The History of Life-Like Trains part 1.

A re-upload of the first part of my Documentary on Life-Like Trains.

[@survivingworldsteam]

I had a layout in the 1970s, which did include Life-Like scenery, and a little rolling stock. I picked up quite a bit (mostly AHM) when Woolco sold off their model railroad inventory and got out of the toy train business in the early 1970s. When a grew into a teenager, and my transformer gave out, I lost interest. My parents threw the board away, but I put everything into boxes; which I then lugged around with me for 30+ years. During that time, the varmints that got into the boxes ate all of that Life-Like lichen. I was also given two Life-Like train sets, both with Powerloc track, in addition to what I already had. I also bought a Life-Like Proto 2000 2-8-2 and a Athearn Santa Fe PA. In 2012, my son got tired of waiting on me to set the layout up and did so himself. We used the PowerLoc track that came in one of the train sets. The Life-Like locomotives from the sets, the Athearn, the Proto 2000 Mikado, and an 0-4-0 switcher that came from a Tyco kit were all I had to run when we started out, as I also ran all my locomotives into the ground during the 1970s. I expanded that layout into an 18" and a 22" loop, connected with switches. One thing that I found out is that Life-Like did not make a 22" radius or larger switch, unlike Bachmann or Kato, seriously limiting your expansion capability. Ten years later, I am still running that layout today; you can see videos of it on my youTube channel. Besides staying together all these years I have found that you can run everything from 1950s Marx trains to anything DC compatible you run today on PowerLoc track. My layout room is climate controlled; so corrosion is never an issue; just cleaning the gunk off from the traction tires and plastic wheels on occasion. I later insulated the crossover so I could run both loops independently; the Life Like transformers still work; but older can type motors do cause the transformer to shut down after a while due to overheating. (They also don't have enough speed steps compared to Bachmann and others.) The Santa Fe GP-38 from one of those train sets finally gave out this year. Life-Like locomotives do suffer from poor pickups; but I have far fewer startup and low speed running issues than you did; and that is over a ten year period now. One very amusing detail you neglected to mention is that Life-Like did switch the cars on that auto-rack transporter from the 1950s cars you show to...Chevrolet Citations! I have an ad from Life-Like that shows they were very proud to have a product placement win with Chevrolet and their revolutionary new cars. Unfortunately, the Citations turned out to be even worst junk than the Life Like trains; and it must have become an embarrassment for Life-Like at some point (or maybe not.) Finally, some of the Life-Like locomotives shipped with something worst than brass - sintered iron wheels. They were properly blacked out, but had even poorer pickup ability than the brass ones.

[@Offthbadan]

I bought that same Life Like Amtrak probably around 1979 when I was about 11yrs. old from Sears Outlet for about $12.00. Haven’t run for about 40 years. You inspired me to get it to run. And to my surprise, a little while ago I watched it go around the track. Thank for the memories.

[@meegstomtom]

I loved the operating logging mill. My favorite on my grandfathers layout. Now in my collection.

[@williamhobbs1421]

Man I never had a problem with my life like trains either they were always fantastic

[@atecgaming716]

I had both the little steamer and a F7 I think in a life-like trainset I got for my birthday in the mid 90s. I believe it had two separate track loops, one that had a trussel set that allowed one the one loop to go o we the other. Don't recall having any running issues with either loco.

[@F40Productions]

I have no issues with my large collection of Life-Like pancake motor units, they all start up right away and some I have even put decoders into

[@lysander.o.c.3580]

I have that Life-Like Santa Fe engine. I had to take out the old wheels and replace them with wheels from a broken coach with interior lighting I had. I had to basically use a dremel to cut down a little material on the wheels. But, the locomotive doesn't perform that bad *if* you replace the wheels on it.

