Lima locos

[The Johnster]

Start off with clean metal wheels on all stock, not plastic or traction tyres, and clean track, and run frequently, ideally daily.  I have to spot clean the odd dirty spot about once every 8 weeks or so, which takes seconds, and have a go at my locos about once every 6 months.  Eliminate arcing or at least reduce it as much as you can by paying attention to your track being laid smoothly and dead level to prevent carbon deposit build ups where wheels leave contact with it.  Never change points when power is applied to the track for the same reason.  Like the meerkat says, simples!

Edited November 21, 2018 by The Johnster

[Middlesea John]

The one thing that as not been ask'ed . What code track have you got. if it's code 75 then lima models won't like it they will be running on the chairs. You will need code 100 track.

I always thought this was the case but last night one of our group (at Hull MRS) brought a Lima Class 31 diesel and ran it on our layout which is code 75.  It had no problems at all. Except in my mind where a diesel in privatised livery shouldn't be anywhere near Hampshire in 1962 of course. 

[adb968008]

Start off with clean metal wheels on all stock, not plastic or traction tyres, and clean track, and run frequently, ideally daily. I have to spot clean the odd dirty spot about once every 8 weeks or so, which takes seconds, and have a go at my locos about once every 6 months. Eliminate arcing or at least reduce it as much as you can by paying attention to your track being laid smoothly and dead level to prevent carbon deposit build ups where wheels leave contact with it. Never change points when power is applied to the track for the same reason. Like the meerkat says, simples!

If you saw my track your hair would curl and youd run to the hills screaming.

 

I wish i could run daily, cleanly bi-monthly and service bi-annually.

Inbetween work and family, i’m lucky if I get to run bi-monthly, one loco on my layout has been in a siding now for approaching 2 years since my late father parked it there in December 2016.

With around 120 locos on the layout at any one time, servicing each one before running, i’d have to quit my job.

 

My approach, turn on the power, start to play, debug issues as you find them, on an average day within an hour everything is running as it should be. If a loco starts giving the wobblies, put it in a box to bring down stairs and i’ll work on it after the family is in bed and ready it for the next time, though its recorded as a failure and is returned to shed.

 

To keep sanity, i have a WTT, shed roster and train allocations, which each movement is recorded... when i start a session, put a battery in the clock, when i finish, take it out. Current time is 05:41, I started with a 00:00 midnight train, on July 1st 2016 and have run 222 scheduled workings, the last being an Ivatt 2-6-2T on September 4th, plus shunting, ecs, LE workings and the odd 0Zxx. Much as i would like, many of my running sessions are taken over by my daughter, in which case the time table is suspended, but the fun with her is magical, trouble is the next session usually involves putting everything back where it was.

 

Today its an outsized mess of sidings, and lines on 4 levels, 5 loops with 5 variations, 2 figure 8’s and a recently added Triangle, which useover 64 sidings/loops which represent 23 stations and very little scenery, someday when i’m old and grey I might have time to create a nirvana, spend the day playing trains and the evenings cleaning wheels, but today its about grabbing time as you can, though i’d imagine the amount of stock, track & imagination would be a 10th of today.

Edited November 23, 2018 by adb968008

[APOLLO]

A touch (and I mean a touch) of Servisol switch cleaner on each rail, then run a loco (any loco, even Lima) over it & around the layout greatly helps smooth running. Works on my O gauge stuff also. I used to get mine from Maplin, but you can get it from Amazon etc I have had no problem with this on plastic etc. I also use it to clean loco wheels, pick ups etc. One spray can will last years.

 

Brit15

[adb968008]

A touch (and I mean a touch) of Servisol switch cleaner on each rail, then run a loco (any loco, even Lima) over it & around the layout greatly helps smooth running. Works on my O gauge stuff also. I used to get mine from Maplin, but you can get it from Amazon etc I have had no problem with this on plastic etc. I also use it to clean loco wheels, pick ups etc. One spray can will last years.

