This is the loco that came with the LifeLike set I got for Christmas this past year, (what got me started in this whole MRR busisness) I was just wondering what it is? It still runs but won’t pull the hat off your head. Thanks. Mike
I guess it’s supposed to be a high hood GP38, don’t know how prototypical it is though. Now if it was black and had a white horse!!!
Bob K.
It’s probably from this set:
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/lif/lif8951.htm
(1st hit on Googling {“santa fe” 3560})
So, it’s a GP38-2.
If it’s like another LifeLike I’ve got along these lines, it is only powered on one end. Typical train-set loco.
Brian Pickering
Yup… As Bob says, it’s a high-hood GP38.
The only railroads that purchased high-hood Geep 38’s brand-new from the builder are Norfolk & Western and Southern Railways. ATSF purchased only low-hood Geep 38’s.
I would retire that train-set loco and pick up a P2K GP38 instead… The difference between that LL el-cheapo trainset GP38 and their higher-end Proto2000 GP38 is night-and-day.
I’m sorry I should have told you I do not run this loco. I have a Bauchman GP 38 with all wheel drive & pickups, no flywheels. I also have 2 Model Power metal F7’s. the F7’s pull very good seperate or together. I have been thinking about getting an Atlas because everyone here says they are the best. Do you think I would notice a big difference If I do get an Atlas? Mike
Once you start to buy the Atlas you will be spoiled.
YES![:D]
The Atlas GP38s have drives that are so much better quality than the standard Life-Like’s, you’ll hardly believe how much smoother they are.[:D]
I have some Life-Like low-nosed GP38s, but even though they’re cheap, I still run them and maintain them. My first HO engine was a Life-Like Santa Fe GP38 from a train set, and it still runs![:D]
By the way, I think you have Bachmann GP40s. The Bachmann GP38s don’t come out until October.
The Atlas GP38-2 is one of the finest locomotives avalible today, period. The Life Like Proto 2000 one isn’t bad at all either and the Athearn RTR is quite nice too.
The engine you have is the basic Life Like GP38-2 with a high hood. I got one of them and two low hood versions in a box of HO scale stuff at a yard sale. I never ran them much, and they met my scrap box quite quickly. The ATSF never used their red and silver Super Fleet scheme on GP38-2s instead they recieved the blue and yellow.
The real ATSF 3560 was in fact a GP38, but not a high hood, here’s a link to a picture of it:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/atsf/atsf3560abp.jpg
I intend to cut up my Life Like GP38s and either turn them into scrap loads for gondolas or as litter outside of my engine shops.
Cheers!
~METRO
The loco from your set is a fantasy locomotive like many train sets. And most sets have names like"Super Overnight Overland Flyer!" and have like three cars. That being said, I used to really like the Life Like GP38-2 model until it became front wheel drive. The N scale version was an exact replica of the HO model in n scale. The hi-nose thing is a common thing to make a model different even though most railroads didn’t have them. I remember someone (Bachmann?) making a high nosed Erie Lackawanna GP50. Now that was a stretch!