[@TheFailroaders]

I'm not sure if me and my friends got lucky or not, and this is kinda an anomaly to me, "when I was 14 in 2004 my friend and me bought 2 life like sets from a hobby shop, with the older style gp38s," they all ran very well, we loved life like because we could afford it, we got the expansion sets with add on cars, bought individual cars, built layouts at each of our homes. It was an awesome childhood. I really miss when I could go to a hobby shop and get a super big life like set for $75, add some freight cars for $5 each, and a few building kits. I will say, when I bought a bachmann set, I think it was called the golden spike, pretty big set with up gp, it ran better at slow speed and was just as fun, but more expensive. The bachmann all wheel drive units are amazing, you can't get a new engine for $20 anymore, when I was a kid I got the life like twin diesel powered, dummy, and caboose for $20, I guess for me it's nostalgia,

[@jimanastasio192]

I know this is a bit late, but I've recently been playing around with a couple of those old RS-11s. One day before watching this video, I discovered that the finicky performance of the motor isn't actually the motor. It's the cheezy headlight installation. The metal contacts fit loosely and jiggle around while the locomotive is running down the rails and over the joints. The loose contacts serve up both open circuit and short circuit situations, resulting in jerky performance. To test this, I simply cut the red wire (ground) that runs from the motor to the light fixture. The thing ran great with this "modification". I intend to install LEDs and four wheel pickup in both of mine, and that should make these acceptable performers with the original motors still in them.

[@BC-fx6ud]

I wish everyone knew this. I started replacing energy hungry bulbs with LED just in the headlights and number board, because I don’t want the cab brighter than the headlights, and noticed the improvement. I’m also replacing all lights in passenger cars, because I hate the flickering.

[@burleyscott2910]

We call Bachmann, life Like, Con Cor, and others of this type - throw away trains. They run good for about a year, then you discard them like last year's christmas cards.

[@Shane-Singleton]

Generally true of the old stuff. However life-like/Proto, Con Cor/Kato (notice how each manufacturer got better when they farmed their manufacturing out to a better firm? lol), and the newer Bachmann models have improved leaps and bounds. I'm especially impressed with how good for the price that Bachmann has become. But yeah the old ones were very much junk when you compared them to say an Atlas yellow box, Athearn blue box, etc. Especially the Atlas yellow box engines that were made by Kato. Those were/are incredible. I've got a few old Bachman and Life-Like pieces from back in the day. You can definitely tell the difference between the "toys" and the "model railroad" quality units. Sorry that was so long-winded. Drank a bunch of caffeine this morning, lol.

[@burleyscott2910]

@@Shane-Singleton Remember, Proto Series came at the end of the Life Like Era in order to promote better quality equipment. Bachmann only got better because toe CEO or two through the 1980's into the 1990's was 'removed' and a new CEO appointed (giving rise to today's quality). In order to balance the Bachmann quality with pricing, the newer models lack descend details with a huge jump in pricing to match Walthers, Athearn, Kato, etc. Atlas yellow boxes were good, but their chassis were all wrong and based on prototype drawings (Cox for example). The split fuel tank on all of their models was the wrong shape and design for most of their EMD after SD9 series. It's okay to be a wind-bag. Let's chat more!

[@gkjsooley]

RSO is not the manufacturer of the Yugoslav-made locomotives; it is Mehanotehnika. The RSO on the models has to do with their compliance with norms for electric toys and devices that ensure that these do not interfere with radio and TV signals.

[@crabbinmoose8583]

Yep, short name for Mfg. was indeed Mehano. Any other stamped or heat embossed characters were usually stock numbers or the compliance statute as you stated.

[@dylanhale7300]

What ruined Powerlok track from a toy train perspective (As no scale modeler would use it) was it continued to follow the US standard of 18 inch and 22 Inch radius curves. This basically makes it impossible to make a double track mainline with consistent spacing between the tracks, that can be easily crossed over with two switches. Only Peco has gotten this right with their line of "Set track" Otherwise, Powerlok was a very good system indeed. Also, I've never had any considerable issues with any of my LifeLike locomotives except their quite noisy. I've still got a few that survived my childhood and somehow avoided getting stolen, and they run to this day.

