New Berkshire C/O

My NKP Berkshire only fan for a few inches, then would stop. Turned out one of the pickup wire connectors on the front tender truck was touching the side frame. A little bit of prying with a screwdriver moved it just enough to clear the side frame, and it then ran fine. Luckily, it was facing in the right direction so I could see a tiny spark, otherwise, I'd probably have gone nuts trying to figure out the problem!

If it happened to me, it might be your problem, too. I hope so, because it's an easy fix.

Bill in FtL

katy409 posted:

Can a P E tender be used on the new Berkshire eng to trouble shoot where a problem is located - tender or Loco? (Using P E remote) Mine runs for about 10" and then stops. Have to turn control back to Start line - then runs 10" backward. Nothing is binding that I can see. Anybody else have this problem?  Art

Art, the same thing happened to mine, and I ended up sending it back to the dealer for repair.  Since the locomotive will run without the tender, switching tenders won't help.

Geez Bill, maybe I should have looked more carefully at mine...

Good luck!

Hi Jerry,

I actually tried to run my Berk without it's tender and it wouldn't budge, although the headlight did come on. I didn't pursue it at the time, because I was at the LHS for "show & tell", and was somewhat embarrassed because I had just realized that I had stupidly left the tender out of the box when I had left home that morning (Doh!). I went back the next day with the complete loco, and the guys at the shop were favorably impressed.

Bill in FtL

My Erie Berk arrived DOA. There was no mechanical connection between the motor and drive wheels. I returned it to Charles Ro and they sent me a replacement. After a week of running, I'm happy to report no issues whatsoever! Let's hope it stays that way

I tried the loco without the tender.  It does work fine - smokes too. When I use the tender - problem occurs. If I push it on the track while loco is running no problems occur. Problem must be in the sound board or wires to that board?  IDK   Back to Lionel. Art