Model Railway Forum

I'm off to Aldi in a few minutes - that's the trouble with scrolling through the various posts just before you go out Only wanted some soft cheese!

Happy to help, Barry.

My latest purchases recently are a mainline jubilee loco number 45691 ( not sure of the name at the mo ), 3 mainline coaches which were bought on the same day as the jubilee loco and off ebay I got a lima class 66 number 66506 aswell as a lima 94Xx 0-6-0 pannier tank locomotive.

The only issues I have had was that the connecting rod on the drivers side of the jubilee loco had seperated from the valve gear, it seems that on the back of the crosshead I think it is ( the part where the connecting rods are pushing and pulling on the piston if that makes sense ) there is supposed to be a backing plate which holds yhe connecting rods in place but on the drivers side this was missing, I repaired it by gluing a piece of brass ( suitably cut to size ) onto where the backing plate should be but it does the job. The piston rod on the same side snapped but I'm not fussed about it.

The lima 66 was another story completely, it arrived yesterday which was ok and when got it home the loco was unpackedfrom it huge box and its general condition overall is very good, it has the original weights fitted and also came with a small square shaped weight like those used in the hornby HST powercars and the class 110 motor coach. All the motor gears are greased but it runs a bit noisy although this can be rectified.

I think the previous owner of the loco had fitted ultrascale wheels to the loco as these have no traction tyres and suggests that the loco was run on a depot sized layout or a small layout where network rail / railtrack engineering wagons were shunted around. The lack of traction tyres meant that the loco barely moves itself and would not pull anything I own except about 5 or 6 hornby 4 wheeled wagons + a brake van.

I have managed to give the loco 1/2 of its traction power back by fitting Lima class 37 axles with 1 traction tyred wheel up to now and I do have the other axle + traction tyred wheel ready to fit which just needs a tyre on it. Testing the loco earlier today with 1 traction tyred wheel allowed it to move 8 mk1 coaches ( 5 from mainline & 3 from hornby ) although this did require the loco to be revved up a fair bit to move the coaches but it worked. Hopefully when I fit the other tyred wheel full traction will be restored and another pickup will be fitted to allow power from both rails at the unpowered bogie instead of just 1 side, I have just got to workout the pickup arrangement and hope that it works..

I don't have pictures at the mo but I will get some done later and either post them on here tonight or tomorrow.

I changed the wheels on all the diesels I owned that had traction tyres.

Steve M wrote: ↑Tue Nov 07, 2023 2:09 pm Happy to help, Barry.

I resisted the rotary tool, but did buy the soldering iron. Thank you

I can absolutely understand why we change out wheels with tyres on them, however, the big question how to add as much weight as possible for 1 motor bogie to move not only the loco but also the stock being hauled.

The wheels that the loco arrived with do look good but I was wondering if they might have been loose on the axles because whilst the loco would barely move itself + 5 or 6 of the 4 wheel wagons + brake van, most of the time it just sits down and spins the drive wheels and doesn't move ( all gears meshing correctly if a little noisy ) but the big question as mentioned before is how much weight should I add without possibly buying another chassis and doing surgery to twin motor the loco.

I have managed before now to twin motor a hornby class 91 with no tyres on it and both motors converted to cd motors so I am potentially looking at twin motoring the lima 66 with cd motors for smoother control and hopefully quieter running.

How free running are your wagons and coaches. I don’t seem to remember any of my locos being unable to pull a reasonable amount of stock even those with plastic wheels.

508035 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 07, 2023 4:01 pm I can absolutely understand why we change out wheels with tyres on them, however, the big question how to add as much weight as possible for 1 motor bogie to move not only the loco but also the stock being hauled.

The wheels that the loco arrived with do look good but I was wondering if they might have been loose on the axles because whilst the loco would barely move itself + 5 or 6 of the 4 wheel wagons + brake van, most of the time it just sits down and spins the drive wheels and doesn't move ( all gears meshing correctly if a little noisy ) but the big question as mentioned before is how much weight should I add without possibly buying another chassis and doing surgery to twin motor the loco.

I have managed before now to twin motor a hornby class 91 with no tyres on it and both motors converted to cd motors so I am potentially looking at twin motoring the lima 66 with cd motors for smoother control and hopefully quieter running.

I suppose by wiring twin 6v cd motors in series you can regain some form of slow speed control.

My stock is remarkably free running although some items did need extra weight added due to constant derailments despite all the back 2 back measurements being checked and corrected with a wheel gauge.

Some of the stock also needed to have the axleboxes drilled a bit deeper in order to increase the free running abilities as I found that any stock which had had plastic wheels replaced with metal wheels the pinpoints of the axle ends were binding and resulting in the axleboxes acting like brakes.

I guessed they would be. It was just a thought.