Hi
Is the Lima Class 4F (with tender drive) a decent model?
- reliability in running
- is it a decent detailled model and true to the original
Reason: I am considering buying one... to drive some tiny peco-vans
Get it for the motor alone.
Lima N Gauge is basically useless unless you do major conversions or just collect them because they were all we had at one point! :beers:
Definitely not to scale, too large, lacking in detail, they were pretty dreadful when new.
Somewhat overscale, very basic model, tender drive is one of Lima's less worse mechanisms, but that's not saying much.
OK, sounds as if it should stay below the 2 to 3 pound limit... else I will forget it.
Thanks
They say you learn summat every day - I didn't even know Lima had made one :dunce:
Just get up, Mick? ;D
Quote from: Bealman on August 08, 2018, 10:47:51 AM
Get it for the motor alone.
Are you OK, George? This is a Lima motor we're talking about here.
Quote from: Newportnobby on August 08, 2018, 11:27:07 AM
They say you learn summat every day - I didn't even know Lima had made one :dunce:
Here you go, with a Poole-era Farish coach in tow:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1837/43019487295_749f66da08_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/28xu7Nc)
and for lolz a Lima Mk1:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1816/43019487085_75293e9933_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/28xu7Jz)
Stop it, you're scaring me ;)
oh memories. My first n gauge loco in black as part of the freight train set.
Elmo
To quote a political slogan from a while back, that counts as "back to basics"
My 2nd purchase back in 1976! A truly awful loco that was oversized and looked even worse next to the Lima N gauge coaches which were undersized. Mine would either drive around my first layout at a scale 200 mph or wouldn't budge at all.
I had two back in the day, a red one and a black one. They were truly dreadful in every respect. Comparatively cheap at I think £5.99 at the time, but my Peco Jubilee at over four times the price was way more than four times as good!
Roy
The Lima power block was a very basic and cheaply made mechanism, following similar designs used by Hornby and Fleischmann (amongst others) in their OO tender drives and diesel bogie blocks. it might have been better if made with higher quality moldings and materials. Really can't recommend one these days other than for "historic" curiosity.
Youtube videos only ever seem to show them being belted round the track at full tilt!
Actually, having read my own post again, it does sound like I'm putting praise on the motor. What I meant was that it was the best bit as the model itself was awful.
It doesn't look too bad in Squiddy's photos, though! :-\
Sounds like it should find its place in the scrap yard on the layout >:D
Thanks for your comments. Ssved me a few quids...
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.
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 :D
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 :o
(http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/8/main_34767.jpg)
Cool.
And as for NPN, I have never owned one, either.
However, there does seem to be a fan base here!
Quote from: Bealman on August 09, 2018, 11:59:14 AM
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 :angel:
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
Quote from: Bob Tidbury on August 09, 2018, 01:44:44 PM
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.
Quote from: railsquid on August 09, 2018, 02:22:30 PM
... 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.
Quote from: ntpntpntp on August 09, 2018, 03:39:50 PM
Quote from: railsquid on August 09, 2018, 02:22:30 PM
... 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:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1779/43898659422_c939e1021f_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/29Tb73j)
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.
Quote from: railsquid on August 09, 2018, 03:50:08 PM
Funnily enough, this turned up today:
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1779/43898659422_c939e1021f_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/29Tb73j)
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!