gmpullman thank you for the manual and the guide for the T1 decoder install. That looks like it will be a good project to start on. I have been reading for a long time, now getting ready to put some stuff into HO action.
rrinker, here are some close-ups of the coupler. Are these Kadees? I'm not up enough yet to be able to tell but want to learn. It doesn't surprise me that the couplers were upgraded, the guy I got this from was really into detailing and modeling. Oddly enough though I don't think he ever ran anything. I got some other cool stuff from his estate sale that I am still going through. No more locos though. I'll get this one going and see how it runs, but I am guessing it has hardly been run at all. Everything does look new on it.
That is the older version, that board is not a decoder, it is a light board for directional constant lighting on DC. Forge t the cut at the X for DCC, remove the board completely if you want to install a decoder, and replace the light bulbs with LEDs and resistors.
You are definitely getting incorrect item numbers, the descriptions of those items match N scale locos, that loco is an HO scale loco. Forget the couplers, they look like real Kadees, no P2K loco ever came with real Kadees, so they were changed out at some point.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Thanks everyone so far, this is all great information and I will work on it. There should be a post by me before this one where I found out more about what it was. I seem to be on some sort of probation with a day's delay for my posts to be approved, maybe because I haven't posted in a while.
What you are seeing is a light board for directional lighting. It is NOT a decoder of any kind. I usually remove it and hardwire a decoder in. Not sure you may have to deal with cracked gears. You can check for cracked gears by runing it in dc. If you hear a thump thump you more than likely have cracked gears. I used athearn gears.
Hello,
LL_GP-20 by Edmund, on Flickr
LL_GP-20_4 by Edmund, on Flickr
LL_GP-20_0005 by Edmund, on Flickr
LL_GP-20_0001 by Edmund, on Flickr
LL_GP-20_0002 by Edmund, on Flickr
LL_GP-20_0003 by Edmund, on Flickr
In all of the DCC conversions I've done on my Life-Like fleet I have completely removed the "light board" and wired a decoder directly to the track pickup and motor leads. Once LEDs are installed the light board is pretty much worthless anyway.
TCS has some good information here:
https://tcsdcc.com/installation/ho-scale/1401
Keep in mind that this early version of the Life-Like design uses the locomotive frame to pick up current through the truck bolster. Not the best design but you will need to attach one pickup wire, right rail=red, as I recall, to a tapped screw on the frame. I usually place a drop of DeOxIt or CRC 2-26 on the pivot point to assure good contact here.
The TCS instructions say to solder the motor wire to the bronze strip while in place. I strongly suggest carefully removin that strip, careful not to lose the brush and spring, then solder the motor wire in place.
When Walthers bought Life-Like there was tons of inventory remaining with the L-L name on it. The early runs under Walthers ownership was marked Life-Like by Walthers. Eventually after Walthers revamped the entire line it became Walthers Proto.
Good Luck, Ed
I am not to knowledgeable on this sort of thing but the words LIFE-LIKE on the bottom make me think it is not the 2011 release, as by that time P2K was part of Walthers, so I think the LIFE-LIKE lettering would have been removed by that point in time. It appears to have Kadee couplers. I am confused as to weather or not this is HO or N. You said the 2011 release had MTL (I’m assuming that’s Micro Trains Line?) but the model looks to be HO.
If you want to know of the loco is DC or DCC place it on DCC and try to run it on address zero. Also you’ll hear a distinctive wirring sound when a DC loco is on DCC and in idle.
Regards, Isaac
I model my railroad and you model yours! I model my way and you model yours!
Someone more knowlegable than me may be able to provide better information but I'm pretty sure you've got the 1998 version there, though I wouldnt' be surprised if it were offered for a few years after.
I don't see a "DCC ready" plug anywhere in the pictures you provided.
If you put "Life Like Santa Fe 1107 Proto 2000" into google you'll find examples of what you have.
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OK, sorry I am so dumb, I realized that the Life-Like #7088 is actually an N scale. I finally found a matching picture on the internet and how I am pretty sure this is a Proto 2000 HO Sante Fe GP20 #1107 Part Number 8008.
There isn't any documentation that I have been able to find for it, but I will fire it up and see what it does. Any advice or knowledge about this one that anyone has is appreciated.
I picked up this locomotive and I am trying to figure out exactly what it is. The only markings anywhere on it (that I can find) are on the bottom where it says Life-Like and Made in China. I was able to find via some searching that it is likely a model number 7088 which matches up with pictures of the road number 1107. I found this info:
Released in 1998, 2004 (revised version with Accumate couplers), and 2011 (DCC-Ready version, with MTL couplers)
The 2011 version is DCC ready. Accepts the following plug-in decoders (non-sound): - Digitrax DN163L0A: 1 Amp N Scale Mobile Decoder for Walthers Proto GP20 and similar. - TCS L1D4: BEMF decoder designed to fit Life-Like GP20 locomotive.
Maybe this is the 2011 version?? I don't know what the decoder is, I can't find any picture that looks like it. It does say on there " 'X' CUT FOR DCC" so maybe that is a DCC decode, but I don't know. I'd like to find instructions for it.
I haven't tried running it yet...thanks.