[@raymondleggs5508]

Lima had Security block track which had the locking system built into the rail joiners while still being non roadbed track. but you had to remove the security block joiners if you wanted to use other brands of track.

[@jasonperry7970]

What do you think of the 8 wheel drive "premium quality locomotive" models that life like made? They were pre proto 2000.

[@christopherdelgaudio9484]

Very interesting I enjoyed it very much! thank u!

[@ReadingAreaRailfan]

I love those pancake motors that they used. Ppl dont like them, but since the gears arnt preasure fitted they dont usualy crack and they have nice pulling power. You can easily clean off the pick up wheels with sand paper and then there fine. Idk how you forgot to do that but thats all i do amd all mine run perfectly. Also EZ track was from the late 90s pretty much 2000s

[@user-sd7qo7qe4v]

They die too easily

[@ReadingAreaRailfan]

@@user-sd7qo7qe4v hmm. None of mine do. Maby luck isnt on your sideM

[@Bri-rb5lq]

I. Like. Pancakes

[@jimweikak457]

Hey can motor works better!! Less maintenance!!, No plastic to

[@limehuzki]

I actually completely fixed one of these recently 15:04 ^^ I'm rather proud of it, the fix I used was to clean the wheels and re-solder the wheel contact pickups

[@jacksnavely559]

Yea they got lots of neat cars and stuff that is affordable also I like the Power Loc track ,it's a snap,my engine ain't too bad ,I use it for relief from always useing MY favorite Athearn ☺🌐👍👍

[@meegstomtom]

Love my athearns. I have a few old life likes as well. While they can run ok, mine all have poor low speed control. So no switching with them for me.

[@burleyscott2910]

Wait, are the Life Like badly assembled or do they have cheap plastic? These are to different things?

[@doggerbendrailway6002]

Glade to see ur back

[@markwilliams2620]

As one who was there, these LL engines sold alone fo $15 in the early 80's. A comparable Athearn was $25-$35. An Atlas $50-$100. AHM would cost anywhere from $10-$45. AHM steam was well respected, but expensive.

[@gkjsooley]

Most AHM steamers, as well as their GG-1s, were Rivarossi products, and deserve their good reputations.

[@gkjsooley]

Most AHM steamers, as well as their GG-1s, were Rivarossi products, and deserve their good reputations.

[@thehappyvintagesloth9676]

32:42 my first loco was that Conrail in their foam based over under “railroad in a box!” Loved it until I experienced all the issues described!

[@varrunningtrains4112]

When did lifelike get dissolved? I really liked their sets (because it's what got me into model trains), and never had a problem with the engine (Santa Fe 3500). Although I should not care about this brand anymore, I always liked their accessablity, and really wanted a burning rubber and high iron set. Man those were good times...

[@alcobufff]

That's actually a good question. The company was taken over around 2005. as you will see in the remaining parts of my documentary. Not much happen till just before 2010, when the Proto 1000 and 2000 lines were integrated into the walthers line as the main line and proto line of products. The sets disappeared about a year or two after this happened. Another interesting note, I recently found out that walthers started using powerlok again in their train line train sets.

[@varrunningtrains4112]

@@alcobufff wait really? I thought they were using EZ crap I mean track.

[@alcobufff]

@@varrunningtrains4112 I know right? I just found out a week ago that they switched back to power loc

[@varrunningtrains4112]

@@alcobufff Wow. Just looked it up and you are right. Man maybe there is hope for some future of lifelike. I wish their slot car stuff was still up though. That was surprisingly good quality compared to the autoworld stuff.

[@shnorth888]

The parent company Lifoam Industries is still around. Lifoam just wanted to concentrate on it's core business and decided to sell the model train side so they shopped around and negotiated a deal with Walthers who wanted to expand their product lines. The best thing I found with Life Like was the scenery, buildings and accessories line. When they Introduced the Proto 1000 and 2000 lines they had some neat highly detailed locos and freight cars at a decent price, that now live on as part of Walthers lines or Canadian Hobbycraft/True Line Trains.

