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Life-Like - 7851 - Locomotive, Diesel, EMD SW1200 - Atlantic Coast Line - 666

6  of these sold for an average price of: 37.0137.016 of these sold for an average price of: 37.01
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N Scale - Life-Like - 7851 - Locomotive, Diesel, EMD SW1200 - Atlantic Coast Line - 666
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Stock Number7851
BrandLife-Like
Body StyleLife-Like Diesel Switcher SW9/1200
Prototype VehicleLocomotive, Diesel, EMD SW1200 (Details)
Road or Company NameAtlantic Coast Line (Details)
Road or Reporting Number666
Paint Color(s)Purple and Silver, w. Yellow pinstripes
Print Color(s)Purple
Coupler TypeRapido Hook
Wheel TypeInjection Molded Plastic
Wheel ProfileSmall Flange (Low Profile)
DCC ReadinessNo
Release Date1997-03-01
Item CategoryLocomotives
Model TypeDiesel
Model SubtypeEMD
Model VarietySW9/1200
Prototype RegionNorth America
Prototype EraNA Era IV: 2nd Gen Diesel (1958 - 1978)
Years Produced1954–1966
Scale1/160



Model Information: Life-Like introduced the SW9/1200 model in 1997. In 2003, they added the SW8/600/900 which is a very similar model which uses the same mechanism. It is fairly high quality and runs well when it can get good pickup. It is prone to stalling, however, whenever it has slightly dirty wheels, encounters slightly dirty track or runs over a turnout. For this reason, they are best run in pairs or at high speeds.

For the older models, the reason for the stalling is due to the fact that it is simply a small, lightweight engine. Even though the chassis is all-metal and split-frame with a free-floating weight inside the cab, it just doesn't weigh all that much. Without enough heft, it is hard to keep conductivity with the track. The motor is s 5-pole skew-wound job. All eight wheels provide pickup and drive. Directional lighting is provided by an LED-equipped PC board mounted to the front of the chassis. The model uses chemically blackened wheels. Early runs used body-mounted Rapido couplers. Later versions feature Accumate or MTL couplers. The couplers are held in place with a plastic clip to permit easy swapping with the couplers of your choice.

In 2017, in cooperation with Micro-Trains, this mechanism was overhauled to create a smoother running, fully DCC-Ready version. Walthers supplies the mechanisms for the latest 2017 DCC-Ready version to Micro-Trains which uses its own shell for their switchers.
DCC Information: For the older versions of this model, there is no specific support for DCC on these models, but installing a decoder in the cab is a usual solution. A wired DCC decoder installation for this model can be found on the following: Brad Myers' N-scale DCC decoder installs blog. André Kritzinger's Chessie System in N scale website.

For the newer versions of this model (2018+), the mechanism supports drop-in decoders. TCS Both the TX MT1500 or Digitrax DN-126M2 decoders will work.
Prototype History:
An EMD SW1200 is a diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division between January 1954 and May 1966. Power was provided by an EMD 567C 12-cylinder engine which generated 1,200 hp (895 kW). Late SW1200s built in 1966 were built with the 567E 12-cylinder engine. Additional SW1200 production was completed by General Motors Diesel in Ontario Canada between September 1955 and June 1964.

737 examples of this locomotive model were built for American railroads, 287 were built for Canadian railroads 4 were built for Brazilian Railroads, 25 were built for a Chilean Industrial firm, and 3 were built for the Panama Canal Railway. A cow-calf variation, the TR12, was cataloged, but none were built. A few units were built with dynamic brakes, featuring large square box with a fan on top of the hood, right in front of the cab.

An SW1200RS is a variation of the standard SW1200 that featured large front and rear (on some units) numberboard housings, EMD Flexicoil B-B trucks, and larger fuel tanks for roadswitcher service. The majority of the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific SW1200 fleets were purchased as SW1200RS units. The Sandersville Railroad Company EMD SW1200 road number SAN 1200 formerly SAN 200 was originally built with the V-12 EMD 567C Prime Mover but it was replaced with a V-12 EMD 645 Prime Mover, the two both produce 1,200 Horsepower, even though the same motor in the EMD SW1500 produces 1,500 Horsepower. The SAN 1200 also has EMD Flexcoil trucks instead of the standard switcher trucks found on other EMD SW1200s.

From Wikipedia
Road Name History:
ACL’s roots go back to the Petersburg Railroad in 1830. By the 1870s, their successors and some affiliated lines began using Atlantic Coast Line as a nickname and through a number of consolidations Atlantic Coast Line became the official name by 1900. Atlantic Coast Line funneled traffic from northern Virginia (and its connections to the northeastern trunk lines via the RF&P) down through the Carolinas, Georgia and into Florida as far as Naples on the Gulf Coast. Acquisitions after the war added routes from Columbia and Spartanburg, South Carolina to the coast and lines linking Atlanta, Birmingham and Montgomery to southern Georgia and Florida.

At that point, the Atlantic Coast Line boasted 5,743 miles of railroad, 629 locomotives, 361 passenger cars, and 31,284 freight cars. To put that into perspective for you western guys, that's four times the size of Western Pacific.

ACL was the premier route for New York to Florida passenger traffic. The ACL's "Champion" left New York on the Pennsy, was handed off to the RF&P from Washington to Richmond, ran on the ACL to Jacksonville, FL and was then handed off to Florida East Coast for the ride to Miami. The "West Coast Champion" skipped the FEC as ACL went all the way to Tampa on Florida's Gulf Coast on its own rails. ACL also forwarded some Chicago to Florida trains via connections. Much of the system was relatively flat, allowing ACL to use 4-6-2’s in fast freight service (one of the few railroads to do this.)

ACL is best known for its purple and silver diesels. This scheme was used on freight, passenger, and switcher power until 1957. By that time, it became clear that these colors were difficult to maintain, so the ACL switched to racing stallion black with yellow “tack.” The Atlantic Coast Line merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1967 to form the Seaboard Coast Line.
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 2017-06-10 06:43:55. Last edited by Alain LM on 2017-06-10 03:48:08

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