 

Brit15

Sounds interesting, does this evapourate on release .. ? Could i spray it onto a pad for instance that might be attached to the underside of a wagon and pull it round ?

 

Slightly different tangent my father used to have a spray degreaser that removed finger prints etc from loco bodies, which didnt interfere with the paint finish, just spray and evapourates, leaving a clean surface... i dont know what this was, I think theres something similar for laptop cleaning, any ideas ?

Edited November 23, 2018 by adb968008

[Clive Mortimore]

Never had a Lima loco fail.

 

As I type there is Lima 31 trundling around the layout on the all stations from Sheffield Exchange to Huddersfield. Going the other way is part finished class 24/1 with headcode box being converted from a Hornby 25. Both managed the array of code 75 point work that makes up the station throat at low speed  as they departed.

Edited November 23, 2018 by Clive Mortimore

[APOLLO]

Sounds interesting, does this evapourate on release .. ? Could i spray it onto a pad for instance that might be attached to the underside of a wagon and pull it round ?

 

Slightly different tangent my father used to have a spray degreaser that removed finger prints etc from loco bodies, which didnt interfere with the paint finish, just spray and evapourates, leaving a clean surface... i dont know what this was, I think theres something similar for laptop cleaning, any ideas ?

 

It evaporates after a minute or so. It's an electrical switch cleaner / lubricant. I have never had a problem using it over many years. I've even used it to clean motor commutators, using a drop on a cotton bud - but ensure it has all cleaned off / evaporated before use and keep it away from motor brushes.

 

I have an old Tri-ang track cleaning wagon with a felt pad underneath which I use occasionally. A squirt of servisol really helps on this wagon to keep the track clean.

 

 

Brit15

[Titan]

Never had a Lima loco fail.

 

As I type there is Lima 31 trundling around the layout on the all stations from Sheffield Exchange to Huddersfield. Going the other way is part finished class 24/1 with headcode box being converted from a Hornby 25. Both managed the array of code 75 point work that makes up the station throat at low speed  as they departed.

 

Not had a Lima loco fail either! However I did manage to wear one out, a Deltic that I got when I was about 9 years old and spent many hours tail chasing at high speed! 

[adb968008]

It evaporates after a minute or so. It's an electrical switch cleaner / lubricant. I have never had a problem using it over many years. I've even used it to clean motor commutators, using a drop on a cotton bud - but ensure it has all cleaned off / evaporated before use and keep it away from motor brushes.

 

I have an old Tri-ang track cleaning wagon with a felt pad underneath which I use occasionally. A squirt of servisol really helps on this wagon to keep the track clean.

 

 

Brit15

Thanks, this is exactly what i had in mind.

[The Johnster]

If you saw my track your hair would curl and youd run to the hills screaming.

 

I wish i could run daily, cleanly bi-monthly and service bi-annually.

Inbetween work and family, i’m lucky if I get to run bi-monthly, one loco on my layout has been in a siding now for approaching 2 years since my late father parked it there in December 2016.

With around 120 locos on the layout at any one time, servicing each one before running, i’d have to quit my job.

 

My approach, turn on the power, start to play, debug issues as you find them, on an average day within an hour everything is running as it should be. If a loco starts giving the wobblies, put it in a box to bring down stairs and i’ll work on it after the family is in bed and ready it for the next time, though its recorded as a failure and is returned to shed.

 

To keep sanity, i have a WTT, shed roster and train allocations, which each movement is recorded... when i start a session, put a battery in the clock, when i finish, take it out. Current time is 05:41, I started with a 00:00 midnight train, on July 1st 2016 and have run 222 scheduled workings, the last being an Ivatt 2-6-2T on September 4th, plus shunting, ecs, LE workings and the odd 0Zxx. Much as i would like, many of my running sessions are taken over by my daughter, in which case the time table is suspended, but the fun with her is magical, trouble is the next session usually involves putting everything back where it was.

