Railroad class 31 motor and blue 30

[russ p]

For my east Anglian 60s layout I could really do with a couple of blue 31s the Hornby one looks wrong as the face does not have the center band

Does the railroad motor bogie fit the Lima chassis or do I need a complete chassis if I want to remotor a Lima one

On a side note were there any blue Mirrlees engine class 30s

Edited April 3, 2018 by russ p

[SRman]

The Lima chassis would need quite a bit of adaptation to fit the Hornby motor bogie as the mountings are totally different. However, the good news is that the Lima body will clip straight onto the Hornby chassis (and vice versa, the Hornby body will fit straight onto the Lima chassis if you wish to sell on the remainder).

[davetheroad]

You can also re motor the Lima and IMO it makes a smooth powerful loco

 

www.diesel-trains.co.uk

[stovepipe]

No,there weren't any blue liveried Mirrlees engined locos - apart from the experimental blue loco of course.

[SRman]

You can also re motor the Lima and IMO it makes a smooth powerful loco

 

www.diesel-trains.co.uk

 

If you go down the remotoring path, which is quite easy to do, I would highly recommend replacing the Lima wheels as well, and improving the electrical pickups to operate on all wheels.

 

If you have a good Lima motor (there are some around), then doing the above may make a really good runner anyway, without replacing the motor. If you have a bad Lima motor (in my past experience, not much can be done with these), then go the whole hog.

[russ p]

A friend has had good results with Chinese motors inside the shell of the Lima motors, how quiet are the railroad ones

[russ p]

I still need to find some of my old Lima locos but were all the Lima toffee apples Mirrlees exhaust?

I found a headcode one with center band in green and this is also Mirrlees so I presume the blue ones are too

[giz]

I still need to find some of my old Lima locos but were all the Lima toffee apples Mirrlees exhaust?

I found a headcode one with center band in green and this is also Mirrlees so I presume the blue ones are too

Looking at my rolling stock list, all of mine (with or without headcodes) have Mirrlees exhausts if they have the raised bodyside band and EE if they are without the band (i.e. refurbished).

[russ p]

Ahh I really do want a couple of blue ones so it maybe a case of any pedantic visitors are not carrying hammers of shame!

I don't fancy getting involved with chopping out exhaust ports ,well not until everything is finished

[SRman]

The exhaust ports are on my "to do" list for my blue ex-Lima ex-'toffee apple' class 31. This has a Lima body on the newer Hornby RailRoad chassis. I had to add the cowlings around the buffer beams using some plastic card, because the Hornby chassis lacked those.

The Lima body was originally a 'toffee apple' 31 004 which I detailed up a bit with things like separate wire handrails on the front and a repaint. 

I renumbered it into the blue star series of 'skinheads', pre-TOPS, but the Mirrlees ports remain until I pluck up the courage to tackle them.


Class 30 improvements 8 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

[russ p]

That looks good, is it possible to use the cowlings from the original chassis?

I've got a green Hornby toffee apple I'm thinking of putting a Lima body on and having blue

[SRman]

That looks good, is it possible to use the cowlings from the original chassis?

I've got a green Hornby toffee apple I'm thinking of putting a Lima body on and having blue

 

I'm not sure about re-using the cowls from the Lima chassis - it would take a bit of surgery on both chassis, I think. I can't remember off-hand whether the Lima cowlings were separate fittings, but I do remember I couldn't see any easy way to separate them from the chassis at the time of swapping the bodies.

[Waveydavey]

Russ,

 

Have a look at this conversion from Paul James.

 

http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/project_lima31mods.html

 

Cheers

 

David

[russ p]

That's one of the best models of a 31 I've seen

[cheesysmith]

IIrC the only model Lima did of a 31 with body side beading was 31283 with the large numbers and kingfisher logo. The other versions come with the mirrlees exhaust. Also, the skin head version without the head code box was the only one to come with gangway doors. I don't think Lima did any EE loco with a steam heat boiler (bad if you want a 70s version).

 

Ps-anybody got the model of Stratford depot (?) that was repainted into green? That may have the body side bands with EE exhausts?

Edited April 9, 2018 by cheesysmith

[John Tomlinson]

Vaguely on topic, I did notice whilst looking for something else, that Howes of Oxford sell the Heljan Falcon cowlings as a spare, IIRC £3 for a pair, pre-painted and with buffers. These appear similar to those on a Brush 2.

 

One option for anyone not inclined to make their own from Plastic bits.

 

John.

[37114]

I am fitting the motor from the Hornby super detailed model to a Lima shell and chassis, it is about 2 hours work and runs well. The bits are quite cheap as you can get a chassis unit from one of the models suffering from Mazak rot for less than £30, I cant find a Railroad chassis that cheap (Photos on my Parsons Vale thread)

 

Converting the exhaust from the Mirrlees to EE is straightforward, you can touch the paintwork up and hide with weathering to avoid a full respray, there are some photos of one I did years ago on my Pallet Lane thread.

[Phil Bullock]

The exhaust ports are on my "to do" list for my blue ex-Lima ex-'toffee apple' class 31. This has a Lima body on the newer Hornby RailRoad chassis. I had to add the cowlings around the buffer beams using some plastic card, because the Hornby chassis lacked those.

 

The Lima body was originally a 'toffee apple' 31 004 which I detailed up a bit with things like separate wire handrails on the front and a repaint. 

 

I renumbered it into the blue star series of 'skinheads', pre-TOPS, but the Mirrlees ports remain until I pluck up the courage to tackle them.

 

Class 30 improvements 8 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

It has to be good when two of us arrive in the same place via a different route!

 

 

Ours started life as a green Hornby toffee apple - roof panel with exhausts from Airfix class 31 grafted on to get EE exhausts and additional grille in engine room door

 

https://youtu.be/GQZaSKkY3ew?t=30

 

Phil