Lima OO gauge coaches with narrow bogies?

[MGR Hooper!]

Of a job lot of coaches I now have on the workbench, two of them are Lima OO gauge ones (a Mk1 RBR and a Mk2 FK). The bogies on them are extremely narrow. Normal OO gauge wheels from Hornby, Dapol and Bachmann don't seem to fit. I managed to get one wheel in, the fit was so tight it wouldn't roll and actually gave the bogie a slight bow. It was so hard to get out I ended up with quite a deep wound.

 

Was this normal for Lima? The coaches I have are in pretty good shape and I would like some advice on what wheels I can use for them.

 

TIA,

Hay!

[Joseph_Pestell]

Yes, totally normal. Lima axles are shorter than other manufacturers.

 

I would guess that this was done so that they would only need one length of axle for both OO & HO.

 

Worth trying Bob Wyatt at ScaleLink. I think that he had some shorter axle wheelsets in his W&T range. Alan Gibson perhaps?

[Ramblin Rich]

Peters Spares make their own replacement wheels and axles with the Lima axle length (24.5mm instead of 'standard' 26mm). Much better wheel/flange profile then the original 'pizza cutters' and 12mm diameter instead of 10.5mm.

https://www.petersspares.com/peters-spares-ps34-lima-replacement-12mm-wagon-coach-wheels-x1-pair.ir

 

[GWR-fan]

Something that I have done on several dozen Lima coaches to be fitted with normal Hornby 14.1 mm metal wheels is to remove the bogie,  fit the Hornby wheels (26.5 mm axle length) and then lay the bogie on its sideframe on the solid heel of a vyce.  With a hammer,  tap the axlebox cap several times and check the wheels for rotation.  It may take several taps on both sides to enable free running.  The Lima bogies are generally a soft pliable plastic allowing the axle pinpoint to make an indentation further inside the axlebox recess.  Generally,  due the flexible nature of the bogie,  the axlebox detail is not harmed.  That said,  just yesterday I had several Lima "B1" bogies that were a rigid material so that when I attempted to gain pinpoint clearance the axlebox split.  I had not experienced this previously.

 

Of cause I had tried the method of drilling out the internal recess on the axlebox to gain clearance but found this method hit or miss and the chance of the drill bit biting into the plastic and exiting the axlebox bearing cap. 

[MGR Hooper!]

2 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

Yes, totally normal. Lima axles are shorter than other manufacturers.

 

I would guess that this was done so that they would only need one length of axle for both OO & HO.

 

Worth trying Bob Wyatt at ScaleLink. I think that he had some shorter axle wheelsets in his W&T range. Alan Gibson perhaps?

 

2 hours ago, Ramblin Rich said:

Peters Spares make their own replacement wheels and axles with the Lima axle length (24.5mm instead of 'standard' 26mm). Much better wheel/flange profile then the original 'pizza cutters' and 12mm diameter instead of 10.5mm.

https://www.petersspares.com/peters-spares-ps34-lima-replacement-12mm-wagon-coach-wheels-x1-pair.ir

 

Thanks chaps! Ordered some from Peter's Spares....

[MGR Hooper!]

2 hours ago, GWR-fan said:

Something that I have done on several dozen Lima coaches to be fitted with normal Hornby 14.1 mm metal wheels is to remove the bogie,  fit the Hornby wheels (26.5 mm axle length) and then lay the bogie on its sideframe on the solid heel of a vyce.  With a hammer,  tap the axlebox cap several times and check the wheels for rotation.  It may take several taps on both sides to enable free running.  The Lima bogies are generally a soft pliable plastic allowing the axle pinpoint to make an indentation further inside the axlebox recess.  Generally,  due the flexible nature of the bogie,  the axlebox detail is not harmed.  That said,  just yesterday I had several Lima "B1" bogies that were a rigid material so that when I attempted to gain pinpoint clearance the axlebox split.  I had not experienced this previously.

 

Of cause I had tried the method of drilling out the internal recess on the axlebox to gain clearance but found this method hit or miss and the chance of the drill bit biting into the plastic and exiting the axlebox bearing cap. 

Managed to drill out the dimples in the bogies. It did make it run a lot better, but you can stuff feel some friction. Put a dab of oil in it. It helped even more.

[DCB]

Lima axles are both shorter and fatter than modern Hornby so you can't just swap wheels.  On the other hand Lima wheel sets fit Hornby Dublo chassis  if you use top hat pinpoint bearings and fie the point off flush with the H/D Hanger. I use them for almost friction free power pick up through the pin points making one bogie live to the left rail and the other live to the right rail.  They don't work too well on stock with metal couplings..  I like the later Lima wheels.  The darkened brass coloured ones not the tiny sharp flanged silver ones as they tend to stay on the track better than Hornby due to their wider tyres, and don't need the back to back to be anything like so precise. I would convert all my H/D wagons to Lima wheels if I could but I would need all insulated wheels on the wagons, so 4 wheel sets per wagon X several hundred. Bit expensive, and weeks of work.

[Il Grifone]

AFAIK Lima axles are standard 2mm diameter and will take 00 wheels (I'll try and remember to check*). Getting the uninsulated wheel off is another matter. The main snag with Lima bogies is that being designed for the standard Lima 11.5mm diameter (1 metre in H0 scale) wheel fitting the correct size wheel will lift the coach too high.  replacement bogies are available from Replica at a reasonable price (Usual disclaimer). This saves the redrilling hassle. They can also be used for (Tri-ang) Hornby coaches which suffer from this fault from birth.

 

http://www.replicarailways.co.uk/spares-and-accessories/accessories

 

How about Peco insulated bearings for HD stock? I have to admit to not trying it though. I stopped at one WELTROL MV with brass bearings and insulated wheels. I gather after fitting 3' (12mm wheels) they should be 2' 9".

 

EDIT

* 24.66mm over pin points and 2.03mm diam. on the first Lima vehicle to hand according to my digital caliper (something SNCF I guess since it's lettered in French, otherwise anonymous).

 

Checking with the 5/83 Lima catalogue, it's an SNCF luggage/1st "Grand Confort" type a4Dtux

Edited July 4, 2020 by Il Grifone