Bryan- I fear Lifelike just does not seem to seem to see the need for DCC in N. They have finally replaced the old Rapido couplers. Perhaps they will see the DCC compatability issue in a different light in the future. I hope so. The GP60 is a favorite of mine and these sure have excellent detail and paint. I've gone the replacement frame route in the past to install N decoders but, quite frankly, I find it a pain.
Milling the frame with a dremel and hard wiring up a decoder is a lot less work than what you used to have to go through to get a GP60 in N scale, but why dosen't Life Like get with the program and make their engines DCC ready? It dosen't seem to be that much more effort for a manufactur when they have came this far with the locomotive's detail to at least think about making provisions for a decoder. Brian
I got two of these and I believe they are the smoothest and quietest runners I have and they could pull out tree stumps! Mine are beautifully panted and detailed SP and UP units with incredible attention to accuracy, such as the painted walkways and anti-slip surfaces, not to mention the crisp relief detail and incredible warning labels. My only complaint is the incorrect brake area arrangements on anything that is not SP or ex SP, such as on my UP unit (#1983), which is actually an ex SSW unit that should have a flush-mount brakewheel. The incorrect trucks I can live with just fine. Otherwise, bravo Lifelike!! You've hit a home run on this one! Russ
EMD5 is making a demo appearance on my Mopac rails. Electro-Motive is working hard to get an order, but most of the budget was spent on previous GP50s. Still, it looks good among the Jenks' Blue. (I couldn't resist getting one of these, esp. in the demo scheme.) (Thanks George...just got it tonight!) ~Tim
Muahahaha, for some reason I identify with Life Like. Maybe if I tried DCC I would think differently about it, or maybe I just like very simple track schematics where DC wiring and operation is just easy. I drive a manual transmission car too. *edit* and these GP60s look awesome, I cant take it, I'll have to buy one or two now, seeing as how DRGW units are available.
