I have Proto 2000’s on my roster and they aint going anywhere, i have 3 SD60’s 2 X in the Oakway leasing scheme and 1 X Norfolk Southern scheme, fantastic stuff, not very fast which is very good and they will pull LOADS of cars[8D]
In N scale Lifelike has some winners and some losers. I have found that their BL2, E units, small switcher with flywheels and the GP20 units are good. Their Heritage Berkshire is fantastic. I was extremely disappointed with their SD7. Because it was produced after their good E-8s, I assumed that the SD7s would also be good runners. I bought one and it was terrible. Later, figuring maybe I got a bad one, I bought another one. It was also a very poor runner. I haven’t bought an Atlas or Kato that wasn’t excellent. In Nscale, it seems to me, that Lifelike and Bachman can’t decide whether to make quality units or crappy units. Both companies, from my experience, produce both fine and junk engines.
I think it is fantastic the transformation that Life Like has had. Could you imagine this thread about 20 years ago? lol. Life Like has shown that it can produce items for the toy market and items for the hobbyiest. I love my P1K and P2K engines and rolling stock. Maybe not the tippy top of the pack, but pretty far up there. In my opinion, the P1K line is probably the best balance between quality, detail and price out there.
I have a life like sw9 and the CLiners (N scale). Both excellent runners. Would definitely recommend them. Reasonably priced, smooth as my more costly fleet. The only caveat I have is that they are not readily DCC friendly. Don’t know if this is important to you. My entire fleet might be life like if they were easy to convert to DCC. By easy I mean replace the light board and go.
If you want to make a 4unit coal hauler, go with a set of Lifelike FA1’s or 2’s. The F7/9 is another house puller, and is on sale from LL for $16.00. The shell needs some work, but can be cleaned up. THe GP20 for the same price is a great candidate for power swaps. It’s a great way to repower old Trix, Bachmann, Kato shells. Their Nscale line is in a solid 3rd place, just behind Atlas/Kato. I’d like to see them make a change to MTL couplers & make DCC frames.
They also make a line of super el cheapo freight cars for $3.00. Repaint them, swap couplers with MTL, and you can have your own fleet of cars. They share a easy to change pin mount truck bolster.
I think the newer proto, bachmann, BLI, and Athearn Genisis
with Rivarossi’s 2-6-6-6 have done an excellent job for locomotive and detail, sets it apart from the toy train origins.
I plan to buy at least 1 or more 2-8-8-2’s N&W.
I think LifeLike standard product is pretty good in N scale. I have four locomotives:
- Standard LifeLike F40PH
- Standard LifeLike GP38-2
- P2K C424/425
- Kato P42 Genesis
The detailing of my standard LifeLike obviously is not up to the standards of the P2K or the Kato. On the other hand, I consider them to be well above “toy trains”. The toy slam may be true for their HO scale products but not for their N. Standard LifeLike N scale locomotives have all-wheel pickup and drive and a dual flywheel motor. They are good runners… relatively quiet and very decent slow speed operation.
[tup] [tup]
Totally agree with MABruce. I got one of their GP-20, converted the couplers in 15 min. and installed a decoder. Bingo, instant Atlas quality with a decoder for $37.
Their “toy like” locos that are currently going for $20 at most places aren’t as bad as most people think. Yes, they are not of the split frame design nor do they have flywheels but they are tremendous pullers (due to heavier weights) and the GP-18s that I have run more silent than some of my Atlases.
I started out with these $20 jobs and I still have them in my fleet. The details aren’t as good as Atlases or their newer N-scale locos but you get a lot of bang for the bucks.
Also, although I never used their services, I read many many reports of incredible warranty service and turn around.
I would take a $20 “toy like” LL over a $20 Bachman any day!
LL N scale split-metal-frame cab units are excellent pullers, excellent runners and have very good street prices (some go for $35 and A-B pair). These are :
FA-1
FA-2
FM C-Liners
FM-Eries
The LL split-metal-frame E-8s are excellent, as well, but the street prices are still rather high.
