Help! With my Lima Class 37...

[Morgenergy]

Hello all, first off this is great forum I've visited several times and I've finally decided to use my account. My first post is something a bit sad, but I hope you can assist a fellow model railway person.

 

Fairly recently I purchased a locomotive I've been after for a while - A Class 37 in BR dark green, Split headcodes and snowploughs. Made by Lima, It worked great and was a bargain at 25 quid. Notice the past tense I used? That's because it's suddenly died, minutes before I wrote this.

 

So, what happened. I decided it'd be a good idea to give the dummy bogie's wheels a much needed clean. The powered wheels on the motor bogie were fine, but all the wheels on the dummy bogie, which also has pickups to my surprise, were basically black with god knows how many year's worth of dirt. I removed the plate holding these wheels in, made them clean again, and refitted them. Nothing appeared to have gone wrong, but when I put it back on track (which was also freshly cleaned.) it didn't budge. Small sparks appear at the dummy bogie's wheels when I place the loco on the track, and the more recent Hornby controler with the safety cut out does exactly that - cut out. I've tried using the older R-965 controller, too, but the 37 is having none of it.

 

For further notice, it has a ringfield motor (of course.). It also worked fine up to this point and was pretty smooth, but often got rather warm around the motor end of the loco and was quite the strong smell...you know. The oily, mechanical smell older locos give off? That, only you can smell the damn thing from 5 metres away. I can take photos, if you need 'em.

 

Hope you fellas can help me out on this, it's made me a bit shaken as this is my favourite locomotive in my collection, sooo.. 

Cheers.

[newbryford]

Hello all, first off this is great forum I've visited several times and I've finally decided to use my account. My first post is something a bit sad, but I hope you can assist a fellow model railway person.

 

Fairly recently I purchased a locomotive I've been after for a while - A Class 37 in BR dark green, Split headcodes and snowploughs. Made by Lima, It worked great and was a bargain at 25 quid. Notice the past tense I used? That's because it's suddenly died, minutes before I wrote this.

 

So, what happened. I decided it'd be a good idea to give the dummy bogie's wheels a much needed clean. The powered wheels on the motor bogie were fine, but all the wheels on the dummy bogie, which also has pickups to my surprise, were basically black with god knows how many year's worth of dirt. I removed the plate holding these wheels in, made them clean again, and refitted them. Nothing appeared to have gone wrong, but when I put it back on track (which was also freshly cleaned.) it didn't budge. Small sparks appear at the dummy bogie's wheels when I place the loco on the track, and the more recent Hornby controler with the safety cut out does exactly that - cut out. I've tried using the older R-965 controller, too, but the 37 is having none of it.

 

For further notice, it has a ringfield motor (of course.). It also worked fine up to this point and was pretty smooth, but often got rather warm around the motor end of the loco and was quite the strong smell...you know. The oily, mechanical smell older locos give off? That, only you can smell the damn thing from 5 metres away. I can take photos, if you need 'em.

 

Hope you fellas can help me out on this, it's made me a bit shaken as this is my favourite locomotive in my collection, sooo.. 

Cheers.

 

Have you replaced the wheels in the trailing bogie the wrong way round causing a short?

 

One side has an insulating bush between the wheel and the axle. This should be the side that has the wiper pickups on the back of the wheels.

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

[amdaley]

Hello all, first off this is great forum I've visited several times and I've finally decided to use my account. My first post is something a bit sad, but I hope you can assist a fellow model railway person.

 

Fairly recently I purchased a locomotive I've been after for a while - A Class 37 in BR dark green, Split headcodes and snowploughs. Made by Lima, It worked great and was a bargain at 25 quid. Notice the past tense I used? That's because it's suddenly died, minutes before I wrote this.

 

So, what happened. I decided it'd be a good idea to give the dummy bogie's wheels a much needed clean. The powered wheels on the motor bogie were fine, but all the wheels on the dummy bogie, which also has pickups to my surprise, were basically black with god knows how many year's worth of dirt. I removed the plate holding these wheels in, made them clean again, and refitted them. Nothing appeared to have gone wrong, but when I put it back on track (which was also freshly cleaned.) it didn't budge. Small sparks appear at the dummy bogie's wheels when I place the loco on the track, and the more recent Hornby controler with the safety cut out does exactly that - cut out. I've tried using the older R-965 controller, too, but the 37 is having none of it.

