A sample of Life-Like's train set offerings in the mid/late-1990s...

[wiley209]

A while back I found my old "Life-Like Basics for Beginners: 10th Edition" booklet that came with my "Railroad Empire" Life-Like HO-scale train set that pretty much started my railroad layout (a deluxe top-of-the-line set, same as the "Diesel Driver" currently offered but with a Santa Fe GP38-2 lo-nose locomotive and caboose.)
For those unfamiliar, Life-Like would usually include these "Basics for Beginners" booklets in many of their new train sets (IDK if they still do), mainly geared toward anyone who is starting out in building a model railroad layout. The last few pages would show the many products Life-Like would have available at the time. The last page would always be "MORE GREAT LIFE-LIKE TRAIN SETS."

There were two N-scale train sets offered: the Little Joe and the Diesel Charger. Little Joe offered an 0-4-0 saddleback ATSF steam locomotive, two freight cars and caboose, a country store and church building kit, three trees, some small signs and utility poles, an oval of conventional N-scale track and the usual Life-Like control pack.
Diesel Charger had a double-header diesel freight train with two Conrail GP38-2 locomotives (One powered, one dummy), three freight cars and a caboose, an oval of track, railroad crossing, signs and utility poles and power pack.

Life-Like had many more offerings in HO scale. They used to have a LOT in conventional Code-100 track back then (I believe they may have been nickel-silver by this time...

SUPER CHIEF
36" track circle with a Santa Fe F7, two freight cars and a caboose, and signs and utility poles. A somewhat basic starter set.

RAIL MASTER
Same as above, but with a Union Pacific F40PH locomotive and matching caboose. It's actually still manufactured today, but with a 47"-38" oval of Power-Loc track, and a SANTA FE F40PH and caboose!

MAIN LINE
45-36" oval of track, Santa Fe GP38-2 lo-nose locomotive (usually the blue-and-yellow version), two freight cars and caboose, 17-piece bridge and trestle set, signal bridge, and signs and utility poles. It's pretty much no different from Life-Like's train sets of the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s.

TRAIL BLAZER
The only steam set in the offerings. Again, 45-36" oval of track, with an 0-4-0 PRR steam locomotive and tender, three freight cars and caboose, signal bridge, and signs and utility poles.

FAST FREIGHT
By this point, the sets are starting to get a bit more featured with accessories. The track plan once again consists of a 45-36" oval, and the train has a red-and-silver Santa Fe GP38-2 locomotive (all mentioned trains with ATSF GP38-2 lo-nose locomotives are silver-and-red warbonnet, unless specifically noted), three freight cars and caboose, blinking bridge and trestle set, plastic autos and trucks and figures, trees, signs (including little plastic BURMA-SHAVE signs) and utility poles.

THUNDERING RAILS
Not to be confused with the train set Life-Like is currently offering. This one has a slightly-bigger oval, Santa Fe GP38-2 lo-nose locomotive, five freight cars and caboose, blinking bridge and trestle set, signal bridge, signs and utility poles.

DIESEL MASTER
48-by-49" double-loop over/under track plan, Union Pacific F40PH locomotive, three regular freight cars, bi-level auto carrier car and caboose, the over/under bridge and trestle set, six autos for the bi-level carrier, signs and utility poles.

POWER HAULER
Over/under figure-8 track plan, Union Pacific GP38-2 hi-nose locomotive, five freight cars and caboose, the over/under bridge and trestle set, signal bridge, stock pen with farmer/pig/cow figures, operating rail crossing gate, two plastic autos and pickup truck, three trees, signs and utility poles.

HEAVY HAULER
Another over/under figure-8 track plan, two Santa Fe GP38-2 lo-nose locomotives (one powered, one dummy), four freight cars and caboose, over/under blinking bridge and trestle set, cars and trucks, trees, signs and utility poles.

