Lima Carriages

[redjules51]

I have two old Lima carriages (Pullmans W24528 and W24760) that require dismantling for upgrading. Lighting etc.

Would anyone be able to offer some tips to avoid me totally destroying them getting them apart.

Thank you

[The Duke 71000]

redjules51,

I would recommend offloading the old Lima vehicles with their steam roller wheels, crude detail, and simply buy a nice new Hornby Pullman with working table lamps already fitted, refined detail, and modern wheelsets, so it will run perfectly out of the box.......

The Duke 71000

[viking]

redjules51,

I would recommend offloading the old Lima vehicles with their steam roller wheels, crude detail, and simply buy a nice new Hornby Pullman with working table lamps already fitted, refined detail, and modern wheelsets, so it will run perfectly out of the box.......

The Duke 71000

 

 

Why?

Nothing wrong with Lima stuff.

[The Doc]

I no longer own any Lima coaches, so people may well correct me on this, but I don't think the coaches you are referring to are Pullmans. I think they are BR Western region Mk1 coaches (in chocolate and cream - same colour scheme as traditional Pullmans) - which may help others to explain how to get into them.

The Lima Mk1s were okay in their time - the most obvious criticism being the very thick sides which are crying out for some flush glazing.

If the Duke sounds very dismissive of Lima coaches it may be because Lima Pullman coaches (apart from some Mark 3 intercity coaches) dated back to the 1970s, were vaguely based on a continental design, very short, HO scale and looked very toylike. Some didn't even have any glazing for the windows. Also their thick wheels may need replacing to run on modern track.

[LCDR]

It is a long while since I dismantled a Lima carriage, but I seem to remember that the glazing and roof is all one moulding the clear plastic on top being painted grey. There is a hole in the corridor connections and a pip on the roof moulding sits inside that.

Originally the glazing was NOT flush, but it is possible that the window areas on later models were thickened to fill or at least partially fill the window openings. Certainly the 4 wheel CCT was like that. This will make removing the glazing a bit more tricky.

Dimensionally the carriages are not too bad, except the BG which was too long. The sunken glazing was unfortunate but I applied Flushglaze to some of ours which did improve the appearance significantly. The buffers are wrong being round and not oval, and the wheels are too shiny but I found them to be excellent runners.

The Hornby RailRoad carriages are certainly better in detail, so my Lima carriages are confined to excursion traffic.

[Rana Temporia]

Lima did produce some pullmans for the British market but they were short French Wagon Lits coaches in Pullman colours and quite poor models. I have also seen them in GWR, LMS and Southern colours. For some of the later British coaches referred to above the roof and glazing were one moulding made from a very brittle clear plastic, removing the roof involves very carefully pushing the windows in and levering the roof up at the same time, something you need four hands for. The plastic is very easy to break!

[redjules51]

Much appreciation for all comments. As a personal opinion and an owner of several Hornby Pullman carriages I find the Lima coaches of a slightly better construction. Running the Hornby and Lima on the same rake there does not appear to be any difference in scale.