Strange Lima N-scale models

[martin67]

Hi everybody,

 

I must say, I love strange, funny and extraordinary models (that's why I'm a Lima collector ). A while ago I managed to buy an Italian type D341 Diesel in New Haven RR colours. Neither was this funny thingy in the Lima catalogue, nor sold under the Lima brand name. It was included in a starter set (I presume it must have been towards the end of the 1960's) branded "Physio-Chem", along with a few New Haven coaches of European origin. The complete set is very rare, single items are rare, too, but show up a little more often. Mine came to me unboxed without coaches. Nevertheless, it's a unique loco from the Lima history.

 

 

Martin

[brill27mcb]

I don't think it fooled many American modelers...

 

Rich K.

[Welshbloke]

Lima were notorious for this in N and HO. Possibly the funniest was an articulated three axle car transporter (something never seen in the UK at the time) loaded with what were obviously Mercedes Benz cars, and branded "British Leyland" on the transporter!

 

I do wonder whether some of these were testing the market. If your quick repaint of an Italian model sells in the export market then it's worth spending money to tool a proper model. Lima went on to make some rather spiffy models in N which don't embarrass themselves today if given a few tweaks and a repaint, witness the GWR horsebox and Siphon utility van.

[gavino200]

On 11/9/2018 at 2:26 AM, martin67 said:

Hi everybody,

 

I must say, I love strange, funny and extraordinary models (that's why I'm a Lima collector ). A while ago I managed to buy an Italian type D341 Diesel in New Haven RR colours. Neither was this funny thingy in the Lima catalogue, nor sold under the Lima brand name. It was included in a starter set (I presume it must have been towards the end of the 1960's) branded "Physio-Chem", along with a few New Haven coaches of European origin. The complete set is very rare, single items are rare, too, but show up a little more often. Mine came to me unboxed without coaches. Nevertheless, it's a unique loco from the Lima history.

 

 

Martin

 

Interesting. Can you show some of the other models in your collection?

[Socimi]

I too have a Lima N gauge D341, altough in it's original F.S. colors: chestnut brown and olive green.

 

 

but it's still wacky for a number of resons:

 

- the model is hold togheter by just one screw, located (and well visible) on the roof!

 

- it has the  bogeys of the E424 electric locomotive.

 

(little note: the first two locomotives in N gauge made by Lima in 1966, were the D341 we're looking at here, and the E424, a small Bo'Bo' electric locomotive intended for local  passenger trains. It happened from time to time, during the manufacturing of these two locos for starter sets, that the bogeys could get confused and swapped, so it's not uncommon to find D341s with E424s bogeys and vice-versa! Such thing was, altough, limited only to toy-like train sets: models designated for serious railway modelling had much stricter quality control).

 

- the grey motor turbocharger vent on the top is too high, of the wrong color, and it's located on the opposite side of where it should be!

 

You can clearly see here where it should be in reality 

(this was an early error made by the designers, wich never got corrected anyway)

 

(My D341 came with a full starter set containing also tracks, a blue-ivory CWIL pullman coach and an F.S. UIC-X baggage car in the 1960s slate grey color)

[Dinho]

Hello. i just managed to find a d341 new haven too. it is not in excellent condition. however it is always a bit particular piece. however what i can't figure out is if a rare piece with a nice value or none of that

[JR East]

That's Lima from the "ancient time"

 

I remember this brand, I was 16, 41 years ago. It was really affordable for N gauge but ... not very realistic compared to Rocco, Minitri, Fleischmann, etc..

 

JM

[Giugiaro]

Well, at least kids could play with those cheap models without causing a huge pain in the heart if they managed to derail them, or worse.

[marknewton]

On 1/18/2019 at 5:43 AM, Socimi said:

the grey motor turbocharger vent on the top is too high, of the wrong color, and it's located on the opposite side of where it should be

 

I've always thought the D341s were good looking locos. If I was ever tempted to model a European railway I think it'd be FS, with a few of these handsome little units. That fitting you describe as a turbocharger vent is actually the radiator fan, by the way.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[cteno4]

Yeah all the Lima stuff we got over in the us in the 70s was pretty rough, but it was solid and worked. None of it was expensive and I doubt they have become much of collectors items, that’s usually the nicer stuff.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Giugiaro]

11 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

... I doubt they have become much of collectors items, that’s usually the nicer stuff.

 

Unless they've released a vehicle that never got a nicer release.

 

cough cough HO CP Class 2600/2620

[Welshbloke]

I can beat these now. Found a few on ebay...

 

A BR MK1 coach lettered "Pennsylvania" on the roof, also seen with "Santa Fe"

 

Generic sort-of German coaches and CIWL pullman cars also lettered "Santa Fe"

 

I didn't buy either as frankly my interest in weird N gauge from the dawn of time doesn't extend to the prices being asked.

 

Lima also used a miniature version of their "pancake" motor in N, which produced some oddly scaled items where it wouldn't fit. Most of their British locos ended up over height and width but too short. Running qualities are best left unexplored...

[railsquid]

I always wondered what line of thinking lead to Lima marking their chocolate/cream Mk1 coaches as "Great Western"...

 

Lima Mk1 coach "Great Western" by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/railsquid/]Rail Squid[/url], on Flickr

[Welshbloke]

They did that in OO too.

 

I do wonder if they found one on a preserved line and didn't realise it was wrong? I know the early days of preservation saw all sorts, in fact I think the Paignton-Dartmouth line still has a few DMU centre cars painted in GWR livery they never carried in service.

