I have a question on my Proto 2000 diesels. I bought an Alco PA 1 , A and B units and liked the way they operate, then I bought the EMD F7 A and B units and found the F7s respond slower and run at a much slower speed. Is this proto typical? They are all powered units with sound. [%-)]
Thanks and happy railroading.
Lee
The Proto series have a nasty habit of having different gear ratios. My E6’s and E7’s are pretty close but my PA-1 makes them look like they’re going backwards!
Not sure if it was planned that way, but…maybe freight vs. passenger gearing? 
Rotor
Ye Jeff
I agree . The Alcos will realy haul a— well you know what i mean.
[swg]
Lee
Rotor
That was my first thought, freight versas passenger, but I was not expecting it when I bought them.
Lee
Naaaahh. Both Alco PAs and EMD E’s were designed for passenger service (steam heaters, higher gearing, and only four out of six axles powered).
Mark
Perhaps need some decoder tweaking? But I’ll bet the F7’s are running at much closer to a “proper” speed. Why not measure it and find out?
That’s cool Mark… but Yankee Flyer asked about PA’s vs F7’s. 
Still…it’s just a guess. Without looking at the parts listing for the locos, I wouldn’t know if they had different gear sets or not.
Rotor
I would be willing to wager all of the money I’m paid to post here that the manufacturer of these locos was not gearing differently for passenger and freight on purpose!
I tend to agree with you, but since Jeffrey mentioned a gearing difference, (which I was not aware of) I thought it might be a possibility.
I have P2K PA1’s, but no P2K F7’s, so I can’t speak from personal experience.
They PAY you to post here? 
Rotor
I’d figure if they are geard differently it would be because people have been complaining for centuries about locos being too fast, the newer ones might be geared slower, but not because they are freight.
Guys
I checked my train box’s and Walthers, and found the F7s have gear ration of 14:1 but nothing on the PA 1s except that they capiable of over 100 MPH in proto type. Any comments?
Lee
How fast do they run?
JEFF IS RIGHT.
Life like’s mfgr’s like to do their Proto 2000 engines at (they think) “realistic” speeds. However sound modules may change that. since they use some of the voltage going to the motor.
For what it’s worth, Proto 1000 (and early P2K 8 wheelers) all used the same chassis
Mine can go so fast it’ll tip over on the curves. That’s WAY more than 100 smph!
I’m leaning to the freight and passenger loco, being geared different, I was hoping that someone would know for sure if that was true. It might guide my future purchases. [#dots]
Jeff
Haven’t checked actual speed F 7s are quite a bit slower than PA 1s.
Happy railroading.
Lee
AFAIK no manufacturer attempts to make passenger engines run faster or slower than freight engines. Even if they did, it’s unlikely two PA’s or two F’s are going to run at exactly the same speed out of the box, let alone trying to run one of each together. But, that’s the beauty of DCC, it’s easy (though it can be a little time consuming) to “speed-match” two engines so they run together perfectly if you wish.
BTW it’s usually (I find anyway) easier to slow the fast ones down a little to match the slower engine. If you use the F’s as your “golden engine” and match all your engines to them, than you can m.u. any two or more engines together with no troubles.