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I purchased a N Scale Life-Like GP 20 New from a vendor at a Greenberg Train Show in Edison N.J. in 2005. I was planning on building a N Scale layout but never did. I wanted to give it to my son who is just starting to build a N Scale layout. We took the brand new GP 20 out of the box & put it on the track & it was dead it would not run. Walther's acquired Life-Like. Life-Like Trains have a LIFE TIME GUARANTEE. The guarantee states they will repair or replace their products as long as it is in the possession of the original owner. Walther's refuses to honor the guarantee. I would accept something similar in place of the GP 20 if Walther's was unable to repair it. They just outright refuse to honor the Guarantee.
Walthers only kept the HO portion of LifeLike, they sold the N scale to Atlas. Walthers did produce the LifeLike SW9/1200 in N scale but Atlas re-issued the LifeLike FA/B1's.
Chances are good that this loco has oxidized electrical contacts from sitting for so long in its jewel case. And possibly hardened grease in the gears. A good servicing should easily bring it back to life. If you can find some N-scalers in your area, I'm sure one of them could help you out with that.
There may be no way to ascertain if the "train show vendor" you bought the engine from twenty years ago was actually an authorized LifeLike/Walthers dealer.
As ikaneer mentions, Walthers then sold the N-scale LL brand to Atlas.
That's TWO "ownerships back".
This "warranty" isn't going to be honored.
Too many years back now.
It is what it is.
Agree with what Mixed Freight says above -- engine will need a good "going through" to revive it, if it's "revivable" ...
On a different note, Show us what it looks like and maybe we ca help fix it. Working on model locomotives is part of the hobby, and this form was made (Partly, anyway) for asking questions. So show us what you've got!
I don't think having fewer posts than many others does not invalidate his opinion. Some post every day and say nothing and others rarely post. I try to post whenever I have something to say.
I don't think having fewer posts than many others does not invalidate his opinion. Some post every day and say nothing and others rarely post. I try to post whenever I have something to say.
I don't think having fewer posts than many others does not invalidate his opinion. Some post every day and say nothing and others rarely post. I try to post whenever I have something to say.
Not intending to invalidate his opinion. My point was to clarify that he probably hadn't seen the responses yet since he doesn't seem to check in very often. Of course, he may read them without logging in.
Not intending to invalidate his opinion. My point was to clarify that he probably hadn't seen the responses yet since he doesn't seem to check in very often. Of course, he may read them without logging in.
And he could get them via email if he has that selected as default to watch with email threads he posts.
In the other forum people commented on what/whos lifetime a lifetime warranty applies to. As pointed out here it was Life-Likes lifetime warranty, not Walthers or Atlas.
Just SMH. So it doesn't work after being in storage for 20 years, warranty is no longer valid due to ownership change, should probably just toss it, buy a new/modern/high quality replacement, and go on with life.
This is just like people ranting about S&W not honoring their lifetime handgun warranty. The company has been through several ownership changes also and their warranty now only applies to handguns purchased after 2/1/89.
Okay, I just Googled when Lifelike went out of business. It looks like they were already gone when the OP made his purchase, therefore there wasn’t even a Lifelike to register with for a warranty of any kind.
So, his claim about a warranty is void before he even started.