[@Texas_and_Pacific]

Could you do a history video on bachmann if you haven’t already?

[@michaellindsey8044]

Everyone gives life like model train a bad name I never had any problems at all with I still got a lot of them

[@F40Productions]

I have over 10 Life-Like locomotives and they are all fantastic runners

[@user-sd7qo7qe4v]

The F40PH’s shell has accurate proportions but it’s still a rough runner

[@YeOldeGeezer]

Fun fact: The F40PH was upgraded to a new mechanism in use for Walthers trainline like now mainline series

[@user-sd7qo7qe4v]

@@YeOldeGeezer no, the Trainline shell was made before Walthers acquired Life Like

[@oscartorres96]

My Santa FE F Unit needs the Wires ReSoldered or the Back wheel replaced cuase the wheel Came off and the Wires were coming that was my first Life Like American Magazine Train set the Warbonnet was my favorite got it for Christmas from my cousin around 2005 or 2006 just trying to get it run again cuase I am making a Comeback to the Model Train Hobby thats why plus doesn't Run anymore

[@patrickd.3681]

Where are the other parts?

[@natebarger7482]

I have some life like locos. I remount them on athearn motorized frames.

[@w.rustylane5650]

I cannot believe that the Bachmann has body mounted couplers as the LIfeLIke has talgo trucks. I hate talgo trucks; I always cut them off and use body mounted Kaydee couplers. Cheers from eastern TN

[@anthonydibello5854]

Thank goodness that back in the 1980s that the HO Model Train makers; Life Like, Bachmann, Mantua, & Atlas. All took a bold step forward to ditch the cheap Junk they were making! They retooled their OLD powered in one truck and power pickup in the other approach. The Train manufacturers wisely examined their competitor, Athearn Trains, as their benchmark to copy or do better than. Otherwise the greater `hoard' of us HO Train enthusiast, would have given up on the Hobby! Not to forget, the Brass track production switch over to Nickle Silver track. Tony DiBello

[@Benthetrainkid]

17:38 Why not replace the motor?

[@Benthetrainkid]

31:46 Walthers would eventually make adapters that connect Eztrack to Power-loc track

[@aidenzurk7726]

You should have cleaned the weals I have that Amtrak loco and it works great for me

[@burleyscott2910]

what is a weals?

[@robertknight4672]

I have the f7 in the Santa Fe blue and yellow warbonnet scheme. It runs decently.

[@philismenko]

Here i am, a minority within a minority, lifelike makes cheap trains, I decided to pull some out today from the mid to late 2000s, I dont have much if any skill within this, I have 5 f7 locomotives from kits, only one worked well and made arround the shoddy snap track I have, i won't claim that I did everything correctly but the one train that worked worked extremely poorly, only making it arround the track at full power, I dont have enough permanent room to use for a permanent layout right now but it leaves me wanting to get a better train set.

[@philismenko]

As well most people who have these dont have access to cleaning supplies, like I said many of mine have just don't run

[@diesel10rules23]

At 4:00 I have that locomotive it runs good and I love it although it looks a bit rough

[@jimweikak457]

I had a bachmann train, it was an overland Hudson, it was real long it was Gray what do yellow stripe and the number was eight something it came with about 12 cars and if you try to pull those cars!!! Domotor would get hot and melt, Batman sucks!!, That wasn't the first time that happen!!, But I will say they really do have a beautiful looking engine, but I will never waste my money on a bachmann again

[@rj29productions]

I have multiple life likes of all 3 generations and have never had issues with any of them like these

[@diesel10rules23]

Yeah same but bachman oh boy I have had some major junk locomotives

[@meegstomtom]

This video was typical operation for me on old LL locomotives. Ok for just running a loop. But no good for switching.

