I was looking into getting E8/E9 A/B units from proto, I was wodering if anyone has any experience with these specific trains and how impressed they were by them. also, is the B unit powered or dummy, I was looking at a BLI set but I’m not paying 400$ for a train that works and a dummy.
The sets were dummy B’s I believe. The A’s can outpull the real engines so powered B units aren’t really necessary. As I recall the A’s can pull about 22-25 cars.
TrainW orld has the Broadway EMD E8/9 A/B SET for $249.00.
The P2K set is a powered A and dummy B without decoder or sound.
BLIs are both powered and both have sound and decoders in them.
You get what you pay for.
are you sure both BLIs are powered? it says the B unit is not in walthers.
I have the Broadway Limited E-7 Illinois Central A-B set, and both are powered and both have QSI sound sytems and decoders in them.
P2K E-8 sets are a powered A and dummy B. I have an A-B-B-A Illinois Central set of these that I put SoundTraxx DSD 150 decoders into. The decoders are in the B units, with speakers in all four units.
According to the BLI web site, the SP and UP E7 A/B sets have 1 powered and 1 dummy. The other road names are listed as A/B Powered. The E6 sets are all over the place. A-A sets seem to have both powered, A-B sets have a dummy B, and A-B-B sets have powered A, powered B, and dummy B.
–Randy
IMHO, the P2K E’s have better detail and paint (BLI completely blew the RI paint scheme on the E7s). Plus, the new P2K Es have sound, too !!!
I have the P2K E6A (in RI, 'natch!), and it is a superb loco !!!
And the sound P2K E8s are on the way …
The e8/9 is very nic ein proto nice mars light in my santa fe one, and pulls nicley
I got three P2K E-8s from the earlier run off the bay, in C&O paint, and they all look great and run even better. (I am going to sell one because I only need two, and screwed up and got two with the same number) I have very few diesels, but I have been quite impressed with these units. They all pull extremely well also, and are very quiet. I’d certainly recommend them based on these.
I gave my son a pair of P2K Burlington E8As for our California Zephyr. They are excellent diesels and pull quite well. I very highly recommend them for both operation and detail.
A P2K E-8 A+B Illinois Central set was my first proto 2k engine I bought (1998), and after that I was hooked to Proto2K.
Nice detail, good runner (same for my two GP7) and as a surprise the obscillating lights. Compared to the Athearn engines around at the time, a really improwement.
sebastiano