I have a few questions for Berkshire owners and operators.
The K-line Berkshires have an unusual motor arrangement with a small motor placed forward in the boiler rather than aft in the fire box area. Lionel has used the old K-Line tooling for the Legacy Lima Berks. How are they as pullers?
I'm a bit late to this discussion but, I have one of those great looking K-Line B&A Berks, and it doesn't pull with a crap! I know I guy who purchased one when they came out, and immediately had it pulling VERY long trains on a "club layout". The motor quit in rather short order, so after contacting K-Line, he shipped it back for "warranty repair".
After he got the "repaired" model back, he went right back to pulling long trains again, and sure enough the replacement motor quit. To make a long sordid story short, after quite a number of trips back and fourth to K-Line, after the 4th or 5th trip, the K-Line service people put an additional new motor, packed separately in the box with the model and a note stating that if the motors fails AGAIN, "You fix it!", as K-Line would not longer be responsible.
I have NEVER had any pulling issues with ANY of my Sunset/3rd Rail, Lionel, MTH, nor Atlas steam & diesel models, and I tend to operating longer trains, even on our home layout. As great looking as the K-Line B&A Berk is, it is a VERY poor performer, with that small motor mounted up in the forward portion of the boiler instead of the widest portion, which is the firebox. On the other hand, my NYC 4-6-4T "commuter tank engine" by K-Line is an excellent performer.
