My understanding is Life Like was a part of Hobby Craft of Canada before purchase by Walthers. And that as time progressed, Walthers modified/improved the tooling to include greater fidelity to the prototype, etc.
Specifically regarding the E8s, my understanding is that original units did not have the see through body, i.e. I can shine a focused light through the body from one side to the other. I know the 4 units I have are the later body version that is open behind the etched metal grill.
Are the earliest release E8s then more like the the P2K PAs where the “structural” framework and opening into the engine compartment are implied by the way the detail is molded (except of course the Es would have the etched grill)?
Just want insight into how the earliest units might differ from later releases (even my units are from 2 or three different vintages based on 2 being DCC ready and the others require soldering of the decoder (they are also heavier).
Life-Like was around for a long time (apparently back to the 1950’s) as a US toy/model train manufacturer. The “Proto” line was introduced about 1990 as a way to separate their new, much more “scale” model railroad products from their older “toy train set” quality trains.
Hobbycraft, IIRC was originally (c. 1990’s?) a Canadian subsidiary of Life-Like that made Canadian-specific models. They were not part of the deal when Walthers bought Life-Like, and I believe became True-Line Trains.
I believe the newer Walthers E-units do have improved detailing like you describe. I don’t have any Walthers era units, but I have several old Life-Like ones. In fact I just bought a Life-Like Burlington Route E-8 Tuesday night at the local hobby shop. It had apparently been sitting in the original box on their shelf since it came out - in December 1995!!
Life Like was never a Canadian company - Hobby Craft of Canada was their Canadian distributor and Life Like did do some special runs for them. Hobby Craft never owned Life Like.
Life Like Products was a division of Life Foam Industries in Baltimore, MD USA. Life Foam Industries was then, and is now, one of the largest manufacturers of styrofoam products in the world. In fact they invented the styrofoam cooler in the 1950’s.
Go to the drug store, pick up a cheap styrofoam cooler, turn it over, it likely says Life Foam or LiFoam. Leave it turned over, cut two tunnel portals in it, paint it brown and green…
Remember those styrofoam tunnels for train sets? They invented them and that is how they got into the model train business. From there they went into other scenery supplies, trees, grass mats, died saw dust as grass, earth, ballast, etc
Paul, with respect to your question about the E units, all 6 that I own are pre Walthers production and all have the same drive and shell, with the only changes being in making the electronics DCC ready and small changes in the coupler mounting.
I know Walthers has revised the drive and many people are unhappy about the slower gear ratio.
I do not know if they made any changes to the shell, but I can’t imagine why they would? It is an excelent model in opinion.
Thanks everyone and in particular, Sheldon as you answered my question completely about the E-units.
I don’t recall having asked about the background of Life Like before except as a question to Randy Hammill of True Line Trains when I interviewed him for a podcast on iTunes. But if I did, I have forgotten. But thanks regardless.
Are the Walthers P2K E units even slower than the LL ones? The LL ones were already slower than the BL-2, FA-2 and GP18. I think the smph was about 60-70.
Proto GP18?
I am doing a custom, & once I replaced the cracked axle gears, removed the ‘Diode Array’ & soldered leads to the trucks & motor, it almost became a Kato!!!
After testing in DC, I am more positive about my efforts to convert it into a Sound equipped DCC unit for rail camera & overall short radious turnout ‘fun’ use.
Although it does not look like this just now, I will update it in a future WPF soon.
I think the Proto GP18 is an underestimated model, I have enjoyed modifying mine.
Jay, the prototype E units had four gear ration choices giving top speeds of 85, 92, 98 and 117 mph respectively. And even being a passenger loco, the 92 mph gearing was by far the most common.
The original Proto2000 models, run on 13.5 volts DC, travel at a top scale speed of 88 mph.
What could be better than that? They were designed for a scale top speed with normal DC operating voltages.
Since I do’t use DCC, I can’t speak for what speeds they run with various decoders installed.
And, yes, Walthers slowed them down with even slower gearing - do a search of this forum, you wil find a lot of info on them.
Just wanted to say that I appreciate your insight into the history of the mfgs, and also the “bullet” type writing that you do - which makes it easy to read, understand, and retain.
IMHO, Lifelike’s decision to go to the P2K program was a major boon to the hobby. Goodness knows how many ATSF and IC early diesel unit models I bought from them…
Thank you for the kind words, and you are most welcome. As for my writing skills, that thanks goes to the public schools and teachers of Anne Arundel County Maryland.
Actually, without naming names that may not want their names mentioned, both the Proto2000 and Bachmann Spectrum “revolution” in this hobby started with people right here in Baltimore.
I do not own any E units at all, mainly because the D&RGW never owned any. I did buy one of the old LL P2K E8’s painted for CB&Q with the idea of modeling the hand off of the California Zephyr from CB&Q to D&RGW in Denver. But the nose stripe was smeared on the model I was sent, so after test running it, I returned it. It did seem to run fairly smoothly and at a good speed vs the voltage on my Star Tech Hogger DC power pack.
Regarding the shell, there was only one thing I didn’t care for on the old LL P2K E8, and that was the windshield treatment. I recall it had a raised lip around the edges, I assume to simulate a gasket, but it didn’t look “right” to me. From the photo’s, it looks like Walthers has revised the windshields to look better and they have removed that lip.
As far as the shell goes, I’ve only read discussion by HO fans who made comments that there were some things about the original E3 shell they didn’t like, one being the curvature of the roof being “off” or not matching the curvature of the prototype. These folks were unhappy that Walthers did not revise that aspect of the tooling when they did some re-tooling and re-produced the E units in recent years. From what I understand, Walthers has done “some” retooling or alterations on the shell to improve it, mainly the nose, and windshields etc.
IMO, none of the E units offered in plastic have quite gotten the nose “right” but pretty close. The LL P2K E7 looks pretty bad at the point where the windshields meets the sides and the nose - there was a slight indentation that looked like it need to be filled in with putty and re-contoured. Certainly if Walthers re-offers the E7, they will need to
