# I bought 4 more GP7s



## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

"Matched" pairs. 2 FEC and 2 NC Texas. 

All Proto 2000s

SMH. Don't have a place to run or even park all the locos I have.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Have you run them yet? It would be interesting to see if they suffer from the infamous Proto 2000 cracked gear issue....which can be easily fixed....


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Don't have them yet.

But, yes, I have several P2s that need to be looked at.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

If you need help in addressing the issue, let me know.......most of my locomotives are Proto 2000’s, and I have had to fix most of them....

Walthers part #920-584408


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## kilowatt62 (Aug 18, 2019)

"don't have a place to park them." 
I smell a new addition to the layout coming. A locomotive yard, turntable, roundhouse, etc. Yay!


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## J.Albert1949 (Feb 3, 2018)

The gear replacements are easy enough.
BUT... better to disassemble the trucks COMPLETELY and clean out the old "peanut butter" gunk lubricant that's dried up in them. They'll run much better afterwards.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Old_Hobo said:


> If you need help in addressing the issue, let me know.......most of my locomotives are Proto 2000’s, and I have had to fix most of them....
> 
> Walthers part #920-584408





J.Albert1949 said:


> The gear replacements are easy enough.
> BUT... better to disassemble the trucks COMPLETELY and clean out the old "peanut butter" gunk lubricant that's dried up in them. They'll run much better afterwards.


Thanks. 

I think I remember reading that those of later manufacture don't have the cracked gear problem. So I suppose the first order of business is to figure out which ones need new gears.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

kilowatt62 said:


> "don't have a place to park them."
> I smell a new addition to the layout coming. A locomotive yard, turntable, roundhouse, etc. Yay!


Already on the drawing board. 

But I hadn't considered a turntable/roundhouse. Hmm 









Second HO Layout


Got the PRR GP9s changed over to Southern, and different road numbers. Putting decals in those number boards... Gaahh!




www.modeltrainforum.com


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Stumpy said:


> Thanks.
> 
> I think I remember reading that those of later manufacture don't have the cracked gear problem. So I suppose the first order of business is to figure out which ones need new gears.


Generally, if they are in the blue box, they have gear issues....after Walthers bought Lifelike, they started boxing them in a grey/silver box, and those had good gears, if I’m not mistaken.....so, if you got them in their boxes, the task should be easier....

As far as I know, their EMD “SW” switchers and Alco “S” series switchers did not have the cracked gear problem....


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

All are blue box except the two NC Texas I just bought. So I have 7 to re-fit.

Found a pretty good video, but he keeps the wheelsets and just replaces the gears. I think I'll go with the Walthers part.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

The thing about replacing just the gear is that you have to pull a wheel off......always afraid that the wheel won’t go back on nice and tight, and will spin on the axle.....

I went with the Walthers part on all my fixes.....22 locos so far.....


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

Does that same axle work inside the Proto 1000 f3s? I have one that thumps all over my layout and don’t run it for that reason. If it’s the same axle for all of the Proto 2000 and Proto 1000 locos I have a donor loco I’ll cannibalize to make one good runner


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

The WalthersProto Replacement Geared Driver Assembly is a pair of wheelsets completely assembled and used as replacements on early PROTO 2000(R) Alco FA, EMD BL2, GP7, GP9, GP18, GP20, GP30, GP60 and *PROTO 1000*(TM) EMD *F3*, Alco RS2 and RSC2 diesels produced by Life-Like Trains before 2005.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

And if I can add, Proto 2000 and Proto 1000 pieces were the same electrically and mechanically, the only difference was the amount of detail on the locomotive and car shells....

So, yes, the wheels and gears are the same for both....


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

The NC Texas locos are the same road number... dammit.

Have decals, will travel.

All look to be in very good shape.


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

Thank you for the insight on that one. I’ve been wondering on if I was going to be able to replace them with the waltzers axles


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

Stumpy said:


> The NC Texas locos are the same road number... dammit.


That's because, to the best of my google abilities, it looks like there was only one NC Texas loco (#612) in that paint scheme on a _very_ short-lived short line.

Interesting that Life-Like/Proto even made it.



"North Central Texas RR"


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

I have have some work to do now.

The seven DZ126 decoders are for some non DCC-ready Bachmann FM H16-44 Trainmasters and a pair of Athearn F7As


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Stumpy said:


> "Matched" pairs. 2 FEC and 2 NC Texas.
> 
> All Proto 2000s
> 
> SMH. Don't have a place to run or even park all the locos I have.


I'm running out of room too. Two more new locomotives in the last 30 days with a possible third in another month. The five track yard is filling fast. I might have to use the engine house to park them.


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## gramfl65 (Jun 27, 2021)

Stumpy said:


> Already on the drawing board.
> 
> But I hadn't considered a turntable/roundhouse. Hmm
> 
> ...





Stumpy said:


> "Matched" pairs. 2 FEC and 2 NC Texas.
> 
> All Proto 2000s
> 
> SMH. Don't have a place to run or even park all the locos I have.


Hello! I just bought a used Proto 200 GP-7 and it doesn't run, im thinking its a DCC unit (has a circuit board on the top) but wondering how to convert it to DC which is what my rr runs on Thanks!
FrankG


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

I'll be working on a couple of mine this afternoon. I'll get some pics of the PCB with DCC decoder installed and with the DC "plug" installed.


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

It would probably be easier to install a new decoder than to make it dc specific if it has a decoder in it. The dcc locos are usually able to be run on dc or dcc. I know every decoder I’ve bought and installed is dc capable


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

I forgot that with the P2K GP7s the "plug" (in the red square) stays and the PCB under it gets replaced.

Factory DC.










The replacement PCB.










Done.


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## gramfl65 (Jun 27, 2021)

Stumpy said:


> I forgot that with the P2K GP7s the "plug" (in the red square) stays and the PCB under it gets replaced.
> 
> Factory DC.
> View attachment 561681
> ...


Thanks Stumpy. There was a another circuit board in the box that I switched out. It runs now, but I have to bring the throttle to "notch 6" before it moves. Thanks for the input. FrankG


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