Life-Like

Lore & Background

Life-Like Products was founded by brothers Lou and Sol Kramer, whose parents were Lithuanian immigrants in Baltimore. Their hobby industry experience began in the 1930s with model airplanes, forming the Burd Model Airplane Manufacturing Co. using balsa wood from discarded banana crates. After World War II, the business shifted to distribution under Kramer Brothers Hobbies, and they began making model trees and grass mats under the Life-Like name, as well as dyed lichen moss from Norway.

In 1960, the company purchased the assets of Varney Scale Models and continued producing HO scale trains under the Varney name until 1970, when the Life-Like brand was introduced for trains. Life-Like became known as a down-market affordable supplier. In 1989, the company launched the Proto 2000 line of finely detailed HO scale diesel locomotives, starting with a BL2 model, followed by the Proto 1000 mid-range line. The company also produced N scale models, initially made by Mehano in Yugoslavia, then at Sanda Kan with higher quality.

Life-Like entered the HO slot car market in the 1980s and 1990s, purchasing the Rokar Slot Racing range. The Kramer family sold the business to private interests in 2000. In 2005, parent company Lifoam Industries sold the model railroad division to Walthers, which continued the Life-Like line for beginners until the 2010s. Train sets were discontinued in 2016, but building kits and grass mats remain under the Life-Like name.

Reader's Guide

Life-Like's significance lies in its role as an affordable entry point for model railroaders, particularly through its toy train sets and down-market products. The company's legacy includes the Proto 2000 and Proto 1000 lines, which raised the bar for detail and quality in HO scale locomotives and rolling stock, later absorbed into WalthersProto. Life-Like also contributed to the hobby through its scenic accessories, such as foam tunnels and grass mats, and its Power-Loc roadbed track, now sold under Walthers Trainline. The company's manufacturing joint venture, Sanda Kan, became a major producer for multiple model railroad brands. After Walthers' acquisition, Life-Like products continued to serve beginners and mass-market consumers until the 2010s, and some items remain available under the Life-Like trademark today.

Did You Know?

• Life-Like's founders, Lou and Sol Kramer, started with model airplanes using balsa wood from discarded banana crates.
• In 1954, the company began producing foam ice chest coolers under the Lifoam name after workers discovered the insulating properties of foam tunnels.
• Life-Like introduced the Proto 2000 line in 1989 with a model of the BL2 locomotive.

Pioneering the HO Scale

When Gordon Varney established his model train company in Chicago in 1936, the HO gauge was still in its infancy as a commercially viable product. His most consequential contribution to the hobby was engineering the V-1 motor, a compact 6-volt direct-current unit that could fit inside a miniature locomotive body while still generating enough torque to haul a lengthy consist of rolling stock. This breakthrough effectively democratized model railroading, making it accessible to enthusiasts who lacked the floor space for larger gauges. Varney's earliest offerings, introduced in the late 1930s and early 1940s, were the 4-6-2 Pacific—modeled on a Southern Pacific prototype with a USRA-style boiler—and the 2-8-0 Consolidation, patterned after a Reading Railroad locomotive. A 2-8-2 Mikado joined the lineup shortly thereafter, followed by additional steam designs. By solving the fundamental power-and-size problem, Varney gave the HO scale the mechanical credibility it needed to grow from a niche curiosity into a mainstream hobby.

Li'l Joe and a Lasting Commercial Legacy

Few HO scale locomotives have achieved the sales milestone of Varney's B&O C-16 0-4-0T Switcher, a little shifter that Gordon Varney himself christened "Li'l Joe" in his advertising copy. The nickname stuck, and the model went on to sell more than fifty thousand copies, cementing its place as one of the most popular HO scale locomotives ever produced. Varney's marketing savvy extended beyond the product itself; for years his advertisements dominated the back cover of Model Railroader, the hobby's premier magazine. The photographs accompanying those ads were frequently the work of John Allen, widely regarded as the most celebrated photographer in the publication's history. The quality and fine detail of Varney's locomotives consistently exceeded the industry average, a reputation that has kept the models highly sought after by collectors and dedicated model railroad enthusiasts well into the present day.

Beyond the Locomotive: The Vehicle Line

Varney's influence stretched well beyond steam locomotives into the realm of scale accessories, where miniature automobiles became a signature part of the product line. In 1954 the company introduced a one-and-a-quarter-inch model of the 1953 Ford Customline Fordor Sedan, featuring moveable wheels and a level of surface detail that impressed hobbyists. The accuracy of that sedan was achieved by using AMT Corporation's 1/25-scale Customline as a master pattern. Released alongside it were a 1949 Ford F-1 pickup, a panel truck, and a stake truck, all pantographed from 1/32-scale originals produced by National Products. The stake truck was later reworked so that a builder could assemble it as either a van or a flatbed. A 1953 Studebaker Starliner, also derived from an AMT master, soon rounded out the lineup. Initially offered in gray, red, and black, the vehicles received a significant upgrade in 1956 when Varney began molding them in clear styrene, giving detail-oriented painters the chance to apply their own colors while retaining realistic transparent window glass.

From Varney to Life-Like: Sale, Transition, and Recognition

The trajectory of the company shifted dramatically in the mid-1950s when Varney relocated its operations from Chicago to Miami, Florida. Some of the earlier steam locomotive designs were picked up by Penn Line Manufacturing, which was itself later absorbed by Bowser Manufacturing. In 1960, Gordon Varney sold the remaining business to Sol Kramer of Life-Like Products, a transaction that would ultimately form the foundation for the Life-Like Trains brand launched in 1970. Gordon Varney passed away in 1965, but model trains continued to be manufactured under the Varney name until March 1970, when the branding was formally changed to "Life-Like." The hobby community's gratitude toward the founder was formally acknowledged in 1985, when the Model Railroad Industry Association—now known as the Hobby Manufacturers Association—honored Gordon Varney with the title "Pioneer of Model Railroading," a recognition that underscored how his early motor engineering and HO-scale advocacy had shaped an entire industry.