 

For further notice, it has a ringfield motor (of course.). It also worked fine up to this point and was pretty smooth, but often got rather warm around the motor end of the loco and was quite the strong smell...you know. The oily, mechanical smell older locos give off? That, only you can smell the damn thing from 5 metres away. I can take photos, if you need 'em.

 

Hope you fellas can help me out on this, it's made me a bit shaken as this is my favourite locomotive in my collection, sooo.. 

Cheers.

 

I think you may have replaced the dummy bogie wheels the wrong way round.

They are probably insulated on one side & by replacing them the wrong way round you have created a short.

[Morgenergy]

I think you may have replaced the dummy bogie wheels the wrong way round.

They are probably insulated on one side & by replacing them the wrong way round you have created a short.

 

Have you replaced the wheels in the trailing bogie the wrong way round causing a short?

 

One side has an insulating bush between the wheel and the axle. This should be the side that has the wiper pickups on the back of the wheels.

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

Thanks for the replies. This could be the case, I feel like a bit of a noob Will fidget with the wheels and report on my progress

[Morgenergy]

Have you replaced the wheels in the trailing bogie the wrong way round causing a short?

 

One side has an insulating bush between the wheel and the axle. This should be the side that has the wiper pickups on the back of the wheels.

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

I think you may have replaced the dummy bogie wheels the wrong way round.

They are probably insulated on one side & by replacing them the wrong way round you have created a short.

Good news! She's running fine once again, turns out the wheels were indeed the wrong way around. What a strange bit of engineering You learn something new everyday.

 

Thank you very much for the help, very much appreciated!

[davetheroad]

You could try servicing the gears and motor for even better running. I did and there was a considerable improvement.

 

See this video

 

I found the pdf file here

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s90kqr24stcf75t/lima%20service.pdf?dl=0

 

You don't need that ultrasonic bath but the Isopropyl alchohol is useful for all forms of cleaning

[Pete the Elaner]

You could try servicing the gears and motor for even better running. I did and there was a considerable improvement.

Never seen that before. Excellent servicing tips.

[JDW]

You may have done it at the same time, but if you didn't, it's also worth cleaning the backs of the wheels where the pick ups touch, and the axles and pick ups that rub on them, as they pick up a lot of dirt too.  Not as bad as the wheels, but every little helps.  Putting the wheels back the wrong way is an easy mistake, and you've learn something now for next time!

[Roy Langridge]

I often use my phone to take a few photos of what I am about to take apart before I do so. Sometimes I refer back to them if there was something that didn't quite go to plan to help me find where I may have gone wrong.

 

This is particularly useful when pulling wires off PCBs, not only to help identify what went where, but the route it took to get there.

 

Roy

[PM47079]

I picked up a non working Lima warship many years ago for my daughter. It was an ex train set d809 champion and the shop wanted rid as it was a non runner. I took a chance it might be something like that and I was right.

[paul-dereham]

Good news! She's running fine once again, turns out the wheels were indeed the wrong way around. What a strange bit of engineering You learn something new everyday.

 

Thank you very much for the help, very much appreciated!

 

 I once turned the trailing bogie the wrong way round on a Lima 37 (I'd previously removed the couplings so I didn't have those to give me a clue) Took me ages to figure out why the loco kept shorting!

[forest2807]

Lima locos are engineered quite basically but engineered well. It is, I am sure, within the capabilities of most modellers who frequent this site - even relatively inexperienced ones - to breathe new life into an old badly running or non running Lima loco by simple cleaning, lubricating, checking pickups and connections, springs and brushes. They are brilliant to learn on!

[John M Upton]

A couple of things to watch out for I tended to find was little balls of polystyrene from the original packaging lurking in the mechanism from time to time and the rather dodgy soldering that their finest Italian craftsman used to use which meant the wafer thin wiring was often held on with the minimal possible drop of solder and would frequently come adrift at the first track joint jolt.  I used to replace the as supplied wiring with something a bit beefier.

[kevinlms]

A couple of things to watch out for I tended to find was little balls of polystyrene from the original packaging lurking in the mechanism from time to time and the rather dodgy soldering that their finest Italian craftsman used to use which meant the wafer thin wiring was often held on with the minimal possible drop of solder and would frequently come adrift at the first track joint jolt. I used to replace the as supplied wiring with something a bit beefier.

The rather dodgy soldering has long been a classic example of what results when you place solder on the iron then take it to the wire!

[DCB]

The center of the axles make electrical contact, some Lima 37s have wiper contacts on the back of the insulated traction tyre fitted driving wheels but I could never see the point of them.