Lima GWR 4575

[AJFE 2488]

Whilst having a look around the Great British Model Railway Show yesterday I ended up purchasing a rather old and battered looking Lima GWR 4575 Class Locomotive. Haven't had a chance to test it for running quality just yet but since it has a ring motor filling the cab, I am seriously tempted to give it the same treatment I did for my Lima 94xx a few years back and give it a new chassis and motor. But before I do that, I will have to give it a good clean up and repair a few bits and pieces on it.






So jobs to do on it:

1) Front and Rear buffer beams need replacing since the previous owner has appeared to have done a bodge job of putting on the screw link couplings. I'll retain these and put them onto the replacement beams along with new buffers and possibly model rivets onto them if I can.

2) Headlamp brackets are missing at the front so shouldn't be too hard to replace the broken one and add the new ones where they should be.

3) Handrails and the wires propping up the smokebox (not sure what these are actually called) need a good clean or replacing.

4) Bodywork needs a good clean up all over and repairing where the previous owner had glued Lamps to the bunker

5) Paintwork may need touching up.

6) Lettering and number plates will need redoing, easily done as I can source these from Fox Transfers.

7) Left Hand filler cap is missing and will need replacing.

So should be a good project for me to work on

[Bufferstop]

I take it the motor is the Lima "pancake" driving on the back of one of the rear wheels, Similar to their 0-6-0s, with a dirty great lump of lead sitting above the middle axle. Do you propose to build a chassis or "modify" one from another source. I re-chassied a 94xx with a Bachmann spare chassis, from the time when they realised they had a problem with the ex Mainline models and made spare redesigned chassis readily available. Still split chassis but it's still chugging along. At about 10 years the plating started to wear off the axles so i made some wiper pickups hooked onto the chassis sideplates, and it still grinds along. I've treated myself to an NRM 9400 (Bachmann) so now it will probably shuffle up and down the yard until it the wheels drop off.

[Journeyman]

Pulling up a chair for a front row seat on this one, look forward to following your progress on the project as I have the same engine.

Dave.

[AJFE 2488]

I take it the motor is the Lima "pancake" driving on the back of one of the rear wheels, Similar to their 0-6-0s, with a dirty great lump of lead sitting above the middle axle. Do you propose to build a chassis or "modify" one from another source. I re-chassied a 94xx with a Bachmann spare chassis, from the time when they realised they had a problem with the ex Mainline models and made spare redesigned chassis readily available. Still split chassis but it's still chugging along. At about 10 years the plating started to wear off the axles so i made some wiper pickups hooked onto the chassis sideplates, and it still grinds along. I've treated myself to an NRM 9400 (Bachmann) so now it will probably shuffle up and down the yard until it the wheels drop off.

Yeah same one, I was considering building a brass etch kit for it as it may be a bit tricky finding a suitable donor chassis at the moment. I replaced the chassis on my 94xx with a Hornby one as that was a cheaper and more available option for me. I did do a build log for it one here a good few years back and I think you've had a few comments on that as-well.
https://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/F ... =6&t=37467

I did end up stripping the model down to bare plastic with a view to repaint it back to GWR Green as I did do a bit of a bodge job with the paint work years ago. Wasn't a particularly smart idea to brush paint varnish over what I had done so time to do it properly for once. So it has been given a grey undercoat and an initial spray of Railmatch GWR Green, will have to go over it again and as I haven't touched it for years. Also I wasn't too happy with the ride height from the new chassis so removed the cab floor I put in so that I can do a better job of it.

[Bigmet]

...So jobs to do on it:

3) ...the wires propping up the smokebox (not sure what these are actually called) need a good clean or replacing.

4) Bodywork...

Those braces are to prevent the footplate getting too badly bent, introduced after Churchward discovered what the drivers got up to on his engine designs. The body moulding is a good 2mm too tall as I recall it, there is likely to be a 'how-to' somewhere on line offering guidance on correction.

Have fun!

[Bufferstop]

Yes I remember having looked at your previous thread. The Bachmann chassis had the advantage of being a GWR 0-6-0, and the GWR went for standardisation, most of the time. The Hornby 0-6-0 chassis was pretty much generic but was first used for an LMS 0-6-0 tank, It only needed to get the first axle aligned with it's splasher, the others were well hidden. I've stuffed a few chassis into odd bodies since then, including an Electrotren 0-6-0 into a Triang Nellie. No worries about accuracy there but it actually suits it well, and thanks to it being designed for an H0 loco the Triang body rides at the correct height not the Triang compromised one.

[AJFE 2488]

First update for this little project.

I've taken the loco apart body wise and given it a good clean up to get rid of the grease, dirt and what else was on there. Still a few bits on there so will have another attempt when I remember to do so. Took a sanding stick to the areas where there were dents and markings to smooth them out and to get rid of the raised bits on the bunker where the lamps had been glued on. Took the opportunity to remove the glued on lamp at the top and I will look at fitting some lamp brackets onto the bunker and to the footplate and smokebox too. Lone whistle went missing too but have found a website that sells 3D printed replacements and will look at buying one without the shield. Still need to figure out how to replace the missing filler cap as-well. Once done I'll get this primed and resprayed.

