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Lima 40t ballast hopper upgrade


Guest Jack Benson
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Guest Jack Benson

A few years ago before the Hornby/Bachmann versions were announced, I began upgrading Lima 40t SR hoppers. They were repainted, relettered (CCT decals) fitted with Kadees and RP25 wheels in lieu of Lima's shirt buttons. No UK source of these odd sized wheels but I found a reliable source in Germany Click here

 

This is the result

40t_Bogie.jpg.7e51562bb504a2f36a09fddf9569521b.jpg

 

IMG_0070_700.jpg.bc7ab4f775f58c45273ef351dfa28c4c.jpg

 

Cheers and Stay Safe

 

 

 

Edited by Guest
Updated link to https://www.modellbahn-radsatz.de/
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Hopefully you used the Cambrian one piece Gloucester bogie, the earlier 3 piece was a pig, because one of the holes for bearings was in the wrong place, you could build the bogie square. OR with both axles parallel, but not both! I ended up doing a little etched frame because I couldn't build them, then had a horrible few minutes when one of the sideframes didn't match, before I realised that the problem was Cambrians, not mine!

 

gloetch.jpg.21adb2597e4cb4c935d6e09a24c8f6e8.jpg

 

Jon

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5 minutes ago, jonhall said:

Hopefully you used the Cambrian one piece Gloucester bogie, the earlier 3 piece was a pig, because one of the holes for bearings was in the wrong place, you could build the bogie square. OR with both axles parallel, but not both! I ended up doing a little etched frame because I couldn't build them, then had a horrible few minutes when one of the sideframes didn't match, before I realised that the problem was Cambrians, not mine!

 

gloetch.jpg.21adb2597e4cb4c935d6e09a24c8f6e8.jpg

 

Jon

So it wasn't just me, Jon!

 

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Guest Jack Benson

John,

 

No other modification other than those mentioned, the German wheels transformed both the appearance and running quality of the Lima product, which was the reason why they were mentioned. No need to faff around with awful Cambrian bogie pivots or any other nonsense, just pop and drop the wheels. 
 

Cheers

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Guest Jack Benson
2 hours ago, jonhall said:

those aren't the lima sealion/cow bogies I've ever seen.

 

Jon

The statement ‘No other modification other than those mentioned’ seems to have been ignored. 
 

No further comment seems necessary as everything was fully explained in the OP.

 

Cheers and Stay Safe

 

 

 

 

Edited by Jack Benson
Hurt feelings
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29 minutes ago, Jack Benson said:

I suppose that a sigh of exasperation would be appropriate but the statement ‘No other modification other than those mentioned’ seems to have been ignored. 
 

No further comment seems necessary as everything was fully explained in the OP.

 

Cheers and Stay Safe

 

 

Jack,

 

maybee it has been ignored - because as I said, those don't look like any Lima Gloucester bogie I've ever seen, however since you have taken that tone, I went and photographed my out of the box Lima seacow and it looks like this:

 

IMG_20200628_183003.jpg.cb028c99f168ecd1b28ce9a0f0f93ae0.jpg

 

Note the flat fronted axleboxes that Brian pointed out. In fact on closer inspection in your photo you haven't mentioned about the extra brake pipes, the extra  handrail on the end, or the totally different way of mounting the handrail, or that the rivet pattern doesn't match the Lima one either, so I might go so far as to say - that isn't a LIMA seacow.

 

Sigh to your hearts content.

Jon

Edited by jonhall
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Guest Jack Benson

This is odd, we originally posted pictures of our Lima 40t hoppers on Feb 9 2011 but since then have bought another six examples which appear to be different. Certainly of the initial batch at least one of them has the square axlebox covers but at least one other has the triangular covers,  all were packaged in Lima boxes on arrival.

 

The second batch all have square axlebox covers, again they all were purchased over a couple of months and arrived in Lima boxes.

 

Looks like we have mystery but no need to get over excited otherwise missing the point completely of posting a simple upgrade for the sake of pedantry. This supposed to be a hobby and the response to the post has been less than encouraging.

