I am thinking about purchasing a pair of Proto 2000 GP30s to use for a fictitious home railroad. I have other Proto 2000s (SD60s and SD60Ms.) I am wondering how the GP30s compare to the SD60 series engines. Why GP30s? Because they are cheap and brand new that is the only reason. I do like Atlas locomotives for switching, but they are usually more than what I can purchase these two for. Besides I already picked up an Atlas MP15 for switching. I want these two for road engines and wonder what others think of them as a road engine.
My experience with the P2K GP30’s (the blue box versions) is less than satisfactory. The drive train (other than the motor) is the main issue. The issues that I have had with various 4 axle P2K blue box locos has soured me on the entire Proto line of locomotive models. Stick with the Atlas.
I have two of the P2K GP-30’s. Both run great. I have never had an issue with them.
I got one several years ago and have had no problems with it, in fact, it had some road specific details that I’ve yet to find on some more expensive locos from other makers. A friend of mine has one that he picked up very cheap from Train World and he runs it exclusively at all out Free-Mo setups and its been going strong for about 3 years now.
Ricky
a lot of guys on this forum like the p2k geeps just fine. i’m glad they are satisfied. i will not argue with them nor with their ability to judge performance.
now for my own experiences. i run a lot of atlas, kato, and p2k four axle power and after massaging the drive trains and hours of break in running i find that a p2k on a good day still does not come close to the others for smooth performance. lifelike makes some nice looking engines but that does not make up for their shortcomings in the operating department.
they are prone to jack rabbit starts, surging, and not playing well together even when mu’d with their own kind. i have given up on at least 6 of them and gutted them for dummies.
i have replaced so many axle gears that i now have enough wheels for a gondola load of scrap. if that was the only issue i could live with it.
maybe lifelike only made a couple dozen clunkers out of thousands of engines but if that is the case, then i got all of them.
grizlump
I have purchased several of the GP30’s and all had cracked gears in them. I returned them to Lifelike, now Walthers and they repaired the engines. They still do not run as good as Atlas.
Don
I use DCC so maybe that makes a bit of difference, but all my P2K locos will creep tie to tie. None imitate a jackrabbit when starting. I have had the cracked gear problem, but it’s an easy fix. Plus I never paid anything near MSRO for a single one.
I’ll put my P2K S1 switcher up against anything but my Stewart Baldwin switchers - those are made by Ajin and have a Cannon can motor which blows the pants off even an Atlas.
–Randy
My P2K GP 30, dcc/sound… will creep so slow a snail has absolutely no trouble in a foot race with it, just smooth as a baby’s behind. I’ve had it about 2 years, I guess and haven’t had any problems with it… knock on wood.
Jarrell
Randy,
You have stated exactly the same experience I have had. Except for cracked gears I am extremely pleased with the P2K Geeps. Chris
I own 6 of them and they all run perfect, just as good as any Atlas or Kato that I own. I run DCC as well and all of mine were simple to convert and they move VERY VERY slowly, No jack rabbit starts for me. I highly recommend them. Mine did have the famous cracked gear issue but like I’ve said 100’s of times its a simple fix that takes less then a minute, the price of them reflects this. I’ve repaired a few for people as well that were running poorly and the common reason for their poor performance was way to much grease in the truck or very dirty pickups. With a little preventative maintanance they should last forever.
Well it seems to be a split decision (no pun intended re the cracked gear issue that we’ve all experienced). IMHO P2K look better than they perform. I have a half dozen of them, and they’re all “OK” but not great. Generally about the same as current Athearn, but Atlas / Kato / Stewart are my preference…they outnumber my P2K 3:1 Cheers.
how do you fix the cracked gears on the protos.I am having this problem not with the gp30s though.rambo1…
Thanks for all of your responses. I ended up purchasing GP7s instead, got an even better deal on them. I am going to assume that the GP7s run the same as the GP30s, is this a correct assumption?