Life-Like N scale Berkshire 2-8-4 steam locomotive is a smooth performer

This great-looking N scale model of a Van Sweringen 2-8-4 Berkshire has been introduced by Life-Like. It’s a smooth-running medium-size locomotive, but it’s short on power as it pulls only about a dozen cars.

This model’s prototype is one of a group of similar Berkshire locomotives built for railroads controlled by the Van Sweringen brothers of Cleveland, Ohio. Their holdings included the Chesapeake & Ohio; Erie; New York, Chicago & St. Louis (Nickel Plate Road); and Wheeling & Lake Erie. These railroads formed the Advisory Mechanical Committee which designed this Berkshire and had 300 similar versions built by Alco and Lima.

This model closely matches the drawing of the Nickel Plate 2-8-4 locomotive in the Model Railroader Cyclopedia: Volume 1, Steam Loco-motives. The model’s driving wheelbase is right on thanks to slightly undersize drivers (66″ instead of 68″). This is a common solution to gain clearance for oversize model flanges. The lead and trailing trucks are properly spaced, but there’s a lot of daylight showing under the firebox.

The boiler is assembled from detailed plastic castings and more than 50 individual details including wire handrails and a brass bell.

Internally, the Berkshire follows the split-frame design of most N scale locomotives. The two halves of the chassis enclose a gearbox and can motor with a flywheel inside the boiler shell. The motor is geared to both rear driver sets, which drive the others through the side rods. There are no traction tires.

A directional headlight rides on a small printed-circuit (PC) board. There’s no provision for Digital Command Control (DCC), but the tender offers space to hide an N scale decoder. All electrical pickup is through the eight drivers and the six wheels of the rear tender truck.

The tender rides on rigid-frame six-wheel Buckeye trucks and features a well-detailed plastic body with excellent rivet detail. It includes a reversible backup light.

Accumate magnetic knuckle couplers are mounted at the proper height on the locomotive pilot and the rear of the tender.

Performance. Our sample Berkshire started moving smoothly at a scale 3.5 scale mph on only 2.6 volts. It reached a realistic 60 scale mph at 7 volts, but its top speed was over 100. The model’s drawbar pull was disappointing – equivalent to only 12 free-rolling cars on straight and level track.

So, when you assign this smooth runner to a train, make sure it’s a short manifest freight.

N scale 2-8-4 Berkshire

Price: $250

Manufacturer
Life-Like Products
1600 Union Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21211-19118
www.lifelikeproducts.com

Description
Plastic and metal ready-to-run medium-size steam locomotive

Road Names
Chesapeake & Ohio Nickel Plate Road, Pere Marquette, and painted but unlettered

Features
Accumate couplers mounted at the proper height
Blackened nickel-silver RP-25 wheelsets, in gauge
Directional constant headlights
Drawbar pull: .48 ounces
Eight-wheel drive
Electrical pickup with 14-wheels
Engine weight: 4 ounces
Five-pole, skew-wound, balanced can motor
Minimum radius: 9¾”
Metal handrails
More than 50 individually- applied railroad-specific details
Operates on code 55 track
White light-emitting diode headlights