Life-Like - 920-80055 - Locomotive, Diesel, EMD GP20 - Norfolk Southern - 2008

Model Information: Released in 1998, 2004 (revised version with Accumate couplers), and 2011 (by Walthers, DCC-Ready version, with MTL couplers).
Re-run under Atlas brand in 2021 after Atlas purchased the tooling from Walthers.

The 2011 model features:

• DCC-Ready Mechanism w/Clip-Fit Circuit Board;
• All-Wheel Drive & All-Wheel Electrical Pickup;
• Dual Machined Brass Flywheels;
• Heavy Die Cast Split-Frame Chassis;
• Powerful Skew-Wound Motor;
• Constant Intensity & Directional Headlights;
• RP-25 Wheels Operate on Code 55 & Larger Rail.

DCC Information: The 2011 version is DCC ready. Accepts the following plug-in decoders (non-sound):
- Digitrax DN163L0A: 1 Amp N Scale Mobile Decoder for Walthers Proto GP20 and similar.
- TCS L1D4: BEMF decoder designed to fit Life-Like GP20 locomotive.

The Atlas version of 2021 comes either with a factory-installed DCC Sound decoder (ESU LokSound) or in DC version (with pre-installed speaker).
It accepts the following plug-in decoders:
- DCC silent: Digitrax DN166I3: 1.5 Amp Mobile Decoder that fits InterMountain N Scale SD40-2 released 2017
- DCC Sound: ESU LokSound Select Direct Micro ref.73199.

Prototype History: An EMD GP20 is a 4-axle (B-B) diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between November 1959 and April 1962. Power was provided by an EMD 567D2 16-cylinder turbocharged engine which generated 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW). EMD was initially hesitant to turbocharge their 567-series diesel engine, but was spurred on to do so following successful tests made by Union Pacific in the form of UP's experimental Omaha GP20 units. 260 examples of EMD's production locomotive model (with the EMD turbocharger) were built for American railroads.

From Wikipedia
Read more on American-Rails.com

Road Name History: The Norfolk Southern Railway (reporting mark NS) is a Class I railroad in the United States; began in 1982 and 1990. With headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, the company operates 36,200 route miles in 22 eastern states, the District of Columbia, and has rights in Canada from Buffalo to Toronto and over the Albany to Montreal route. NS is responsible for maintaining 29,000 miles, with the remainder being operated under trackage rights from other parties responsible for maintenance. The common commodity hauled on the railroad is coal from mines in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The railroad also offers the most intermodal network in eastern North America.

NS is a major transporter of domestic and export coal. The railroad's major sources of the mineral are located in: Pennsylvania's Cambria and Indiana counties, as well as the Monongahela Valley; West Virginia; and the Appalachia regions of Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. In Pennsylvania, NS also receives coal through interchange with R.J. Corman Railroad/Pennsylvania Lines at Cresson, Pennsylvania, originating in the "Clearfield Cluster". NS's export of West Virginia bituminous coal, begins transport on portions of the well-engineered former Virginian Railway and the former N&W double-tracked line in Eastern Virginia to its Lambert's Point coal pier on Hampton Roads at Norfolk. Coal transported by NS is thus exported to steel mills and power plants around the world. The company is also a major transporter of auto parts and completed vehicles. It operates intermodal container and TOFC (trailer on flat car) trains, some in conjunction with other railroads. NS was the first railway to employ roadrailers, which are highway truck trailers with interchangeable wheel sets.

The Norfolk Southern Railway's parent Norfolk Southern Corporation is a Norfolk, Virginia-based parent company. Norfolk Southern Corporation was incorporated on July 23, 1980 in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbols NSC. The primary business function of Norfolk Southern Corporation is the rail transportation of raw materials, intermediate products, and finished goods across the Southeast, East, and Midwest United States. The corporation further facilitates transport to the remainder of the United States through interchange with other rail carriers while also serving overseas transport needs by serving several Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports. As of October 1, 2014 Norfolk Southern Corporation's total public stock value was slightly over $34.5 billion.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Brand/Importer Information: Life-Like Products LLC (now Life-Like Toy and Hobby division of Wm. K. Walthers) was a manufacturer of model railroad products and was based in Baltimore, Maryland.

It was founded in the 1950s by a company that pioneered extruded foam ice chests under the Lifoam trademark. Because ice chests are a summer seasonal item, the company needed a way to keep the factory operating year round. As model railroading was becoming popular in the post-war years, they saw this as an opportunity and so manufactured extruded foam tunnels for model trains. Over the years, Life-Like expanded into other scenery items, finally manufacturing rolling stock beginning in the late 1960s. At some point in the early 1970s, Life-Like purchased Varney Inc. and began to produce the former Varney line as its own.

The Canadian distributor for Life-Like products, Canadian Hobbycraft, saw a missing segment in market for Canadian model prototypes, and started producing a few Canadian models that were later, with a few modifications, offered in the US market with US roadnames.

In 2005, the company, now known as Lifoam Industries, LLC, decided to concentrate on their core products of extruded foam and sold their model railroad operations to Wm. K. Walthers.

In June 2018, Atlas and Walthers announced to have reached an agreement under which all Walthers N scale rolling stock tooling, including the former Life-Like tooling, will be purchased by Atlas.

Read more on Wikipedia and The Train Collectors Association.