Best LIMA Diesel Locos Ever Made

[frobisher]

2 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

But we are comparing models from the time. Not how they compare now.

 

I added a link to a Lima 50. Now tell me that what else in 1982 (or whatever it was) was better. 

 

Mainline Warship, 56 and 03...

 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Lima 67?

Edited July 5, 2020 by frobisher

[Butler Henderson]

The 101 is the only Lima "loco" I have retained, it always was a very good runner, I obviously got one where all the gears etc were at their best tolerances, and treated it to one of those CD drive replacement motors.

[John M Upton]

1 hour ago, frobisher said:

 

Mainline Warship, 56 and 03...

 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Lima 67?

 

Whilst the 67 was probably the best Lima UK outline loco in terms of technical spec, the shape was wrong and many fell apart in transit.

 

May be what finished them off.

[adb968008]

1. Best Lima loco for me has to be the 31... its stood the test of time, ive still got 20 of them.

Currently upgrading their motors to Hornby railroad motors, in a massive project, as Ive decided I wont be waiting for Hornbys £170+ drip fed offering to upgrade that lot.

On that basis I reckon theres another 20 years in my Lima 31’s.

 

2. Lima class 20, it pulls the socks off anything else. It still sits well enough to Bachmann class 20’s. The central mounted motor gave it oodles of power.

 

3. class 47, purely on the basis of liveries alone...you name it, they made it. I still have a sizeable fleet of 47’s.

 

4. Class 73, flush glazed, separate horns, large buffers are separate pipe fittings,  I still trust it today.

 

5.  Class 40.. at the time it was the bees knees, first time we really had a multiple tooling optioned rtr model.. Disc, Headcode, Scottish Headcode and split headcode.. even today no one else has done a Scottish Headcode 40.

It was supposed to be a central motor, with bogie gearbox, from the class 20, but last minute they flipflopped, the legacy gear box is still part of the bogie moulding.

 

After that, i’d say 92..this remains better than Hornbys 92, much more detailed than anything else we’d seen from Lima before, even if you had to fit it yourself.

 

then 59,66 (both lots of separate detail), followed by 37 & 60 in 10th place.

 

At the other end of the league..

 

3rd last place..

94xx that chasis was appauling, but you can turn the top into something useful.

 

2nd last place 

has to goto the J50.. it wasnt a loco at all.
 

last place

D2785... quite what Lima thought this blue 4w diesel shunter was all about is anyones guess. Its so bad even Hornby cant kill it, its in the junior range still.

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2020 by adb968008

[Graham Radish]

I know a lot of people will disagree with this but in my opinion the better lima models were twice as good as the modern Bachmann virgin voyager, that loco is piss poor inside and out, runs like a bag of spanners has terrible electronics and an underpowered motor

[adb968008]

34 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

 

Whilst the 67 was probably the best Lima UK outline loco in terms of technical spec, the shape was wrong and many fell apart in transit.

 

May be what finished them off.

i turned off at the class 67 as soon as I saw painted/printed cables on the front.. it was a very retrograde step and I was really disappointed to see that, especially as it was introduced at a £60 price point.. much higher than we’d seen before on Lima locos... even the class 20 was only £50 at the time, everything else was in the £40 range (eitherside of the £19.99 sale).

 

one thing ive learned in model railways is price is reputation.. if you overreach price, the model misses the “must have window”... and so even with discounts later, people shrug shoulders and walk on by leaving it twisting on the shelves for years...  examples i’d highlight also include Bachmann’s compound and Heljans 02., both arrived with high water marks relative to demand and later sat in discount trays for prolonged time.

Edited July 5, 2020 by adb968008

[Roy Langridge]

Class 20 by a long shot in my book.

 

Roy

[Graham Radish]

19 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

1. Best Lima loco for me has to be the 31... its stood the test of time, ive still got 20 of them.

Currently upgrading their motors to Hornby railroad motors, in a massive project, as Ive decided I wont be waiting for Hornbys £170+ drip fed offering to upgrade that lot.

On that basis I reckon theres another 20 years in my Lima 31’s.

 

 

 

 

 

Damn! you are right, just looked on eBay, it's a lovely model i bet with lights and sound it would be brill. so far looking through this thread the 31 and 50 are my favorite two locos.

Edited July 5, 2020 by Graham Radish

[MartynJPearson]

The HST for me - it was the what got me into railway modelling, as an 11th birthday present so I'm always going to have a soft spot for it, but I think it looks far better than the Hornby offering of the time - not the mention that the Lima coaches were closer to the real thing too!

[John M Upton]

That repurposed Plymouth 0-4-0 shunter managed to appear in three different scales, N, O and OO and it was the wrong for all three as well.