 

[JR East]

Lima were more toys than models. Anyway, I played a lot with them when I was young as it was really affordable. 

[Socimi]

On 8/12/2022 at 1:00 AM, Dinho said:

Hello. i just managed to find a d341 new haven too. it is not in excellent condition. however it is always a bit particular piece. however what i can't figure out is if a rare piece with a nice value or none of that

 

Yes, it's a relatively rare model and very sought-after - a nice collectors' novelty!

[martin67]

Tokk quite a while, here's another one. A german V100 in BR paint. The V100 was sort of a road switcher for branchline duties. It was really common from the early 1960's until well into the 2000's. Some still work these days for private companies. Lima had no respect of this icon of the rails and transferred it to a fictional British world... Honestly, it looks quite good!

 

 

 

 

This model seems to be B-B, but the actual wheel arrangement is 1-B-1 (or American 2-4-2), quite strange. The two driven center axles are fixed in the frame. This particular model is a quite good runner, a few years ago I had it on a train show pulling a string of japanese coaches... Not a single visitor took a note of it.

 

Martin

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by martin67

[jappomania]

Ciao Martin!

it's not so strange, the motorized bogie on the center has been placed because it was the only way for using the standard motorized bogie (a mini G type), a similar config for a fake  B-B was used years before from Marklin and probaly somebody other, it was long long time ago.....

it's a quite strange to find Lima N-gauge collectors, like JM told, it was much toy like compared whit the rest of N-world, surely collecting them is less expensive than other but maybe not so easy

probably you already know it, but if somebody other is curious

http://www.rivarossi-memory.it/LIMA/Cataloghi/Lima_Cataloghi_scala_N-0.htm

and another Lima collector site

https://lima-n-scale-complete-catalogue.webnode.cz/

now you need the V100 in BR green livery 😀

 

p.s. the motor is not so quiet and smooth like other, but after a good clean (ultrasound washing machine), a couple of new brushes (if necessary) and new traction tires it run like a "hornet" zzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ , just a blender is less quiet

 

Ciao!

Massimo

 

 

 

[Doddy]

Class 117 DMU cars 59503, 59507, 59513  of the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway were painted in Chocolate and Cream as per the originals.

 

https://www.flickriver.com/photos/66289212@N07/44317507840/

https://www.railcar.co.uk/images/3113

 

LIMA, Hornby and Bachmann have modelled variations on the theme.

 

https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/52417/35-500Z-Bachmann-Class-117-3-Car-DMU-Set-number-B430-GW-150

 

 

 

 

[martin67]

9 hours ago, jappomania said:

Ciao Martin!

it's not so strange, the motorized bogie on the center has been placed because it was the only way for using the standard motorized bogie (a mini G type), a similar config for a fake  B-B was used years before from Marklin and probaly somebody other, it was long long time ago.....

it's a quite strange to find Lima N-gauge collectors, like JM told, it was much toy like compared whit the rest of N-world, surely collecting them is less expensive than other but maybe not so easy

probably you already know it, but if somebody other is curious

http://www.rivarossi-memory.it/LIMA/Cataloghi/Lima_Cataloghi_scala_N-0.htm

and another Lima collector site

https://lima-n-scale-complete-catalogue.webnode.cz/

now you need the V100 in BR green livery 😀

 

p.s. the motor is not so quiet and smooth like other, but after a good clean (ultrasound washing machine), a couple of new brushes (if necessary) and new traction tires it run like a "hornet" zzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ , just a blender is less quiet

 

Ciao!

Massimo

 

 

 

Ciao Massimo,

 

grazie mille! I know the linked sites. Actually, Giorgio from RR-Momory is a good friend of mine, we often met at Verona Model Expo, and I have been working with him on the Lima part of his website, providing lots of material.

 

A few years ago I met a Lima-N collector from the Netherlands. He told me that he collected almost every single Lima N-scale item and brought a self made collector's catalogue with him. I tried to obtain a copy (pdf-file, whichever) of his work, but he didn't want to. I'm mainly into HO (H0, as we Europeans say), I just have a few odd pieces of Lima N, like the V100, the NH-Diesel, a JNR 481 3-car train, a Renfe Class 31 and a few coaches.

 

Martin

[Welshbloke]

22 hours ago, Doddy said:

Class 117 DMU cars 59503, 59507, 59513  of the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway were painted in Chocolate and Cream as per the originals.

 

https://www.flickriver.com/photos/66289212@N07/44317507840/

https://www.railcar.co.uk/images/3113

 

LIMA, Hornby and Bachmann have modelled variations on the theme.

 

https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/52417/35-500Z-Bachmann-Class-117-3-Car-DMU-Set-number-B430-GW-150

 

 

 

 

 

The Bachmann model is of a unit repainted by BR for the 150th anniversary of the GWR in 1985, there was a three car Class 117 set and a single car Class 121. I have the 121 in O scale from Dapol. None of the other BR 1st gen DMUs wore those colours before preservation.

 

The Paignton and Dartmouth regarded theirs as cheap people movers when they started up. 1st gen DMUs have vacuum brakes and diesel powered heaters (even the trailers) so can fit into a steam hauled train with minimal effort, just need adapter plates if you want to couple them to MK1s and use the gangways. They look vaguely like some GWR compartment stock if you squint hard enough, hence the repaint to blend them in.