New Railway Modellers Forums

Hi, over the last year or so I've been repairing loco's given to me to sell by a friend which belonged to his dad. They were all a bit rough/old/broken but I've managed to get about 15 going and now i'm down to the terminal cases. Does anyone have any experience taking apart the class 31 or a servicing sheet? I've tested the motor directly. no power. It has brushes, but its a bit tough to turn. I really want to take it apart and see what the motor is like but not sure how to go about it as its held either side by copper bands with springs on and I can imagine if I do it wrong they'll be springs flying off everywhere. Any ideas?

If it is tough to turn, that is likely to be something needing looking into as Lima motors are basically similar. They are easy to take apart and put back together again. I have a Lima class 31 but I have only taken it apart to DCC it. I bought it new and hardly used it.Not sure which storage crate I put it in.

One thing that does come to mind is to ensure that the spring clip that holds the gears in place is where it should be as these can come out of position and cause the problems you describe. However if you have tried the motor without it having its gears and it still does not turn, it is time to look further. If I recall correctly, Lima usually have two screws that hold the backplate in place and the whole armature can be removed there and then. They are good like that.

I am wondering if the 31 is the same as the other classes. I did not recall mine being any different.

Thanks for the reply. There are no screws I can see. There is a copper casing that runs both sides of the motor that has springs attached to it on one side for the contacts to the brushes and has the wires from the bogie contacts soldered to it as well . These pictures below show it.

If you look at the top picture there are two gaps in the copper either side with a plastic protusion so i'm assuming that's where you try and ease the copper casing off?

That does not appear to be the original Lima motor. I've never seen anything like it, but someone else might have an idea?

Hi Gerald. I found those pictures by googling lima class 31 motor and its exactly the same as mine. Unfortunately the guy doesn't go into any details about taking it apart or servicing it. The back of the motor seems to be entirely held in by the copper casing and not screwed down - It certainly opens up a bit when a screwdriver is applied. I suppose I could just dive in and try and prise if off - the trouble is i'm a bit worried about doing it without damaging it or a spring pinging into the stratosphere - I know my way around 00 stuff to a certain extent but this is entering watch repair territory size wise.

This looks more like the motor that I would expect to see in a Lima Class 31.

https://clarahost.clara.net/www.bromsgr ... cinstr.htm

Yes I was expecting a scaled down 00 gauge Lima motor. Judging from the age of the others I've fixed (lots of old trix, farish) and the condition of this one i'm guessing these were an early motor. Certainly mine doesn't have the big weight in the middle of the one in your link. That's where the screw goes to fix the body to the chassis on mine.

I think this is possibly the N gauge Lima 31 while people think the one being referred to is the 00 gauge one, which is more common.

yes its the n gauge one mossdp. Thought i'd posted in the wrong section for a second Oh well, I will attempt to bodge it open and hope it all goes back together. End of the day I can't really make it a worse runner....

Whoops! Apologies, I should have spotted that it was the N gauge model. Sorry for leading you up the garden path .

I was thinking that it could be N gauge but I did not know that Lima made UK outline N gauge models. I know they made European N gauge models.

oh right. didn't realise they weren't especially known for n gauge. Have very little knowledge of n gauge myself and I've had about 4 of them to fix. I'm guessing they all date from the 70's/early 80's but the ones I've fixed run well enough

You have good eyesight. I have taken apart both N gauge and H0e locomotives (Which are just as small and intricate) and I was glad just to be able to put the tiny things back together again! Makes me glad that I am modelling in a larger scale. Mind you, with N gauge they do look good on a nice scenic layout.

I'm as blind as a bat for distance but close up stuff doesn't seem to be a problem luckily. You're right, taking them apart without losing bits and putting them together is the main problem. I get the feeling that a lot of the broken ones were part dismantled by my friend's late father to try and fix and then he gave up and just re-assembled them.

CasperGriswoldBacon wrote:Hi Gerald. I found those pictures by googling lima class 31 motor and its exactly the same as mine. Unfortunately the guy doesn't go into any details about taking it apart or servicing it. The back of the motor seems to be entirely held in by the copper casing and not screwed down - It certainly opens up a bit when a screwdriver is applied. I suppose I could just dive in and try and prise if off - the trouble is i'm a bit worried about doing it without damaging it or a spring pinging into the stratosphere - I know my way around 00 stuff to a certain extent but this is entering watch repair territory size wise.

Hi, I'm the guy who took the photos (actual page with some brief descriptions is here). I can't remember the exact details about taking apart the motor without going and doing it, but if memory serves correctly it's a question of removing the brass or copper strips wrapped around the outside and the springs. The springs and the motor brushes (held in place by one "arm" of each spring) are the only tiny parts which are at risk of loss, and obviously you don't want to bend the springs out of shape. These motors are quite crude but robust, though personally I have yet to encounter one which can be coaxed into running satisfactorily.

Towards the end Lima did use centre-mounted can motors in some of their N gauge models including the Class 31 and 86, I have yet to encounter one of those but do have a German outline model which uses one, which is a great improvement (though still way behind what e.g. Kato were making during the same period).