[@diesel10rules23]

I'm confused I have had more life like than I can count and never had a problem well except for dirty pick ups but bachman I have had only one good one and the rest are horrid one can only pull one freight car but barely does that also my current job life like with being the same age as the bachman works good it will pull around 10 cars and not fail

[@Bri-rb5lq]

Me either he is nuts

[@jwhiskey242]

I always referred to them as "Un-Lifelike". Its incredible what total crap they put out.

[@alcobufff]

LOL!!

[@crazyquilt]

It wasn't always thus, Heck, they made an accurate model of my grandparents' house in Pikesville. Imagine having your grandparents' house on your layout....

[@leod7454]

Bachman and Life-Like were both garbage. Tyco after the separation from Mantua are nearly as bad. All three were avoided by me like the plague. Now there is "wonderful" products like Power-loc and EZ-Track. Neither one is any good at all from 2 not very good or reputable companies.

[@randomrazr]

shame theirt made in china now

[@animalyze7120]

Your "Pushtrain" is a result of zero knowledge about that design other than you felt it needed a push. Bad or incorrect grease was and still is the most common cause of these trains bad reputation as well as lack of or chunked up oil in the bearing areas and on the gear shafts. Life-like were toy grade but properly maintained ones will rocket across any layout and even handle most grades very well for what they were, Toys. 1 quick tip if you hear someone comparing Life-like trains to Athearn, Atlas, Kato or any of the other high grade brands just walk away you will already know they know very little about the subject comparing $100+ Engines to a $10 toy engine.

[@alcobufff]

I assure you I have much more then zero knowledge of the design of these locomotives, having worked on them since I was 8. While we are on the subject, if you note in the video, the locomotive were having issues picking up power. There is no grease inside the pickups located on the rear tuck of these locomotes, the motor truck dose have grease in the gearbox and the oil, on the commutator bearing, but dose not pick up power, as it has plastic wheels, so oil is not the problem, this was how theses locomotives were made. The reasons these locomotives ran so poorly were the brass wheels and wheel wipers, which were made cheaply and, there for corroded easily. And in the case of the wheel wipers, came out of shape, effecting the locomotives ability to pic up power. To get these locomotives running, I scraped the wheels and wheel wipers until I had enough clean metal that the locomotives ran. I could have gone further, and made them run a little better, but since I was just trying to get them running to make the documentary, I did not want to invest a lot of time in these locomotives. Also, even if we take the argument that these were suppose to be toys, as life like did market them as "models", since when is it ok for a toy to run this badly? Lionel, AHM\mehano and cox made ho scale trains back in the late 70's, at a low price, they all ran several times better then the locos from this era of life like. Thank you for watching!

[@muir8009]

@@alcobufff I've also heard that cleaning argument regarding Atlas brass track, almost disregarding that brass tarnishes with great rapidity, and why it's not used any more. steel track is better than brass but that's like saying Nero was more socially acceptable than Atilla the Hun. isn't it funny that when Bing first made that style of ballasted base track in '22, followed closely by Marklin, and of course Hornby Dublo, all those track systems functioned exceptionally well. Triangs 1950 Universal track (and by extension their TT type A) really were the precursor of the modern style system, having the integrated plastic lock system an being all plastic. again, let downs being steel rail and limited geometry. pity they had to go with "realism" Kato and Tilligs unitrack works very well. It's always a shame that lifelike (and similar companies) seemed to find this need to produce really poor running equipment in the effort of economy. early Triang models people laugh at now with their compromised proportions, poor if non-existent detailing, and confused model range, had well designed good quality mechanisms (but again only one pickup bogie however triang did update this) and if maintained well would last indefinitely. Triang constantly improved it's models, and basically within a decade it went from cheap and poor boys toys to better detailed and modelled than it's domestic competition. I could add that Triangs customer service was second to none, warranties being honoured throughout the commonwealth with free parts shipping from England out to even Papua New Guinea

[@2mnycats]

Oh my God !!! Honey, hand me my revolver.

[@raymondleggs5508]

Terrible express

[@Bri-rb5lq]

I can't afford anything. They. Make now thats why I hang. On the. To the older stuff