 

Cheers and Stay Safe

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13 minutes ago, Jack Benson said:

This is odd, we originally posted pictures of our Lima 40t hoppers on Feb 9 2011 but since then have bought another six examples which appear to be different. Certainly of the initial batch at least one of them has the square axlebox covers but at least one other has the triangular covers,  all were packaged in Lima boxes on arrival.

 

The second batch all have square axlebox covers, again they all were purchased over a couple of months and arrived in Lima boxes.

 

Looks like we have mystery but no need to get over excited otherwise missing the point completely of posting a simple upgrade for the sake of pedantry. This supposed to be a hobby and the response to the post has been less than encouraging.

 

Cheers and Stay Safe

 

 

I don't think there is much mystery, the Cambrian bogie swap has been pretty widespread on Lima Seacows for decades, I was going to suggest that you must have bought one that had already had the conversion, but since it clearly isn't a Lima one, I assume its one of the Cambrian ones built by someone else. 

 

Unfortunately the Cambrian Gloucester bogie is just as wrong for BR black wagons, I'm pretty sure that they are from a batch built in the 1970's. Cambrian do (now) do types suitable for the earlier cast and I believe plate versions of the earlier Walrus types, but they are a relatively recent development.

If you hadnt been such a knob with your own replies the tone of this thread might have been rather different, but I understand from other members that you could start an argument in an empty room

Jon

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Guest Jack Benson

Darius,

 

Another example of an upgraded 40t hopper, first posted almost ten years ago.

 

8DD77DDE-9B24-45B7-A6AD-A83D11174051.jpeg.a629b05b156a2a4274409e4aa0264222.jpeg

 

Thanks, stay safe

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On 28/06/2020 at 10:39, Jack Benson said:

A few years ago before the Hornby/Bachmann versions were announced, I began upgrading Lima 40t SR hoppers. They were repainted, relettered (CCT decals) fitted with Kadees and RP25 wheels in lieu of Lima's shirt buttons. No UK source of these odd sized wheels but I found a reliable source in Germany Click here

 

This is the result

40t_Bogie.jpg.7e51562bb504a2f36a09fddf9569521b.jpg

 

IMG_0070_700.jpg.bc7ab4f775f58c45273ef351dfa28c4c.jpg

 

Cheers and Stay Safe

 

 

 

 

Those bogies look like a North American Barber style truck from Kadee. 

 

Nicely finished. Certainly lifts it to another level. 

 

Mark

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  • 1 year later...

Sorry to piggyback but I was looking at doing similar upgrade having been inspired by this guide from Muz: https://sremg.org.uk/model/lima-sea-to-40t-hop.html

 

However given that his suggestion isn't really feasible:"Cast white metal buffers from ABS (SR Brake Van Buffers) were used to replace the later BR style." Are there any other sources for the correct buffers? Thanks

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I don't regard the Lima bogies as totally useless. I have a pair of Lima Seacows which I plan to convert to Walrus (Walruses? Walri?) I've been looking at photos and noticed that the Lima bogies are not unlike (best way to put it) the American style AAR Cast Steel bogies fitted to the 20 SR Diagram 1775 wagons, DS62055-74. Since my conversions won't be 100% accurate anyway (I plan to change the brake cylinders, vacuum pipes and buffers, anything else I'll live in blissful ignorance), they're acceptable. Wheels already replaced with Peter's Spares items.

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  • 1 month later...

I read somewhere that the Walrus is shorter than the Sealion, the ends are 5.3mm shorter than a sea lion. I have 3 sofar to do and will use Rumney Models bogies to P4.

I will get a Cambrian Walrus just to compare the differences

https://website.rumneymodels.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Rumney_Model_Freight_Bogie_Instructions.pdf

 

Ian G 

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I converted 3 a couple of months ago. Whilst the lima wagons are slightly too long to be a totally accurate model I decided I could live with it so I removed the air brake equipment places Vac cylinders at either end and fitted cambrian plate back bogies 

Edited by russ p
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