 

Today its an outsized mess of sidings, and lines on 4 levels, 5 loops with 5 variations, 2 figure 8’s and a recently added Triangle, which useover 64 sidings/loops which represent 23 stations and very little scenery, someday when i’m old and grey I might have time to create a nirvana, spend the day playing trains and the evenings cleaning wheels, but today its about grabbing time as you can, though i’d imagine the amount of stock, track & imagination would be a 10th of today.

 

Now I'll admit I have 'advantages' that you and many other modellers will not have; I am retired and nobody in my household has to be considered in my modelling activities, and there is little to distract or othewise occupy me.  The layout is in the main living area of the house and one modus operandus involves carrying out the next move in the timetable while the adverts are on.  Cwmdimbath is a simple, if busy, BLT, and I run a real time WTT, but do not need a battery clock to keep things together as you do on your complex railway.  Nor is there a daughter to hi-jack running sessions, fun though that sounds!

 

The squeeze likes a bit of a drive occasionally, and is not half bad at it; she simply performs whatever moves are next up in the timetable under the station supervisor's orders; guess who the station supervisor is...

[cravensdmufan]

The layout is in the main living area of the house

And there's me thinking I was lucky to get full planning permission from Mrs CDF for a layout in a spare bedroom!

 

I'm now wondering.....should i make a further application?  My gut feeling is it would get thrown out at the initial consultation stage!

[The Johnster]

If you don't ask you don't get, Vivian!  My layout is in what I call the railway room, but she insists that on the flimsy evidence of it being where the bed and wardrobe are, it is a bedroom.  It was already set up when she moved in, which I think helped!

['CHARD]

she simply performs whatever moves are next up in the timetable 

 

[The Johnster]

You bad, bad people.

 

It was the mention of bedrooms that got you going, wasn't it?

Edited November 23, 2018 by The Johnster

[PM47079]

Never had a Lima loco fail.

 

As I type there is Lima 31 trundling around the layout on the all stations from Sheffield Exchange to Huddersfield. Going the other way is part finished class 24/1 with headcode box being converted from a Hornby 25. Both managed the array of code 75 point work that makes up the station throat at low speed as they departed.

Me neither. I have had the odd Hornby ring field that has worn the gear spindles on the the motor block. But no problems with Lima. I started out as youngster with their durability and ability to to go on and on have ensured my children get to use them as well.

[cravensdmufan]

Many of my old Lima locos (that got lots of constant "roundy roundy" use in the old days!) got so well "run in" that they assumed a bit of a flywheel type running on charactaristic - particulary my Western!  Most of them became very smooth indeed over the years.

 

As mentioned before, I still have my 156's.  I also still run a 73, 92, 121 and a couple of 101's with additional pick ups fitted to all. Occasional replacement traction tyres from Peters Spares which don't seem to make the track dirty.

 

They only ever needed replacement brushes.  The only time one or two failed was if the wire from the pickup to the brush came unsoldered.

[PM47079]

I have picked up a lot of ebay as none runners due to poor solder joints coming off. The best though was picking up an unboxed D809 champion from a now closed model shop as a non runner for non runner money. I took it as I figured it should be able to be fixed. It was.! Somehow someone had took the pick up bogie apart and the wheels were put the wrong way round so it was a very easy fix. It has turned out to have the smoothest motor of all my lima

[John M Upton]

I still wonder whatever happened to Lima's N gauge UK outline model moulds.  Most of it was miscaled junk but the CCT van was a goodun that with a little modelling, new wheels, etc. still looks good next to the more modern (and more expensive) Farish version.

[John Tomlinson]

I always thought this was the case but last night one of our group (at Hull MRS) brought a Lima Class 31 diesel and ran it on our layout which is code 75.  It had no problems at all. Except in my mind where a diesel in privatised livery shouldn't be anywhere near Hampshire in 1962 of course. 

 

This has arisen before. I have Peco code 75, and like you no problem with Lima wheels, apart from appearance if you look closely! Nor have I ever had one fail, as mentioned by others.

 

I wonder if the wheel performance is different with other manufacturers code 75, and wonder which is used at your club?

