Review

Life Like products is offering its SD50 in two roadnumbers for each of the following railroads: Chessie B&O, Chessie C&O, Conrail, Kansas City Southern, Missouri Pacific, CSX, Seaboard System, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific. Currently due for release are: Chicago & North Western, Conrail, CSX, D&RGW, KCS, Norfolk Southern, and UP The new releases in most cases represent more numbers of a given railroad or paint scheme variations. There is also an undecorated version.

Prototype

The SD50 was the in-between machine. From May 1981 to May 1985, 421 of these machines were built. General Motors was still trying to follow the phenomenal success of their SD40-2 and catch the brisk sales of General Electric units. Between incremental improvements to trucks, the movement of the dynamic brakes from the blister over the engine to a compartment behind the cab, and a demand for more horses, the SD50 was an important page in railroad history, if a short one.

It was the last hurrah for the mighty 645 diesel engine. While the V16 version handily offered 3,000 horsepower and a V20 gave out 3600, coming up with a fuel-efficient V16 to produce 3500 or more was a challenge. Some say, the SD50 really didn't get there because the 3500/ 3600 hp 16-645F3B was not durable. The real answer was the 710 engine which debuted in the next offering- the SD60 in May 1984. Meanwhile, the rest of the SD50 locomotive was an important testbed for improvements.

In fact, the SD50 was built in two distinct phases - early and late. Hood door arrangements changed, as did the exhaust stack structure. From May 1981 to July 1984, 230 units were built with 3500 hp. After a brief production hiatus, the later group appeared in November 1984 with 3600 hp and accounted for 131 units. An additional 60 SD50Fs were sold to the Canadian National and were different in their wide cabs and "Draper Taper" cowl design.

While you can look to the build date to help determine horsepower, some other details varied according to the railroads' desires. In many ways, most of the later units were quite similar to the concurrently constructed SD60s. As many motive power managers predicted, uprating the 645 engine wouldn't work well; it was just asking too much. Still, model railroaders have long wanted copies of the SD50 in HO scale to match the machines they see which are still in service.

Proto 2000 SD50
This is a hefty unit, one of the first things you note about it. Those of us who have gone to great lengths to add weight to our pullers will appreciate the potential here. Aside from some add-on parts, the unit really is ready-to-run. But first, it's time for a walkaround. After six SD 50S units built on the older 68-foot-10inch frame and sold to the Norfolk & Western in 1980, GM's ElectroMotive Division (EMD) extended the frame to 71 feet 2 inches and the truck centers were moved out to 45 feet 10 inches. If the model's couplers were perfectly scale, then its length across the pulling faces would be correct. The truck centers are about 1 /8 inch too close, a concession to model turning radius. The prototype's 40-inch wheels are 39.46 inches. Big deal.

This a very nicely detailed model, especially in the areas around the pilot, with cutbars and MU cables. Hand grabs are separately applied and lift rings are found along the roof. The radiator fans look to be Q -fans. As I inspected the model, I noted a few modeling problems which should be mentioned. The left dynamic brake grille is too high on the hood; the doors above it are not high enough as a result. The nose marker lights are set in too far, and the user installable sunshades are far too big. It appears as though the model has late model doors on the left side of the hood and early model doors on the right.

Lettering and other decoration is very crisp, as we have come to expect from LifeLike. Our unit is Missouri Pacific 5048 which arrived from EMD wearing UP livery. The Armour Yellow looks just about right and is nicely masked from the gray with the red stripe. Photoshop tells me the Harbor Mist Gray has just an extra touch of green. If you purchase aftermarket sunshades and paint them yourself, you may need to do a little custom mixing to get them to match the cab, but go easy; it's pretty close. UP mixes an antiskid material into the paint which is applied to catwalks, top of the nose, and steps. Under bright sunlight, it often appears lighter, and this is what Life-Like is trying to simulate with a lighter gray in the same places.
Window glazing is very nice and clear. While the wipers are molded onto the windows, there is a fine accuracy about them, and they are trimmed in silver, making them look quite realistic. A crew sits inside, while a three-tone chime sits above the windshield. Door knuckle busters are molded very well and are not filled with paint, adding a lot to the quality appearance. While I didn't add the details around the cab windows, awaiting a trip to get smaller sunshades, I did install the snowplow on the front.

Does this flurry of pickiness mean I don't like the model? Absolutely not. Out on a train, it looks just fine and the small detail discrepancies aren't generally noticeable. I go back to my statement above: this is a very nicely detailed model. I think it looks great with a string of cars behind it, and as baseball pitching great Leroy (Satchel) Paige said about getting old, "It's a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter."

Operation
As always happens, we test it under straight DC first. This includes operations, speed, and pull tests. a It pulls well and tracks flawlessly. In operation, it is quiet and reliable. Couplers are the Proto 2000 magnetic knuckle type and have been just fine so far. If you wished, you could easily convert to Kadee No. 5s, since the box is insulated. Best of all, the couplers are at the right height out of the box. Lighting is very nice and bright, providing directional headlights with lighted front numberboards.
DCC Installation and Operation

I turned to Digitrax for a DH 163L0, in part because the lighting issue is not a problem with this decoder. Since the LO is specific to this type of locomotive, the lighting outputs are set up so that bulbs do not have to be changed. Life-Like does not include accurate instructions for removing the shell, so I shall give away the secret here.

First, remove the couplers and their boxes. That's easy enough. Then, between the fuel tank and the rear truck, you will find two screws. Take them out and then carefully nurse off the shell. When I reinstalled the shell, I didn't put in these bottom screws, using the couplers to hold on the shell. Inside, you'll find the DH 163L0 installs very quickly. I did some initial runs with the shell off.

NOTE: After a decoder has been installed, the loco should first go on the Program Track! Try to change the address default value of3 to the loco's roadnumber (in this case 5048). If it works, you can put it onto a DCC powered track. If it doesn't, you have a problem and should fix it before moving on.

That's what I did here and everything worked fine. That was the only programming change I made. Right from the get-go, DCC performance was superlative. It started on speed step 1 at a speed of 0.8 scale mph. At speed step 128 (top speed on a 128 step table), the unit ran 76 smph; I couldn't ask for better than that. The DH 163 offers a world of options, from custom speed tables to "switching gear" to back-emf control. This is a top-of-the-line decoder and works with the smooth running Proto 2000 drive to provide superb flexibility and top-notch performance.

Summary
If you're a rivet-counter and care about prototypical accuracy above all, there are some things about this model which might bother you. I haven't listed them all, but I've listed enough to make the point. However, the rest of the hobby will very likely appreciate what an attractive and good-running model this is. There is a wealth of good craftsmanship which will make it a handsome addition to your diesel roster. It is an excellent runner under both DC and DCC. It also partners up very well with Digitrax's DH163L0 decoder. If you want one, get your own; I'm keeping mine!