Have taken off the braces and the handrails, these were rusted up so will be chucking these and replacing with fresh wire and scale handrail knobs.






As there will be a lot of room in the cab when I put the replacement chassis and motor in, I'll be looking at putting a cab floor in and some detailing parts to make it look nice.





The screw link couplings came off with the use of needle nose pliers, still debating on whether to re-use them on this engine or just fit coupling hooks on their own as I want to be using the same coupling rings as the rest of the rolling stock I have.


Anyway, since whoever put them on in the first place made a right mess of the buffer beams, I took a hobby saw to them and managed to cut them off without damaging the rest of the footplate. Had a few sheets of black styrene leftover from my other projects over the years so cut off a 5.5mm by 34mm strip and a 7.5mm by 34mm strip for the front and rear beams respectively. Footplate was cleaned up with a small file (that I need to try and clean up as the teeth are pretty clogged up) and a bit of plastic glue to fix them on.

As I have a Ks Mogul Kit part built and have messed it up slightly with my soldering attempts, I've scavenged the 4 sprung buffers from that kit since they are straight shanked and will be a good fit for the 45xx. These have been super glued on and already looks like a good improvement so far. Will just need to get hold of a pair of coupling hooks, vacuum pipes and lamp brakcets to glue on then I can paint the footplate.

[Firefly16]

Already a happier looking engine. If you have any 1mm and 2mm pieces of styrene scrap, the left hand filler box and lid detail including the catch shouldn't be too hard to make. Having restored and detailed one or two of these locos I can say that this is an enjoyable project. I did not bother with replacement chassis - yes, not entirely accurate but the motor is unfairly maligned; warmed up it is capable of starting a 16oz load from rest with ease.
Looking forward to following progress.

[Bigmet]

... the motor is unfairly maligned; warmed up it is capable of starting a 16oz load from rest with ease...

Lima motors are fairly bombproof, when they get power they run (if they don't do so reliably, the trouble is usually poor pick up, or intermittent loss of conduction in the supply path to the motor brushes). A motor that runs reliably but needs to 'warm up' to perform well is usually caused by some gummy lubricant on one or more of the moving parts in the driveline from motor shaft to axles, and also the crankpins and other side rods in the case of steam models.

[Mountain]

I have always found that Lima steam loco chassis to be far too flexible to run well, but their bogie diesels are fine. that is my personal oppinion. It has little to do with the motor itself. I wouldn't mind saying that if one made a rigid chassis and maybe some metal gearing the chassis with the Lima motor will be much improved.... But making such a chassis is another thing! Another general shortcoming on some six coupled Lima steam engines are the budget way they make the centre pairs of wheels which are not coupled at all onsome of their designs. I am all for coming out with clever ways of budgeting but they took the biscuit and the crumbs when it came to doing that!
But in their day their diesels were in a league of their own compared to Hornby... Hornby did the better steam locos in my oppinion, but Lima did the better diesels.
Todays models are in a different world and the whole market has shifted into another gear but so have the prices! So what you are doing there is marvellous. Bringing old favourites into the modern world.

[Firefly16]

You have to wonder why the centre wheelsets on some Lima locos were not coupled. Yes, keeping costs down is important but cutting corners on so essential a component? The aberration is all the more puzzling in the light of the watchmaker's work that went into the centre axle securing screw on the 4575, which could not be omitted because of the con and coupling rods. Curiously, there is no spacer between the two rods, which may be one of the reasons for the starting problems mentioned by Bigmet above.

[Dad-1]

MMMmmmm I have one of these to dispose of from Derry's stuff. Was difficult to get running
and I think the wheel wipers need cleaning. Another slow starter, but fine once running.
Also have 2 others DCC fitted that are mine and quite reliable, but not in the same ball-game
as later Bachmann products.

Geoff T.

[Bigmet]

I have always found that Lima steam loco chassis to be far too flexible to run well ...Another general shortcoming on some six coupled Lima steam engines are the budget way they make the centre pairs of wheels which are not coupled at all on some of their designs...

The two go together. If your chassis is going to flex, one way of preventing too much binding of the rod coupled axles is only to couple a pair of them.

I had all manner of trouble with a friend's Lima 08 which indulged in jerky running when given a heavy load to pull, which the motor and weight were well up to tractively. It was the chassis flexing under load that was the root cause, but happily taking out the intermediate gears and leaving the side rods alone to do the transmission job was enough to deliver smooth running, right up the point where the load caused the loco to slip.

[Bufferstop]

Waking up this thread brought me to re-reading it, I wonder if you discovered that those bits of wire aren't propping up the smoke box, they are holding up the front footplate extension, mind you it could well have been one of my old fitter friend's tall tales.

[Bigmet]

... I wonder if you discovered that those bits of wire aren't propping up the smoke box, they are holding up the front footplate extension, mind you it could well have been one of my old fitter friend's tall tales.

Not a tall tale at all, as I mentioned up thread. Early Churchward locos didn't have these reinforcing struts, until experience in operation revealed the front platform and bufferbeam regularly got bent.