 

It occurs to me that the 75 refers to rail depth, the height of the chairs relative to the rail doesn't come into it, so maybe other manufacturers chairs sit higher and closer to the tops of the rail.

 

Coincidentally, I've been messing about with a couple of Joueff French locos picked up on ebay for not a lot, being a 141R steamer and a 70002 diesel ( a real brute). The traction tyres on both had bloomed and perished, and I changed them for the Peters Spares small Lima type that fit perfectly. Only problem is that the flanges now hit the chairs, proving that it doesn't take much between success and failure on this.

 

John.

[The Johnster]

Lima's wheel profile is not designed for Code 75 rail (it is designed for Lima's own set track, which was to 00 setrack standards), but that does not necessarily mean that it will not run on it.  My suspicion is that, given the shape of the flange, what is happening is that the flange is running lower than the tops of the chairs, but is far in enough to miss them.  So long as the flangeways will accept the wheels, you'll get away with it.  

 

The appearance is not Lima's strongest point; the flanges look overscale and the wrong shape (because they are); the wheels are too wide, and flat tyred with the flange at 90 degrees to it, whereas they should be slightly coned and the flange shaped in, also slightly coned.  This is much more apparent on the steam outline chassis than diesels.  At the time, even Hornby were doing better when they weren't messing around with the wrong diameter on the centre set of steam outline models, and Airfix and Mainline were a lot better in terms of appearance; with the brightwork painted out they didn't look too bad!

[frobisher]

I still wonder whatever happened to Lima's N gauge UK outline model moulds.  Most of it was miscaled junk but the CCT van was a goodun that with a little modelling, new wheels, etc. still looks good next to the more modern (and more expensive) Farish version.

I think the window of opportunity has now passed for the UK Lima N range now. Yup, the CCT was good, similarly the Siphon (minus hideous bogies of course) and the horse box but not really enough to build a range off of compared to what Farish et al are doing now. But I can't see that Hornby don't have the tooling in amongst the continental stuff that presumably passed to Arnold.

[crompton 33]

Most of my Lima loco's have been sold on Ebay. Replaced with Bachmann Heljan or Vitrains. The only Lima models i have now are 3 class 73's . 1 class 33. All fitted with Ultrascale wheels and CD motors and Laserglaze. I don't like the traction tyres or the Pizza cutting wheels on Lima models.  That said the body's look correct on the 31's 47's 73;s just need a little detailing .

Edited November 24, 2018 by crompton 33

[Middlesea John]

This has arisen before. I have Peco code 75, and like you no problem with Lima wheels, apart from appearance if you look closely! Nor have I ever had one fail, as mentioned by others.

 

I wonder if the wheel performance is different with other manufacturers code 75, and wonder which is used at your club?

 

It occurs to me that the 75 refers to rail depth, the height of the chairs relative to the rail doesn't come into it, so maybe other manufacturers chairs sit higher and closer to the tops of the rail.

 

Coincidentally, I've been messing about with a couple of Joueff French locos picked up on ebay for not a lot, being a 141R steamer and a 70002 diesel ( a real brute). The traction tyres on both had bloomed and perished, and I changed them for the Peters Spares small Lima type that fit perfectly. Only problem is that the flanges now hit the chairs, proving that it doesn't take much between success and failure on this.

 

John.

 

Our layout has Peco Code 75.  Not so other club layouts so I don't know how a Lima loco would run on there.  I just have a fancy for an early electro-diesel as they were used from Eastleigh in Summer 1962. 

[Steamport Southport]

It's the early Lima models with "pizza cutter" wheels where you possibly have a problem with Code 75 track. Even then it's mainly the rolling stock that have problems.

 

The Class 31 was a later model. As were the Classes 20, 37, 40, 47 and 73. They should be fine.

 

 

 

 

Jason

[NickL2008]

I must confess here .. I wore out a Lima class 101, the armatures got so hot the plastic housing melted! ah to be younger again!

 

forgive me father for I have sinned!

 

back on topic, yeah Lima locos can be good if serviced properly and looked after

 

NL