Review

Life-Like's latest Proto 2000-series diesel locomotive is an exceptionally quiet and smooth-running model of EMD's late-1960s high-horsepower road locomotive, the 3,600-hp SD45. From February 1965 through December 1971, EMD built 1,260 SD45s for 16 railroads. Many other railroads acquired them later through mergers and second-hand sales, and although they're becoming harder to spot, many are still operating.

The Proto 2000 series model has an injection-molded styrene body made of several separate castings, including the long hood, cab, nose and walkways. The body has many separately applied details, including grab irons, brake wheel, drop steps, air hoses, horn, antenna, sand filler hatch, beacon, lift rings, uncoupling lever, cab sunshades and plow. Many are applied at the factory; some must be applied by the modeler. There's also interior detail, with a pair of unpainted crewmen on two cab seats. Flush-fitting clear glazing includes windshield wipers on the front cab windows.

In addition, Life-Like is offering the SD45 in several detail variations to match specific prototypes. These include a low nose with or without headlights, cab with sealed-beam or Gyrolight headlights, and a long or short blower duct on the fireman's side. Overall the model represents a later-production SD45, with a brake wheel on the end of the engineer's side of the long hood and truck sideframes with two visible brake cylinders.

The mechanism follows the same lines as the firm's earlier diesel models, with a cast-metal chassis. An enclosed five-pole, skew-wound motor powers the model, with a pair of turned flywheels. All six axles are powered, and all 12 wheels pick up electricity. The motor is isolated from the frame, with the circuit board atop the motor carrying the wiring for the motor and lights. An eight-pin Digital Command Control decoder can be added easily by removing the large circuit board and plugging the decoder into the small circuit board (a process explained in the instructions).

The model runs beautifully - it is a very quiet, smooth running locomotive. Slow-speed control also is good. The model's paint and lettering are sharp, with even the small detail lettering on the shell legible (although it takes a magnifying glass to read some of it). All of the schemes offered are based on prototype locomotives.