 

I always wonder what happened to the N scale range moulds when Hornby took the range on, most of them were poor but the CCT van still stands up well today as did the OO scale equivilent which Hornby did continue with.

Edited July 5, 2020 by John M Upton

[crompton 33]

For me in order (1st) class 73 (2nd) classs 31 (3rd) Class 92 (4th) class 60. (5th) class 47.  The 08/09 looks out of scale. class 55 HO bogies like the Class 50. Back in the very late 1980's early 1990's you could pick them up new for around £30.00 each.  From Gaugemaster or my local model shop at the time .who remembers Scalerail Eastbourne  got a class 50 from Jim D 400 that as only run twice still in the box to'day.

[Geep7]

I think you just have to look at the number of models that Hornby are still producing using the ex-Lima moulds to tell you which were the best. It's a pity Lima cannibalised the Class 117 moulds for their 121, otherwise we might have a Hornby Railroad 117....

 

For me I love the Lima Class 73, although with the newer Hornby chassis underneath. I still think the body compares favourably with the Dapol one, especially around the windscreens....

[Robert Shrives]

For me the top of the pile is the 73 .  Second HST and third the 31 . 

Despite that my Model of 47145 as Merddin Emrys on a VI trains chassis is a great shelf queen.

And this from a committed ( should be some will say ) N gauge modeller and dabbler in too many other scales/ gauges... Lima efforts in Ireland need to be carefully avoided but pretty for the day - Mk2s and 3s excepted. 

Robert 

[Strathyre]

I think the 26 and 27 were very good, with the caveat of the underframe being a compromise. The 27 body shell is in some ways better than the Heljan one, especially in the case of Heljan's droplight cab window versions which have the bodyside windows too low down - strange as the early (TOPS numbers 27001-023) version bodies have them at the correct level! I just can't understand why they did this, and continue to do so. The Lima has them spot on and I've re-bodied a few Heljans with them.

 

The 156 is also very good and ripe for the under frame work to bring it up to an excellent standard.

 

Paul.

[37114]

The 31's were a good model and are the only Lima based model in my stable (both my 31's appear in this months BRM). As they stand out of the box they are good but replace the fan grilles, add the roof hand grab rails (all 13 of them) and fit some laserglaze and they look the part. Add in the mechanism from the Hornby super detailed model (easily acquired due to the well known mazac failures) and you have a loco that runs well to boot. I am giving up 4mm in the future but if I was continuing and wanting more class 31's it would be Lima all the way. 

 

The 73 and 87 were other good models and can still scrub up well but I think the modern alternatives are better which is not true for the 31.

[Graham Radish]

Just found this article on the class 31, it looks superb with some patience:

 

Lima Class 31

[37114]

50 minutes ago, Graham Radish said:

Just found this article on the class 31, it looks superb with some patience:

 

Lima Class 31

Indeed, that is a lovely model. I have done both of the chassis transplant methods mentioned in the article and retaining the Lima chassis frame is my preferred method of the 2.

[Patrick SPF]

I would say the Swedish TGOJ V class which was excellent with the SJ T43 class one of their worst.
Until Jeco produced upto date models of the Rc1-4 classes I would put their Rc2 down as the best of the older models in 2 rail.

[doctor quinn]

1 hour ago, Patrick SPF said:

I would say the Swedish TGOJ V class which was excellent with the SJ T43 class one of their worst.
Until Jeco produced upto date models of the Rc1-4 classes I would put their Rc2 down as the best of the older models in 2 rail.

I don’t remember the TGOJ V class, any chance of a photo? 

[cravensdmufan]

IMO the Class 92 was great, along with the 73.  And the HST.  All sit well alongside more modern models on my layout.

 

The 156 can be made to look excellent with just a small bit of painting, mainly around the windows edges of the driving cabs.  I've seen a few Lima 156s at exhibitions in the past where modellers have picked out engine, exhaust etc. with different shades of paint to great effect.  I intend to have a go at that myself.

 

Re: the Class 101.  This model was really nice but the shape and size of the front windscreens let it down very badly IMO.  The windows were rounded and too long, and it showed up badly, especially on all yellow liveried fronts,  A difficult area to fix, though Shawplan made a detailed etch to replace the windscreens but I didn't buy one yet, nor have I seen any photos of models that have been treated.  Anyone got one to show please?  The front window issue was the only reason I "upgraded" to Bachmann,

 

Photos showing comparisons:

 

[rob D2]

Class 60 was good, but then I thought all the ones I had were good as that was what was about when I got interested again in 96.

 

67 was a major disappointment as we were expecting a big step up, but had to wait until 2001 for the Hj 47 for that to start

[Patrick SPF]

6 hours ago, doctor quinn said:

I don’t remember the TGOJ V class, any chance of a photo? 

Here here you go Nick