It's fun reading this thread, can't wait to see the final solution on the Hogwarts Loco. I have a P.E. set from 2007 and the Berkshire (upgraded ERR TMCC) was fine with the set of passenger cars that it came with it, but I added a few more coaches, and now I have 8 coaches plus a Candy Cane flat car. The original Berkshire that came with the set was struggling pulling the whole consist of 9 rail cars. Then I upgraded all the P.E. passenger cars to LED anti flicker lights and added 2 ounces of weight to each coach so they would ride more realistically. Well that did it, the original P.E. Berkshire would come to a crawl with any size grade, and it would slow down significantly in the turns. I was considering a motor upgrade, but the poor old Berkshire was showing it's age so I cheated. In 2019 the LionChief Plus 2.0 P.E. Berkshire was introduced, so I bought one. The LionChief Plus 2.0 pulls my full P.E. consist and everything else I put behind it and maintains speed even up hill, so far! I haven't lifted the body off of the LionChief Berkshire, haven't had the need, but if anybody wants to know what motor it has in it let me know and I'll pop the top off. I tried to look it up in the Lionel support page and they only list one part, and it's not the motor.
Scott
