Life-Like just got cheaper.


weekendrailroader

weekendrailroader

Guy with the Green Hat
(I posted this over at the Tycoforums. Just thought some here might find this interesting too).

Alright, so i enjoy messing around with cheap battery powered toy trains, just to see what semblance of quality they retain, and to see what I can kitbash and rebuild them into. Echo, New Bright, Scientific Toys, WowToyz, and a slew of other brands make or have made these trains in the past, with some sets from various brand names having some of the same pieces as other sets from other brands.

Now there's a new player in the battery-train field, and we may recognize this one.

LIFE-LIKE.

Introducing the "Smokestack Express"

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/433-8851

And yes, it is listed for sale on the Walthers website. Comes complete with "Transition Tracks" (um, I think they're called "switches").

It's not model railroad equipment, but it also appears to be below the grade of most of today's big-name toy trains, like Thomas, Chuggington, Brio, and Geotrax.

I'm just wondering what the intended market for this item is. And why is Life-Like of all brands selling it?
 
Unfettered said:
Looks to me like a go between type set. Life Like get people interesting in more realistic trains and then they buy Life Like electric sets.
Click to expand...

It's definitely aimed at being an appetite whetter >sound>smoke>remote "radio" control>automatic functions. When the beneficiary of the present goes looking with Mom and Dad to see what the LHS has got offer after that set gets boring, do you think they'll be satisfied with plain old DC.

Like to know what V scale is though.
 
wow if they had that last year i would have picked it for my 4 yr old, i could not get away with it now he is hooked on running "model trains" in Dad's train room. for being 5 he's realy good at running ho scale trains, he prefers the engines with the kd couplers,after spending a few hours in there with him i now let him in the train room for an hour at atime by himself
 
Too bad the whimpy Euro-look will be lost here in the US. Looking back to my childhood, it sure wouldn't have interested me or my pals -- at all. So why should it work now? I'm just sayin'. :)
 
I think walthers has been trying to kill the life like name ever since they bought the proto 2000 name, When life like owned proto, their engines were great quality and for a great price, when walthers bought life like, the engines stayed the same quality but they hiked the price way over what it should be.
 
Many train sets like this are really designed to go around the Christmas Tree. During the rest of the year, you can hardly find any in this area, but starting right after Labor Day, these are generally the first "Christmas stuff" put on the shelves for use at Christmas. Many of the sets have a Christmas theme in the cars and locos, but there is an even # of sets that are decorated like regular train sets. But as soon as Christmas is over, they are gone until next September.
 
Its back to the ole train sets in the Sears Catalogue, remember that? There was some discussion somewhere that the manufacturers literally made the equipment to wear out. By the time it was done spinning around the tree, or the kid playing with it, it would break, and time to buy a new set next year. There are still these low end train sets but this looks aimed for the kiddies where the equipment can take some minor beating. The real modeler demands caused the manufacturers to hike detail and quality with DCC (and the prices) but pushing the kiddie models probably will keep the hobby alive in the long run when the kids grow up.
 
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