THUNDERBALL HAULER
Not to be confused with another set of the same name Life-Like is currently offering. This was basically Life-Like's version of Tyco's "Railroad Empire II" sets of the 80s and early 90s, with an over-and-under figure-8 track plan and plenty of action accessories. It included the track, Santa Fe GP38-2 lo-nose locomotive, two regular freight cars, a log-dump car, pipe-dump car, bi-level auto carrier car and caboose, over/under bridge-and-trestle set, operating dumping station (for both the pipes and the logs), operating rail crossing gate, signal bridge, trees, signs and utility poles.


There were also five Power-Loc sets mentioned as well:

RAIL RIDER
Starter set with 47-by-38" oval of Power-Loc track, Santa-Fe GP38-2 hi-nose locomotive, two freight cars and caboose, signal bridge, signs and utility poles.

BLAZING RAILS
47-by-38" oval of Power-Loc track, Santa-Fe GP38-2 lo-nose locomotive (blue-and-yellow version), four freight cars and caboose, 10-piece bridge and trestle/pier set, signs and utility poles.

GREAT RAILS
Another early Power-Loc set, featuring a 74-by-38" oval of track, Union Pacific GP38-2 hi-nose locomotive, four "regular" freight cars, bi-level auto carrier car with six autos and caboose, signal bridge, signs and utility poles.

DIESEL BLASTER
74-by-37" oval of Power-Loc track, two Santa-Fe GP38-2 lo-nose locomotives (one powered, one dummy), four freight cars and caboose, 10-piece bridge and pier set, signal bridge, stock pen with cow/pig/farmer figures, trackside shanty building kits, autos and trees, signs and utility poles. Some time in the early-to-mid 2000s, it was renamed "Diesel Thunder," and later replaced the two lo-nose locomotives with the Santa Fe GP38 hi-nose locomotives.

POWER CHARGER
Figure-8 Power-Loc track plan, Santa Fe GP38-2 hi-nose locomotive, five freight cars and caboose, 18-piece over/under bridge and pier set, signal bridge, operating railroad crossing with dual gates, stock pen with cow/pig/farmer figures, plastic autos and trees, signs and utility poles. Some time around 2000-2001, it was renamed the "Super Power Charger," featured UP-branded locomotive and caboose, and dropped the signal bridge, only to revert back from UP to Santa Fe! It was then later reworked into the "Freight Runner," replacing the bridge and pier set with a 90-degree cross track and adding a Snap-Loc train station building kit, but the rest of it remained the same and is still available for purchase.


Hope this helps. I also have the 12th edition and I may do a follow-up post on what train sets were offered in THAT.

 

[TheGloriousTachikoma]

I think the thundering rails was my first train set. Must have been...1995 I think. One of the Christmases I remember best. I *knew* what was in the box before I unwrapped it. It was just the right size. And of course being 6, when time came to put away the track every singe one of those rail joiners broke!

 

[wiley209]

And of course being 6, when time came to put away the track every singe one of those rail joiners broke!

Life-Like's regular Code-100 track isn't so great. I recently replaced the rusted steel rails on my old Life-Like operating rail crossing gate with nickel-silver rails and that really helped boost performance (for the trains, not the crossing gate; I need to fix that!)
The main problem with the Power-Loc track that ships with their current train sets is that the steel rails get dirtier more quickly than nickel silver, and are more prone to rusting (I think that could be fixed though.) Life-Like needs to get their act together and start packaging their current train sets with the nickel-silver Power-Loc track (they used to have Proto-1000 train sets with that sort of track, but they've since been discontinued, IIRC.)

Here are the train sets offered in the 12TH edition of Basics for Beginners:

HO SCALE CONVENTIONAL TRACK SYSTEMS
"These several conventional track sets offer something for everyone! Each is different in its own way, so you can choose which components you want to start your own railroad empire."

GOLDEN FLYER
Just a 36" circle of Code-100 track, a Union Pacific F40PH locomotive, two freight cars and caboose. Your typical bare-bones starter set.

RAIL MASTER
THUNDERING RAILS
DIESEL MASTER
(All previously mentioned in the 10th edition.)


