Life-Like Products LLC (now Life-Like Toy and Hobby division
of Wm. K. Walthers) is a manufacturer of model railroad products and
is based in Baltimore, Maryland.
It was founded in the 1950's by a company that pioneered extruded foam ice chests under the
Lifoam trademark. Because ice chests are a summer seasonal item, the company needed a way to keep
the factory operating year round. As model railroading was becoming popular in the post-war years,
they saw this as an opportunity and so manufactured extruded foam tunnels for model trains. Over the
years, Life-Like expanded into other scenery items, finally manufacturing rolling stock beginning
in the late 1960's. At some point in the early 1970's, Life-Like purchased
Varney Inc. and began to produce the former Varney line as its own.
Life Like was well known and highly regarded by hobbyists for its Proto 1000 and Proto 2000 lines
of HO trains. These locomotives and freight cars were the best detailed for their price class, and even older,
used examples are in high demand by hobbyists. Parts are readily available as the earlier drive
systems are clones of Athearn drives and later drives are Kato clones.
Some early Proto examples such as the EMD BL2, GP18, and GP20, and Alco FA-2 were plagued with the
axle gears cracking, causing the unit to run erratically or with loud "crunching" sounds. The company
honored its lifetime warranty on these units; one needed only to contact the company to obtain free
replacements. With Walthers' purchase of the company, the warranty continues to be honored and as
before, contacting their Customer Service Department will yield free replacements.
Life-Like began marketing a number of N scale items in the early 1970s that were made by Mehanotehnika.
This included an SD45 diesel, GP40 diesel, and 0-6-0T steam switcher. In the 1980s, Life-like offered an
Alco FA2 also made by Mehanotehnika. 1989 brought their GP38-2 (made in China). The F7A followed in 1990.
These two locomotives started Life-Like's new line of locomotives. A new line of freight cars was
also introduced.
Starting in 1996, Life-Like begun releasing HO scale freight cars under the Proto 2000 banner.
These cars feature the same level of detailing as their locomotive counterparts. Complaints were
received from various modelers as the small detail parts were easily lost or broken, so Life-Like
now offers the cars in kit or ready-to-run form.
The Proto 1000 line originally was created to compete with Athearn products at a lower price
point. The detailing was not as extensive as with the Proto 2000 line (as an example, details
like grab irons or uncoupling bars were not included) so as to provide a model that was more
resilient to handling by, and more attractive at lower price to, less-experienced modelers.
However, the line included the proven smooth Proto 2000 drive, and the models would run as
well as their better detailed, more expensive Proto 2000 cousins. Models released under
the Proto 1000 line include the Budd RDC-1, Alco RS2, and EMD F3 in A and B configuration.
The Canadian distributor for Life-Like products, Canadian Hobbycraft, saw a missing segment
in the HO scale market for Canadian model prototypes. Working with Life-Like, models like the
Fairbanks-Morse C-liner(CFA-16-4) and MLW RS-10 and RS-18 were made available. Oddly, these
models feature the fine detail of Proto 2000 models, but were badged under the Proto 1000 line.
With a few modifications these models were offered in the US market with US roadnames, and
in the case of the RS-10/RS-18, the tooling modified to produce the US version, the Alco RS11.
Life-Like took the tooling for three of their former train-set line freight cars and upgraded
the tracking capabilities to match Proto 2000 standards. Along with Kadee-compatible couplers and
upgraded paint schemes, these inexpensive cars are popular with model railroaders for their smooth
tracking and low price point.
In 2005, the company, now known as Lifoam Industries, LLC, decided to concentrate on their
core products of extruded foam and sold their model railroad operations to Wm. K. Walthers.
