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(erielack) New Life-Like Proto 2000 S1's in Erie

Hi folks,

	Back from the wedding/honeymoon (E-mail me off list if you want details of
the trains in western Canada! :)... Since nothing has been posted about this
yet, here's a brief review of the new P2K HO scale Erie S1 diesels...

	(I scanned the units and put 'em up at
http://el-list.railfan.net/erie-s1.jpg)

	The new Life-Like S1 switcher is truly a work of art. Though the S1 was
previously done by Atlas (and a very good model it was), the Life-Like
offering goes above and beyond the Atlas version (keeping in mind that the
Atlas model is based on dies that are well over 10 years old).

	The unit comes packaged in a typical P2K box (with an odd black-and-white
drawing of what looks like a Susquehanna S2, but it's an S1 - and the upper
stripe wraps around the front of the unit - anyone know what road this
was?). The shell attaches to the underframe just like their GP7s. The
underframe isn't quite as heavy as the Atlas model, but it works well. The
key difference is that the P2K model has room for a DCC decoder inside
(remove their circuit board and plug right in). The sideframes are nicely
done (though I'm wondering if the Blunt trucks shouldn't have a more
"hollow" apparance? - the model has a flat back that appears in the scan as
a slightly lighter gray behind the brake lever between the wheelsets)  A
nice touch are the brake chains on either side underneath the cab. Nice!
Steps have see-through holes. Railings are VERY fine and nicely done.
Impressive are the curved corner grabs, too! The Erie-painted units have the
correct conical stack and Phase II radiator hatch (square radiator roof
hatch rather than round). Lettering is flawless (high praise coming from
this lettering nitpicker! :), all the way around. The brass bell on the hood
top is another nice touch. One interesting thing is that there actually is
some work for the modeler here. There are dimples on the underside of the
hood to drill holes for two items: the radiator shutter control rod (leads
-From the cab to the shutter), and the walkways over the roof radiator
shutter (two variations of walkways). All else is done for you. The yellow
paint matches the color used on their FAs and PAs. The corner and cab
handrails need to be touched up in yellow to be completely correct (easily
done).

	Another neat new feature is the cab interior. It's hard to see it with the
window glazing, but shine a light and take a good look at it. It has a
PAINTED crew inside the cab, as well as a complete control stand with gauges
printed on it! (in the scan, look just ahead of the engineer on #319)
Overall, a superb job, and it's nice to see another R-T-R model done up in
one of OUR schemes. (Speaking of which: Hey Life-Like! How about the SW9 in
Erie? Or doing a single-stack version as an SW8 in DL&W? We need more
switchers!)

	Units should be hitting the stores in about 6 weeks. Keep those eyes
peeled, and jump on these! :)

	- Paul

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End of ErieLack Digest V3 #271
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