LL sold split metal frame BL-2s. Thye run well when the electrical contact is proper, but they seem to have a design flaw that can mess up the electrical contact.
LL sells the following plastic frame flywheel cab units:
E-8 (As only)
E-7
E-6
They are excellent and also have very good street prices. The E-7s and E-6s have dummy Bs, where appropriate for the railroad.
There were split metal frame GP-20s that are excellent. They are a bit too modern for me. The GF has one and it is excellent.
There were plastic frame SD-7s with flywheels. They had inconsistent performance.
LL sold several plastic frame non-flywheel cab and hood units.
The plastic frame FA-2s were good for their time. They came powered A, dummy B except for the WM, which came with two powered As. The paint and detail were very good. They will pull your entire pike up eight flights of stairs. The drive is now dated.
The plastic frame BL-2s were also good for their time, paint and detail not bad, same pulling power as FAs, but dated drive.
The plastic frame GP-18s had good paint and detail and were good pullers and runners. The drive is now dated.
There was something sold as an F-7, but has s/g stacks and some mongrel details. The paint and detail are mediocre, same runnability and performance as FAs and BL-2s, similar dated drive. I usually refer to them as FP-whatevers.
The LL steam is inconsistent and has problems.
There is an 0-6-0T that is not as bad as everyone thinks. It requires a long break-in time but if you will spend it,
My opinions on LL-P2K: Strong on detail and pricing, weak on sound.
I have numerous P2K geeps and EMD ‘C’ motors in my fleet. They do not perform quite as well as the Katos and Atlases, but for the money I paid for them nobody can match their level of detail. But I won’t buy any of their sound-equipped units until their [QSI] technology advances to the same level as Soundtraxx’.
I read down through the threads and figured i would get to this one as I have quite a few LL along with Atlas and Kato units.I even ended up with one of the very good Bachman Connies.
I could ot find fault in brokemoto’s detailed explanation above. pretty much nailed it.
Nuff said 
I welcome the detail and mechanicals of lines such as the P2K, Spectrum, and Genesis. Comparing a P2K Alco PA to a set I did 30 years ago, in the time before flywheels, I can now buy RTR what used to take 6 weeks of evenings and weekends to custom paint and detail.
Same with cars. In particular passenger equipment. Why not buy a RTR, well done unit from Walthers? The older we get, the more magnification and light we need to do the minature detailing. Life is eventually too short…
I sold my Berkshire. The HO LL 2-8-4 was not capable of pulling 15 cars up a 3% grade very well. It runs like a swiss watch except the front coupler is too low. The BLI PRR M1a is a better engine for this sort of work.
I have a set of 4 ABBA FA units all powered and these are going to be just pulling the house down if I can find the electricity to feed em. And room for DCC and sound those weights take up a great deal of room.
I have a 2-8-8-2 on order from LL. They are supposed to be out by now but perhaps still in final stages of the production run. The word from my LHS’s is that many many people ordered this engine also. So this is the time for LL to step up and show us how good it can be done.
In HO Scale
LifeLike Proto 2000,
in my humble opinion are great units! [:)] [:D][8D] They do have their minor problems such as the plastic axle housings stripping. Easy to replace. body dimensions are correct and for the money the detailing offered is also sweet. I’ve bought most of my P2Ks on Ebay less than $55. IMHO, their best running locomotives are the E units.
Life LIke Proto 1000:
I very much like the RDC! Looks nice, decent detail, comes with interior, and IS HEAVY! Noise level is slightly less than an Athearns. The RDC’s are very smooth runners, especially when using “Momentum” to stop them.
Standard Life LIke units:
Toys. Great starter sets for young kids Before I kitbash a locomotive, car, or structure, I use LL or the old Bachmann boxcars for practice in precision cutting and slicing as well as testing my airbrush.
I have a Canadian Pacific GP-9. It runs great!! I heard the slower a train can go before it stops the better. So if the train is moving fast and you turn down the throttle just a bit and it dies it is junk. My GP-9 by Life-Like can move millimeters a second showing that it is good quality.