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Life-Like - 7659 - Locomotive, Diesel, Alco C-424 - New Haven - 2555

5  of these sold for an average price of: 57.4257.425 of these sold for an average price of: 57.42
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Collectors value this item at an average of 57.4257.42Collectors value this item at an average of 57.42
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N Scale - Life-Like - 7659 - Locomotive, Diesel, Alco C-424 - New Haven - 2555 Original Rapido couplers replaced by Magnetic Knuckle
Original Rapido couplers replaced by Magnetic Knuckle
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Stock Number7659
Original Retail Price$80.00
BrandLife-Like
ManufacturerLife-Like
Body StyleLife-Like Diesel Engine C-424/C-425
Prototype VehicleLocomotive, Diesel, Alco C-424 (Details)
Road or Company NameNew Haven (Details)
Reporting MarksNH
Road or Reporting Number2555
Paint Color(s)Black w/White Stripes & Red Logo
Paint SchemeNew Image
Coupler TypeRapido Hook
Wheel TypeNickel-Silver Plated Metal
Wheel ProfileStandard
DCC ReadinessNo
Announcement Date2003-11-01
Release Date2004-06-01
Item CategoryLocomotives
Model TypeDiesel
Model SubtypeAlco
Model VarietyC-425
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 New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad (reporting mark NH), commonly known as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in New England from 1872 to 1968, dominating the region's rail traffic for the first half of the 20th century.

Beginning in the 1890s and accelerating in 1903, New York banker J. P. Morgan sought to monopolize New England transportation by arranging the NH's acquisition of 50 companies, including other railroads and steamship lines, and building a network of electrified trolley lines that provided interurban transportation for all of southern New England. By 1912, the New Haven operated more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of track, with 120,000 employees, and practically monopolized traffic in a wide swath from Boston to New York City.

This quest for monopoly angered Progressive Era reformers, alienated public opinion, resulted in high prices for acquisitions, and increased construction costs. Debt soared from $14 million in 1903 to $242 million in 1913, even as the advent of automobiles, trucks and buses reduced railroad profits. Also in 1913, the federal government filed an anti-trust lawsuit that forced the NH to divest its trolley systems.

The line became bankrupt in 1935, was reorganized and reduced in scope, went bankrupt again in 1961, and in 1969 was merged with the Penn Central system, formed a year earlier by the merger of the also bankrupt New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad; Already a poorly conceived merger, Penn Central proceeded to go bankrupt in 1970, becoming the largest bankruptcy in the U.S. until the Enron Corporation superseded it in 2001. The remnants of the system now comprise Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line, (parts of) Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, Shore Line East, parts of the MBTA, and numerous freight operators such as CSX and the Providence and Worcester Railroad. The majority of the system is now owned publicly by the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

Read more on Wikipedia and New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association, Inc.
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.
Item created by: Alain LM on 2016-08-07 02:25:06. Last edited by gdm on 2018-06-01 11:52:15

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