Well, today I accepted a deal that I could not pass up. I’m building a new layout and the BMRR needed more motive power to help out on the main line and the switching area’s, so I took the plunge. Its name, a EMD GP9I, and its a Proto 2000. I was amazed at how far the name Life-Like has come, these models are now truely Life-Like. It makes everything else look like tonka toys. I love the fans that you can see, the grabs, and the fully detailed interior. Its in one of the later C&O livery’s that doesn’t feature the cat. Beautiful model! I can’t wait to put up my new track and test this puppy out. Now for the deal part: I had seen these models before, but never had any extra money to put into one of these models. I had never paid much attention… So, the price was now clearanced from $135 to $99, still a little steep for me. My favorite LHS owner made me another one of those great deals that you can’t pass up, something he is really good at. So the final price for me, $69.99. I bought it, and I’m loving it. Did I get a good deal?? How do these things perform, I know they definatley look the part. Thanks!
You did just fine young Engineer!!! Take good maintenance care of this loco, and you will be showing this to your grandchildren one day, while they say " WOW" where did you get that Grampa??? How do I know? Because I have 9 grandkids. LOL
Yes that is a nice feature, having a great LHS. His theroy is “if you can make a dollar on it and sells twice as much, sell it, don’t let it collect dust on the shelf.” So he has almost my complete MR investments from now on.
I always have to ask this following one of these epiphany type posts. I don’t mean to be smart alecky, demeaning or anything, I just want to know. With all the posts with comparisons and the quality of these units, why are people still amazed when they get the first one for themself? Do they not believe the other people who have posted this sort of thing before?
You will be more impressed with how they run than you are with how they look.
Congratulations on the new locomotive. [:)][tup] I really like Proto 2000. I have an Alco S1, an EMD GP38-2, and two Lima 0-8-0s in my roster. Every one of them is beautifully detailed and run as smooth as glass…
1/2 price on a Proto 2K! Sounds like a sweet deal! (what? No pictures?[:D])
Grayfox1119-Actually by the time he has grandkids, they’ll probably ask “why are you hanging on to that old thing when the new thought powered Proto 5000’s put it to shame?”[;)]
tstage- I already have a couple GP38’s, but adding at least 1 proto wouldnt be a bad thing! I was eyeballing a rock island (the rock paint; one of my favorites) GP38, didn’t have an upclose look, but my b-day is may 14 so the BMRR might just have leased itself an ex-rock island… we’ll see. He said he can cut me a deal on all of his Pk’s, so I’m going to invest in some more before he sells out. He had a Chessie 6 axle loco, can’t remember exactly what it was, that was nice too. I just don’t think my layout will handle a 6 axle efficiently, maybe the new one.
loathar
As far as pics, I will not be able to post em until friday, but I’ll try to get them out. Its been out of the box once so far, but I haven’t ran it because I was busy laying track and had a big history test to study for, and the suggested break-in time is 1 hr. I believe it was a very sweet deal!! Mr. Stephens gives me good deals mainly because he doesn’t cater mainstream to smaller scales, HO included. He’s a O and G man, with a very nice outdoor layout. He keeps trying to get me into larger scales, but I don’t have the space or the money or my fathers patience. For someone who doesn’t deal much in HO, he has a good selection and grrreat prices. Thanks guys!
Well…after owning the dreaded TYCO offerings as a young and aspiring railroad mogul, then getting out of the ‘‘business’’ for many years, I started back into model railroading with Life-Like geeps…not the best things on the rails!! and it wasn’t until a year or so after getting back into railroading I got a ‘‘good’’ set of locos…2 GP40 Bachmann standard locos, I was impressed with the difference between the pancake motor Life-Likes and the can motor Bachmanns. After that I got 2 DCC ready GP30 Bachmanns and consider them to be the best ones I have…although I still like the Life-Likes ,the AHM and the IHC locos I have, the best is the GP30s from Bachmann.
I just re-worked my originbal plastic engines, last set going back to my brother Friday.
They were, what, $6.95 each, for Athearn?
Sure, one double-powered A-B-A is Hi-F, but the rest are original tower drives, run fine, when you know what you’re doing. Uncouple the A and B, set them an inch apart, and they stay that way around the railroad.
I still have my “best” engines.
Mantua Version 2 Mikado (gearbox screwed to frame), no plastic, Varney Docksiders (a 1941 and a 1948), Varney F-3 with deluxe drive, Mantua Big Six, Booster, PennLine mini-dismal, John English A-5.
Like they said, take care of them, keep them lubed, come back in 50 years and tell the new kids how well it’s running.
I have a few Proto locos, 2 PA’s, 1 SD50, 1 S2, 1 GP38-2, 2 RDC3’s, a C-Liner, 1 RS11 & a SD45-2 repowered to a SD40-2.
They are great locomotives as long as you maintain them.
The PA’s, the SD50 & SD45 out haul every other locomotive in my fleet.
They’re great runners, the only downside is that some of the early ones, & I’m not sure which, had gears problems that Life_Like was happy to take care of.
I really like the P2K line, one of the best out there. On my new line I’ve decided to try to stick with higher-end power as it’ll be less of a hassle in the long run. Most of the engines I’ve gotten so far for the new line are the P2Ks with a pair of the GP38-2s (81" nose) a SW8 and an SD50 from them.
I retired the last Tyco, Pemco, Life Like toy trains and AHM engines in my collection long ago, but remember that the parts (especially weights) can still be usefull. I take a throw nothing away approach with my engines (probably why I have such a big scrap box) and eventually maybe I’ll find a use for those old Life Like F7 shells, maybe not.
Currently I’m debating what to do with several older Athearn BB engines, espeically the hood units with the unprototypically wide hoods, which can’t exactly be rebuilt smaller without a lot of scratchbuilding. They may end up in the scrap box too next time I clean off my workbench replaced on the road with newer more detailed engines.
Beegle55, your going to love the thing. I have around 15 GP9’s and GP7’s, all of them Proto 2000’s. These things are work horses and as long as you service it once in awhile it will last forever. I did a little test on them awhile ago, check it out…