What scale is this model set? Value?

[Lo_Poly]

I'm hoping I can get some advice here. In a nutshell, I found this set in our basement. It's a little beat up in spots (you can see it on the Santa Fe's side rails and the level crossing gates) but I tested it, and it actually runs fine.

Images: http://imgur.com/a/It1dX#eEUpp

I'm a noob when it comes to model railroading, so I'm unsure of what the scale is. I don't know how valuable this set is either. There are three engines in total. There are two model transformers. The bag of ballast is unused. All I really know about the set is that it's by Life-Like (I seem to keep running into this brand).

(Sorry if this comes across as mooching from a forum, but this is the only reliable train forum that I'm really familiar with.)

Cheers.

 

[Kiwi_Rail]

Its Ho Scale - although being lifelike its really not much more than a glorified toy train so i would expect the value to be low.

William

 

[Euphod]

I agree with William. You could get more possibly if you sold the track, cars, and scenery separately on E Bay.

 

[magickmaker]

Well that's something you don't see every day.

Life-Like was actually one of the major competitors in the old "Train Set" wars that started in the 1970's. Compared to Bachmann and Lionel, Life-Like was best known for quality. That's the funny thing about them, they may not have seemed like much, but the Life-Like trains tended to be spot on most of the details. Bachmann later came out with the Spectrum series that drove a proverbial nail in Life-Like's coffin, but the company is still producing.

In any case, what you have there seems to be a couple sets. Most likely a late 90's set, since you have the EZ trak that was a copy of the same track type that Bachmann had come out with.
The sets I see, are:

The "Freight Runner" which sells for about 108.00 retail. It's actually one of the better sets with a nice high nose GP38.

The Rail Traveler Set. This is actually produced by Walthers who bought Life-like. This is the Amtrak set. That's a rare set, sells for around 123.00 dollars. It's hard to find though, so could go for more.

The thing that bothers me, is Life-Like never actually produced a good steam train set. The closest they had was the Santa-Fe set, but that was an 0-6-0 dockside style TANK locomotive. The other set was an N scale set. This means that either the Steamer was purchased separate, or more likely it is a later Walthers locomotive.

Keep in mind, Life-Like went under and was purchased by Walthers. Wathers then turned around and retooled, building the company up and basing on the quality it had in the past. Meaning that though some people (who don't know any better *peers at rugrat*) associate them with being worthless, they're really not. In a pinch a good Life-Like engine could with a little work and care, can actually run quite well with any other DC locomotive. It's how many model railroaders got their start, and even to this day some modelers still swear by the company.

At the very least, you've got the good workings of a railroad. Probably would be able to sell the whole lot of it, track and all, for around five hundred dollars. There are collectors that would KILL for some of the "operating" trackside buildings, and modelers that would love to have the carriages and cars.

 

[Lo_Poly]

Wow, thanks Magicmaker. You have quite an insight here.

Unfortunately, it seems quite a few pieces are missing, especially from the Rail Traveler set. Oh well. I'll bundle it all together for $400 and see if anyone will bite on Craigslist before moving onto eBay.

Cheers and thanks again!

 

[JIb228]

The track, that is "Pre Ballasted" is commonly called EZ Track. Thought what you have there is what Life Like came out with called Power Lock. No one really makes it any more, from what I can tell, and its not compatible with other forms or Easy Track. This means that to add more, some one would have to use a normal piece of snap track to like them, or come up with a linking track.

But before you try to sell it set it up and make sure every thing works. You might need to clean the tracks. To do that you'll just need a rag and soome rubbing alcohol. Id suggest getting a shop rag, the red ones you see mechanics use in auto shops as they work best. Others tend to fray a bit too easily.

But set it up, play with it a little to make sure every thing works, and who knows, you might just deiced to join the many of us crazy people who build model trains. Dont worry, it only cost's your sanity.