What is a Walthers Life Like loco compared to Life Like P2K [%-)]
…And where does Proto 1000 fit into the scheme of things? I think I know part of the answers but I have experience only with the P2k from Life Like.
Walthers bought the P1K and P2K product line from LifeLike, so they are basically the same as when they were owned by LifeLike, but Walthers seems to have made some improvements to the product line.
Internally, there seems to be little difference between P1K and P2K. The big difference is in the amount of exterior detail, with P1K hand rails and other detail being moulded on instead of being separately applied like the P2K.
Think Atlas Master series vs Trainman series. P2K is master, P1K is Trainman.
Bob
Walthers Proto 2000 is great stuff, I really like their diesels. Haven’t seen Steam Engine in person to form an opinion. However with these Proto 2000 you will become Obsessive Compalsive with all the little detail. I’m super duper careful, and yet somehow I broke off one of the cables off MU unit while servicing the diesel. Who decided to make them out of hard plastic in a first place? [:(!] Now I need to think of a way to glue a peice plastic a cross section that 1/5 the thickness of a toothpick!
When I gave my g/f one of the units to handle and asked to be carefull, she told me it annyoed her just to look at it because of all the delecate detail that you have to be careful no to brake. 
The prices. P2K’s cost a lot less when LifeLike was making them!
On the positive side, at least there aren’t any more problems with cracked gears.
The cracked gears issue was long gone when Walthers purchased P2K.
Well it’s kinda like MDC Roundhouse vs. Athearn Roundhouse I guess…
Life-Like originally just made “train set” quality stuff, basically HO tinplate. When Bachmann (who made similar stuff) came out with the Spectrum line, Life-Like came out with Proto 2000 offering true scale models. Depending on who they had make them for them, they could be great like the E-units or plagued with problems like the GP’s with cracked gears.
As noted, Proto 1000 was in the middle, not quite the detailing of Proto 2000 but generally good running. As someone said, similar to Atlas Trainman line compared to the regular Atlas line…although the line has blurred over time, some Proto 1000 diesels come with full handrails attached and are quite well detailed.
Walthers I think eventually bought Life-Like lock, stock and barrel, not just the Proto lines.
Yes, they did. The technical term is “Wholly-owned subsidiary”. Life-Like’s offices are still in Baltimore, but they have no separate corporate identity anymore.
Have you noticed the “promotion” that Life-Like got in the Walthers catalog? It’s now riight behind the Walthers stuff in most sections.
Thanks for all the info.
The P2K cracked gear issue is not a big deal. I relayed the information about the causes that I received from Life Like technical staff in another thread some months/years back. Besides, I have had nearly as much gear problems with Kato and even Stewarts…each brand has had this issue over the years…also detailed to death in previoius threads.
But what was that reply to this thread with the image by someone with the forum id of Phuck You “fingering me” by sending along a graphic of someone flipping the bird. It must have been deleted by a moderator, but it is still in my email box. What kind of stupid people do stuff like that? Of course, I can’t find a real forum id like that. He must have created it only for the moment.
Prices started going up in the last couple years P2K was still independant but they have reallyy sky rocketed since Walthers took over. The only thing I’ve bought since Walthers took over P2k was an F7 ABBA set but that may be it for a long time.
He is a foul mouthed individual named Al. that was banned from the forums a few years ago. He comes back from time to time to cause problems. Just ignore him and report it all to the moderators, and they’ll get rid of him.
I’ve got a couple of old LL P2K GP9s, an old LL P1K RS3, and a new Walthers/LL P2K 0-6-0 steamer.
Every one is a winner. The Geeps came from M.B. Klein at $40 each. I’ve put a plain decoder in one, and a Tsunami in the other. Yes, these engines are worthy of Tsunamis. Great detail, and they run smooth as silk after I replaced the old cracked axles. Thank you, Walthers, for the free replacements a couple of years back.
The RS3 has less detail, but it’s still a solid performer. Again, an M.B. Klein special at $70, it’s got a Soundtraxx LC and runs like a dream.
The steamer was love at first sight. I run late Transition Era, but when I heard her, well, it’s been a long time since a woman captivated me the way this engine did at my LHS. Because of that 0-6-0, I’ve made my whole layout dual-era with another whole set of rolling stock and vehicles, just so she would feel at home. QSI sound, and few women can squeal the way she does when I hit the brakes.
If you order one of Walthers locos, you won’t get it anyhow, so a comparision is a moot point. R. Staller