TrainPages: Proto 2000

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

HO-Scale Locomotive & Rolling Stock Production

I originally posted the first spreadsheets for HO-Scale locomotives by Atlas, Kato and Life-Like Proto 1000 & Proto 2000 on my old website on November 19, 2003. I added the rest on May 16, 2010. I have since updated them all.

Model railroad manufacturers such as Athearn, Atlas, Kato, Life-Like and M.T.H. have produced many different locomotive models in recent years. This has largely been good for model railroaders such as myself, as it gives up access to many more types of locomotives than we previously had access to. For this to be possible, these manufacturers and others have had to make these products available as limited runs only. While these limited runs are only produced for a very short time, they may remain available from distributors and at hobby shops for months (or in some cases years) after the original run. I made these spreadsheets when I discovered that it was hard to find a list of every road name & number of every locomotive these manufacturers have made. Because they are limited production, many never even make it into the Walthers catalog for even one year (and Athearn's not even in there at all anymore), and even the manufacturers' websites are often incomplete. I have tried to find every HO-Scale locomotive for these manufacturers, using their own websites as a basis, and then searching through eBay and various online hobby shops to fill in the blanks. I also used Tony Cook's HO-Scale Trains Resource, HOseeker.Net, Mainline Model Miniatures, Rivarossi Memory, old versions of manufacturer websites found at the Internet Archive and old magazine articles and catalogs of my own. It was a difficult process, and I am sure I am missing a few items, particularly from Atlas' earlier production. I originally made these for my own use, but the trouble I went through made me think others might like to have access to this information as well, so here they are and hopefully they will be found. I am an HO-Scale modeler, and have only done HO scale products. I will consider adding other HO manufacturers if there is demand, but if you want other scales, you'll have to pay me. Note that this is just a reference; I am not offering anything for sale.

The spreadsheets are linked below. Once inside, use the tabs near the bottom of the screen to select the locomotive model. You may not be able to see all the tabs at once; use the small arrow buttons on the right to scroll among the tabs.

Athearn Genesis Locomotives
Athearn Genesis Rolling Stock
Athearn Ready To Roll Locomotives
Athearn Ready To Roll Rolling Stock
Athearn Ready To Roll Vehicles
Athearn Ready To Roll Series
Atlas Locomotives
Atlas Trainman Locomotives
Kato Locomotives
M.T.H. HO Locomotives
Rivarossi Locomotives
Roundhouse Trains Locomotives & Rolling Stock
Walthers Trainline Locomotives & Rolling Stock

I have decided to include for reference some product lines that are no longer produced. The following spreadsheets include the Athearn "Blue Box" line of injection-molded plastic kits that was discontinued on October 16, 2009. The early metal kits are not included. These will not be updated further unless I discover missing items.

Athearn “Blue Box” Locomotive Kits
Athearn “Blue Box” Rolling Stock Kits

The following spreadsheets include the Model Die Casting line of locomotives and injection-molded plastic cars up to the acquisition of Model Die Casting by Horizon Hobbies on June 14, 2004. The early metal car kits are not included. These will not be updated further unless I discover missing items.

Model Die Casting Locomotives
Model Die Casting Rolling Stock

I have also decided to stop updating the Life-Like Proto 1000 and Proto 2000 sheets. Life-Like sold its model train lines to Walthers in July 2005. The product lines are still in production and are as good as ever, and though most items are still limited-production, new items will now appear in at least one year's Walthers catalog. As they stood, the spreadsheets were complete up to the takeover, and I couldn't think of a good way to separate the Life-Like production from the Walthers production, especially since some items carried over across the takeover. I decided the Walthers takeover made a good stopping point, and am leaving the Life-Like Proto Series sheets up as references only. The spreadsheets include all HO Scale diesel locomotives released before the Walthers takeover and were last updated on August 1, 2008 when I discovered some items were missing.

Life-Like Proto 1000 Series Diesel Locomotives
Life-Like Proto 2000 Series Diesel Locomotives

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Southern Pacific SD45 #7502 by Proto 2000

I never posted pictures of these commissioned models on my old website, but I am including them now for completion.

Southern Pacific SD45 #7502, Before

This HO-Scale Southern Pacific SD45, #7502, is a Life-Like Proto 2000 model that I was commissioned to work on in November 2007.

Southern Pacific SD45 #7502, Before

This was originally an undecorated model that someone had painted. However, they didn’t do a very good job. They painted the model by hand with a brush, and missed a lot of parts. The handrails needed to be repainted, and the fuel tank and trucks hadn’t been painted at all. The model also needed a horn installed.

Southern Pacific SD45 #7502, After

I installed a new horn and touched up the gray paint on the body and handrails, with white on the handrails at the steps. I also painted the fuel tank and trucks gray.

Southern Pacific SD45 #7502, After