The American Locomotive Co. (Alco) built the prototypes as 2,000-hp, dual-engine units for passenger service. Their memorable appearance is due to a carbody design by Otto Kuhler. Alco’s DL-105 and DL-107 locomotives of 1940 had the same body, so the Life-Like model can represent them as well. In fact, our Gulf, Mobile & Ohio sample unit is numbered for one of that road’s two DL-107s (the only two built).
Sixty-nine DL-109s were produced between 1941 and 1945. That might not seem like very many, but the DL-109’s direct competitor, the Electro-Motive E6, sold only 92 cabs and 26 boosters. (There were also four DL-110 B units, but understandably Life-Like is not modeling them.)
The DL-109 achieved its greatest success on the New York, New Haven & Hartford, which acquired a fleet of 60. The New Haven used them as dual- service power, hauling passenger trains by day and freights at night. Without that dual role there might not have been as many built because of the wartime restrictions on building purely passenger power.
Most DL-109s were retired by about 1960. The two GM&O DL-107s, nos. 270 and 271, were traded in to EMD for GP30s in 1962 or ’63.
In keeping with the price objective of the Proto 1000 line, this DL-109 has molded handrails and few free-standing parts, although the air coolers and their piping under the forward radiator shutters are quite nice. The model is missing the sandbox fillers that should be just ahead of the number boxes on each side of the nose. Also, since the front coupler box is rigid, there’s no good reason for the wide slot in the pilot.
Many cosmetic variations appeared on different owners’ DL-105s, 107s, and 109s, and this model will only approximate any particular prototype. For example, the GM&O locomotives had a lower, less protuberant headlight casing, and it was decorated with raised speed-line moldings that are simply suggested with silver paint on the model.
Nevertheless, the model’s overall effect is very good, and it scales out right on compared to prototype drawings in the Model Railroader Cyclopedia, Vol. 2: Diesel Locomotives.
The DL-109’s mechanism is similar to those of the Proto 2000 Alco PA and Proto 1000 “Erie built,” with a flywheel- equipped can motor enclosed in a heavy die-cast chassis and driving all six axles. Like those models, this one runs and pulls extremely well.
The headlight has a directional constant-brightness circuit. It’s on only in forward motion, but the bulb is set so far back from the lens that it’s hard to see the light except when looking at it close to head on. The circuit board includes numbered holes (not a socket) for connecting a Digital Command Control Decoder, and not that there is a circuit trace that must be cut where marked with an “X” for DCC operation.
The DL-109 is one of those locomotives that many thought we’d never see as a mass-produced plastic unit. This Proto 1000 model puts well-made replicas of an uncommon prototype within reach of most HO modelers.
Price: $75.00
Manufacturer:
Life-Like Products Inc.
1600 Union Ave.
Baltimore, MD 21211
410-889-1023
www.lifelikeproducts.com
Description:
Plastic and metal ready-to-run
diesel locomotive
Road names:
Gulf, Mobile & Ohio; Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Chicago & North Western; Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (Milwaukee Road); Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; New York, New Haven & Hartford (green and buff scheme); and Southern Ry.
(Two numbers each except AT&SF and C&NW, which owned only one each.)
All-wheel electrical pickup
Drawbar pull: 6.08 ounces(equivalent to 91 free-rolling freight cars on straight, level track, or 45 passenger cars)
Engine weight: 31.5 ounces
Magnetic knuckle couplers, mounted at correct height
Minimum radius: 15″ (22″ is better)
Nickel-silver RP25 wheelsets, correctly gauged