HO- SCALE POWER-LOC(TM) TRACK SETS
"These super sets feature added components such as street signs, cars and trees, combined with the ease of Power-Loc track. Some also feature realistic operating accessories like the dual crossing gate."

SUPERTRAIN RADIO/REMOTE CONTROL
I am very familiar with this set; as this is how my model railroad pretty much began, then got bigger with the Railroad Empire set! It consists of a Santa Fe F7 diesel locomotive, three freight cars and a caboose, a 47-by-38" oval of track, railroad signs and utility poles. Rather than the usual power pack, it instead uses a receiver that somewhat resembles the Snap-Loc train station that also has a speaker and the DC connections to connect it to the tracks. The accompanying remote control runs on a 9-volt battery, and has "FORWARD" and "REVERSE" buttons, "STOP," and a "SOUND" button that has the receiver make diesel train sounds (as this was before the days of DCC trains and their sound chips!) This was mostly a gimmick for younger kids, I think.

BRANCHLINE
Another bare-bones starter set with a 38" circle of track, Santa Fe F7 locomotive, two freight cars and caboose.

RAIL MASTER
Similar to the conventional track version, but with a 47-by-38" oval of track (instead of a circle like the conventional version), and a Santa Fe F40PH diesel locomotive and caboose (earlier versions had Union Pacific, like the conventional version.) This set is still available for purchase!

FREIGHT CHARGER
Again, a 47-by-38" oval of track, but now more featured, The train consists of a Conrail F7 diesel locomotive, two "regular" freight cars, log dump car and caboose, the operating log dump station, figures, signs and utility poles.

DOUBLE TRAIN EXPRESS
This was Life-Like's total top-of-the-line set! It was essentially a full two-train model railroad layout, using a very large over/under Figure-8 track plan, with a smaller 38" circle in one of the loops (along with two control packs, one for each train.) One train featured a Santa Fe F7 diesel locomotive, three freight cars and caboose; the other train had an 0-4-0 Union Pacific steam locomotive and tender car, two freight cars and caboose. The set also came with the 18-piece bridge-and-trestle set, operating dual-gate railroad crossing, trackside shanty building kits, plastic autos and truck, signs and telephone poles, a grass mat, earth cover material, green and mixed lichen pieces, lake paper and mountain paper (usually with a tunnel support.) Pretty similar to some of their super-deluxe train sets that come in those white shipping boxes you often see on eBay, except this was in their "regular"-style train set packaging.
It was discontinued in favor of the "Super City Elevated Rails" double train set, which is also available as a similar deluxe version with landscaping and operating accessories as the "City Express."

BLAZING RAILS
DIESEL BLASTER
POWER CHARGER
(All previously mentioned in the 10th edition above.)

FREIGHTLINE U.S.A.
Still available for purchase! This is Life-Like's current top-of-the-line train set offering, featuring a 79-by-49 double-oval over/under Power-Loc track layout, including left and right-hand switch sections (manual-operation versions.) The train features a Santa Fe GP38-2 lo-nose locomotive, five freight cars (one of them a gravel-dump car) and a caboose. It features three action accessories (like some of Tyco's older top-of-the-line sets, or Life-Like's older "Thunderball Hauler"), including the gravel-unloading station, coal tipple and dual-gate railroad crossing. Also included are the 18-piece bridge/trestle set, signal bridge, trackside shanty building kits, plastic autos and truck, trees and figures, signs and utility poles, and a tunnel (their mountain paper with a cardboard tunnel support you would assemble.)

RAIL BLASTER
The track plan on this one features a 56-by-38" oval, and the train consists of a Chessie GP38-2 lo-nose locomotive, three "regular" freight cars, a gravel-dump car and caboose. It also included several plastic autos and trucks, the snap-loc train station building kit, operating gravel-unloading station, signs and utility poles. An Australian version was also offered with more-localized railroad names.

IRON HORSE
56-by-38" oval track plan, 0-4-0 PRR steam locomotive and tender, three freight cars and caboose, 10-piece bridge/trestle set, signs and utility poles.