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Life-Like - 44257 - Locomotive, Diesel, Alco C-424 - Canadian Pacific - 4242

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N Scale - Life-Like - 44257 - Locomotive, Diesel, Alco C-424 - Canadian Pacific - 4242
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Stock Number44257
Original Retail PriceC$139.95
BrandLife-Like
ManufacturerHobbycraft Canada
Body StyleLife-Like Diesel Engine C-424/C-425
Prototype VehicleLocomotive, Diesel, Alco C-424 (Details)
Road or Company NameCanadian Pacific (Details)
Reporting MarksCP
Road or Reporting Number4242
Paint Color(s)Maroon & Gray w/Yellow Stripes
Paint SchemeScript Lettering
Coupler TypeRapido Hook
Wheel TypeNickel-Silver Plated Metal
Wheel ProfileStandard
DCC ReadinessNo
Release Date2004-01-01
Item CategoryLocomotives
Model TypeDiesel
Model SubtypeAlco/MLW
Model VarietyC-424
Prototype RegionNorth America
Prototype EraNA Era IV: 2nd Gen Diesel (1958 - 1978)
Scale1/160



Model Information: Life-Like Canada (no known as True Line Trains) first introduced this model in 2002. It was a limited edition run with only 180 trains produced for each of 5 paint schemes. In 2003, Life-Like (the USA parent) did a second release of this car in new paint schemes with no production limit. The engine is modern but lacks the capability for a drop-in decoder. It does, however, feature a split-frame, an all-metal chassis, a skew-wound 5-pole motor, dual flywheels, low-friction drive, bi-directional LED lighting, all-wheel drive and pickup (no traction tires), blackened / low-profile wheels, shell-mounted Rapido couplers and all-plastic gearing. The shell details i quire respectable as well with highly-detailed railings.

Assembly instructions of this model on HOseeker.net for the US version and here for the Canadian version.
DCC Information: Unfortunately, there is no support for DCC whatsoever.

A wired DCC decoder installation for this model can be found on Brad Myers' N-scale DCC decoder installs blog.

Also watch this video "N scale C424 diesel Life Like TCS M1 DCC decoder installation by AK Crazy Russian with DCCTRAIN":
Prototype History:
The ALCO Century 424 was a four-axle, 2,400 hp (1,790 kW) diesel-electric locomotive of the road switcher type. 190 were built between April 1963 and May 1967. Cataloged as a part of Alco's Century line of locomotives, the C424 was intended to replace the earlier RS-27 model and offered as a lower-priced alternative to the C425. Full data sheet on The Diesel Workshop.

Montreal Locomotive Works also built this locomotive as MLW Century 424 for Canadian railroads. Full data sheet on The Diesel Workshop.

The ALCO Century 425 was a four-axle, 2,500 hp (1,860 kW) diesel-electric locomotive of the road switcher type. 91 were built between October 1964 and December 1966. Cataloged as part of ALCO's "Century" line of locomotives, the C425 was an upgraded version of the C424. Full data sheet on The Diesel Workshop.

Read more on Wikipedia.
Road Name History:
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), formerly also known as CP Rail (reporting mark CP) between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railroad incorporated in 1881. The railroad is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (TSX: CP, NYSE: CP), which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001.

Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, it owns approximately 23,000 kilometres (14,000 mi) of track all across Canada and into the United States, stretching from Montreal to Vancouver, and as far north as Edmonton. Its rail network also serves major cities in the United States, such as Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, and New York City.

The railway was originally built between Eastern Canada and British Columbia between 1881 and 1885 (connecting with Ottawa Valley and Georgian Bay area lines built earlier), fulfilling a promise extended to British Columbia when it entered Confederation in 1871. It was Canada's first transcontinental railway, but currently does not reach the Atlantic coast. Primarily a freight railway, the CPR was for decades the only practical means of long-distance passenger transport in most regions of Canada, and was instrumental in the settlement and development of Western Canada. The CP became one of the largest and most powerful companies in Canada, a position it held as late as 1975. Its primary passenger services were eliminated in 1986, after being assumed by Via Rail Canada in 1978. A beaver was chosen as the railway's logo because it is the national symbol of Canada and was seen as representing the hardworking character of the company.

The company acquired two American lines in 2009: the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad and the Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad. The trackage of the ICE was at one time part of CP subsidiary Soo Line and predecessor line The Milwaukee Road. The combined DME/ICE system spanned North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Iowa, as well as two short stretches into two other states, which included a line to Kansas City, Missouri, and a line to Chicago, Illinois, and regulatory approval to build a line into the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. It is publicly traded on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CP. Its U.S. headquarters are in Minneapolis.

After close of markets on November 17, 2015, CP announced an offer to purchase all outstanding shares of Norfolk Southern Railway, at a price in excess of the US$26 billion capitalization of the United States-based railway. If completed, this merger of the second and fourth oldest Class I railroads in North America would have formed the largest single railway company on that continent, reaching from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast to the Gulf Coast. The merger effort was abandoned by Canadian Pacific on April 11, 2016, after three offers were rejected by the Norfolk Southern board.

Read more on Wikipedia and on Canadian Pacific official website.
Brand/Importer Information:
Life-Like Products LLC (now Life-Like Toy and Hobby division of Wm. K. Walthers) was a manufacturer of model railroad products and was based in Baltimore, Maryland.

It was founded in the 1950s 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 1960s. At some point in the early 1970s, Life-Like purchased Varney Inc. and began to produce the former Varney line as its own.

The Canadian distributor for Life-Like products, Canadian Hobbycraft, saw a missing segment in market for Canadian model prototypes, and started producing a few Canadian models that were later, with a few modifications, offered in the US market with US roadnames.

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.

In June 2018, Atlas and Walthers announced to have reached an agreement under which all Walthers N scale rolling stock tooling, including the former Life-Like tooling, will be purchased by Atlas.

Read more on Wikipedia and The Train Collectors Association.
Manufacturer Information:
Hobbycraft Canada (or Canadian Hobbycraft) has been the importer of Life-Like products in Canada. They produced Canadian versions of Life-Like rolling stock and engines.
Their license agreement from Life-Like expired in 2006 and was not renewed. The model train activity then continued as True-Line Trains.
Item created by: Alain LM on 2016-08-06 03:16:54. Last edited by gdm on 2018-06-01 11:52:15

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