can easily haul all 13 Walthers & Athearn passenger & commuter cars up & around the 3.5% grades I have & nothing seems to slow down my SD50.
Gordon
Well, I’m going to be the only Nay-sayer in the bunch, I’ve had nothing but problems with Proto 2K. I’ve had trouble with an F-unit both A and B had solder-bridges on the sockets. Blew a couple decoders before I figured it out. The A and B units engine speeds were so far off–one twice as fast as the other–that I couldn’t compensate with the decoders.
The S-1–DCC ready–had to have the motor isolated. About a week after the DCC was installed the light circuit on the decoder blew. Then later, the DCC chip blew. I’ve not had nearly problems with any other brand.
I like P2Ks very much.
Yes, some may have problems but are usually easy to repair. Cracked axles are easily replaced. Good idea to keep a small assortment handy.
I have 7 E-units. These heavy locomotives perform beautifully. Picking one up is like holding a miniature brick! Don’t let one drop on your foot.
A good friend of mine installed a Digitrax 163 decoder in one of them. Runs even better on DCC. I plan on installing DCC/Sound in all of them.
Since I’ll be needing a pair of E8’s in the future for my Frisco passenger line, I’ll extend this question a little. BLI also makes an E8. Any idea how the P2K compares to the BLI? From reading threads in the past, BLI seems to have a pretty sturdy reputation.
Jim
That would be a good trick since the Proto 2000 F units aren’t due on the market until June of 2007. [;)] I think you must mean the Proto 1000s in this case, or have I really missed something?
That sounds more like a DCC decoder problem not a unit problem. Now if this happened repeatedly, I would believe it. That is an interesting issue. I don’t have any S-1s in my fleet to compare to. In general, I never trust the built in DCC ready stuff anyway. I almost always strip out any from-the-factory circuit boards and replace it with a DCC decoder from the ground up.
For starters they have the identical Quantum sound unit. I’ve never put either into a pulling contest. They have always pulled whatever I’ve hooked to them, but since they are passenger locomotives that is only 6-14 cars. As I mentioned above I was disapointed that the Proto “B” unit was a dummy. Head to head I would have a hard time choosing, but I think if they were the exact same price I would probably go with the BLI. It was designed from the ground up with the sound in mind. On the Proto it was retrofitted into an older design.
I myself have five proto 2000 models 1) two gp38-2 2) 1 sd60 3) 1 sd60m in csx paint 4) last but least my switcher sw900/1200. I love everyone these proto engines.
I’ve got over 40 Proto 2000 locomotives and I’ve only ever had problems with two of them having cracked gears and that was after my now infamous torture test. They are very well detailed, run great and will pull a ton of cars.
Proto 2000 very good
I got one GP60 BNSF but still in box because very hard to get GP60 , SD50 ,SD60 too from New Zealand
I have had a few problems, seems the brass bearings can slip in the truck a little and derail city. I have yet to sit down and fix the problem but still pleased with them. Mine a War Bonnet E-6’s A’s and B’s and all powered. I have 4 of them I will add.
This is going to sound dum, but for my poor eye sight there is to much detail. I broke off 1/3 rd of the lift eyebolts before I knew they where there!
Pull like heck, on K-10’s track (that is when we found the bearing slipping problem) 1 E-6 pulled 45 cars at a mere 35% thottle with blocked MRC 9500’s at 45 sMPH. I know it would have hauled 60 but the rest of the club showed up and some one threw a switch and rammed my parked train. Engine took a 3 foot drop. But besides lossing a gap rail it still runs fine.
I all so have powered Erie Bulit PK-1’s A and B that run great as well. From what I have seen they have the same drive and motor and pull just as well. Just running the A Erie bulit PK-1 pulling 27 cars up a 2% grade and hardly slows going up the grade.
Here is one of my PK 2 E-'s.
I think you will like them.
Cuda Ken
I have an E6 A/B with sound and DCC. I consider it one of my favorites. I also have two more E8’s
that I have converted to DCC. These are also great locos. I have yet to have any problems(two years).
The GP7 that I have has NOT suffered the dreaded split gear problem and still runs as well as the day that I took it out of the box.
I got a Broadway Limited E8 last year and the P2K runs just as good and they all are strong pullers.
Good luck, Dave
I have about 12 Proto 2000’s… great engines with very few problems.
I own 42 Proto 2000 locomotives. The only problem has been the cracked gears on the GP7 and GP9 units. Walthers is sending me free replacements, so I’m very happy with my choice of power.
Don Z.