Lima Class 4F 0-6-0 tender drive - Experiences

[AlexanderJesse]

Sounds like it should find its place in the scrap yard on the layout 
Thanks for your comments. Ssved me a few quids...

[thebrighton]

I had one many years ago. It had 2 speeds, stopped and flat out although it didn't take long for stopped to become its only speed.

[Newportnobby]

Strangely enough, in over 35 years of N gauge, I have never owned or even considered owning, a Lima loco. Perhaps I've just been lucky

[thebrighton]

Actually despite being over 40 years old my 4F does vaguely live on. The centre driver never had a boss to hold the coupling rod so made it ideal for a loco with a single driver. It needed the massive flange turning down but at the heart of my LBSCR Single is a Lima 4F   

[Bealman]

Cool.

And as for NPN, I have never owned one, either.

However, there does seem to be a fan base here!

[railsquid]

However, there does seem to be a fan base here!

More a sort of morbid fascination, I'd say.

There does seem to be a surprising amount of Lima British N gauge stuff floating around on the 2nd hand market here in Japan, which is how I acquired most of mine (at throw-away prices of course).

I reckon everyone should own at least one Lima locomotive, and get it out as a reminder how bad things could be every time they're frustrated with contemporary produts 

[Bob Tidbury]

The later Electric Loco I don't know what type it was,was the only loco that was near to scale ,the Syphons were quite good and I think if I remember the horse box was ok  The locos too big as well as the wagons too high but the coaches were too small.
The Deltic was a joke with the second man in the rear cab having a really good view of the coach  roofs .But that just shows how things have improved over the years .As for today's prices with the new Farish coaches at £42.95 well you could  have bought a complete starter train set for less than that when I started in N Gauge
Bob Tidbury

[railsquid]

The later Electric Loco I don't know what type it was,was the only loco that was near to scale

AFAIK the only Lima N electric locomotive is the Class 86, which I think dates from the 1960s Wrenn era, I measured it once and it's about 5% too wide and 10% too short, but the body moulding detail stands up fairly well and there was a version with a centre-mounted can motor towards the end. The one I have is actually not too bad a runner, I keep it on the layout as a "Thunderbird" loco to give stock which has stalled somewhere a nudge.

[ntpntpntp]

... Class 86... there was a version with a centre-mounted can motor towards the end.

Yep I have a can motor 86 and 31. Much better runners than the previous power bogie but still hampered by drive to one bogie only, with pickups on the other bogie.  I have a Lima swiss bo-bo electric similarly fitted out.

It's a shame, as some Lima continental multiple units (not sure about locos) were further improved to acquire drive to both bogies under the Minitrain / Minibahn branding, and whilst still lesser quality than some manufacturers they did at least become half-decent runners. I have a couple of examples.

Later of course this stuff became part of Arnold and now Hornby/Arnold, but as far as I know very few items have survived into the current range.

[railsquid]

... Class 86... there was a version with a centre-mounted can motor towards the end.

Yep I have a can motor 86 and 31. Much better runners than the previous power bogie but still hampered by drive to one bogie only, with pickups on the other bogie.  I have a Lima swiss bo-bo electric similarly fitted out.

It's a shame, as some Lima continental multiple units (not sure about locos) were further improved to acquire drive to both bogies under the Minitrain / Minibahn branding, and whilst still lesser quality than some manufacturers they did at least become half-decent runners. I have a couple of examples.

Funnily enough, this turned up today:



Can motor albeit with single bogie drive/pickup, and a little noisy, but perfectly usable, and very presentable for a model produced 35 years ago. It even copes fine with my incline, with which the 4F in question can't even cope running light.

[ntpntpntp]

Funnily enough, this turned up today:

Yep, I have one of those Lufthansa Airport Express "Donald Duck" sets but with both bogies driven. Also has the windscreen wipers as separate fittings.  The couplings are based on the Roco close coupling design rather than the simple hook and loop of the earlier ET403 models (I've also got an Intercity livery version with the singe end drive like yours).   A little noisy but still part of the standard exhibition roster!