N gauge Lima motor repair or replacement?

[RevJay]

I have a nice Lima Canadian Pacific 4008 and the motor has ceased working. I wonder if it is worth repairing ,if possible or better still a way of replacing the motor with one from some other make etc. Please be kind I'm new to all this train stuff I've only really worked on scenery before !
Thank you

[strummer]

If I understand the whole Lima thing correctly, they had the "pancake" motor (similar to Marklin's HO motor).

Notoriously poor runners, I would think difficult (at best) to repair. My advise would be to look for an alternative engine in CP colors.

Mark in Oregon

[Lemosteam]

Based on this info and the fact that you did not state the type of locomotive  this search http://spookshow.net/locolist.php?diesels=6&nonbrass=3&sortby=4&Submit=Submit  may help you.  (Cntrl F for LIMA)

Only @peteski would be willing to attempt to disassemble and repair this motor! 

[peteski]

It would be helpful to know the specific model of the locomotive or a photo of it.  But as others have said, if it is one of the early models with the pancake motor, unless you have some nostalgic reason to get it running, it is not worth the effort.  Those only had one axle in one truck powered, and very poor electric pickup.  They really are crude toys compared to today's models.  If you like the looks of the model, it might be worth to try to fit the shell over a mechanism from a modern model.

[randgust]

That's an F-unit something.... this one.....
http://spookshow.net/loco/limaf7.html
This shell:  http://files.lima-n-scale-locomotives.webnode.cz/system_preview_detail_200000042-dccf6ddca6-public/IMG_6266.JPG
FYI, the reason we all love Spookshow (Mark) is ratings like this.   "It almost brings tears to my eyes, thinking of the poor kids who got one of these lemons as part of an AHM trainset."

As it was designed to fit over an Italian mechanism for something else, not even sure if you could drop it over a 'normal' F7 chassis, you'd have to have measurements.   It looks a little stubby to me to be a properly scaled unit that would fit over somebody else's chassis.  And as the Worlds Least Leading Expert on All Things CP, I can't find much that says they ever even had any regular F-units, just the longer FP's.  So it's not even the right shell even if you could get it to fit on a far better chassis.

The Lima pancakes were the absolute worst, only matched by the Roco C420 and GP40 for bad design.   First reaction, don't bother.

Second reaction, I'm pretty sure I have a leftover FP45 power truck somewhere in running condition, and if you want it that bad, PM me and I'll mail it to you.  I'm pretty sure it's the same motor.

If you're a CP fan and want a nice RTR FP7/FP9 combination, look no further than Intermountain.  You may have to search for a while, but you'll get a solid design that will work for years and is well detailed, designed, and painted.
http://www.intermountain-railway.com/n/html/69990.htm

Welcome to Railwire, and we're here to help!   Friends don't let friends go crazy trying to make N scale work reliably.

[Rich_S]

This was my first N scale train set I received as a Christmas present back in 1970 or '71. For the time period, it ran good enough to provide hours of entertainment. I'll agree these were very low end, but in the same time period, I received a few Tyco and Bachmann HO scale locomotives that made less laps around my HO layout before giving up the ghost. By today's standards these things are very outdated, but to a 10 year old in 1971, this AHM set was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

 

[strummer]

... ...

Mark in Oregon

[Lemosteam]

This was my first N scale train set I received as a Christmas present back in 1970 or '71. For the time period, it ran good enough to provide hours of entertainment. I'll agree these were very low end, but in the same time period, I received a few Tyco and Bachmann HO scale locomotives that made less laps around my HO layout before giving up the ghost. By today's standards these things are very outdated, but to a 10 year old in 1971, this AHM set was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

 

Wow, is this the original set?  Amazing!

Wasn't trying to be critical of such an iportant piece of your life, I hope you understand!

[Rich_S]

Wow, is this the original set?  Amazing!

Wasn't trying to be critical of such an important piece of your life, I hope you understand!

John, Yes that is my Christmas present from 1970 or '71. Most of the track and the locomotive instruction sheet has now been lost to time. The locomotive no longer runs, but I think the power pack is still good. I keep the set for sentimental value. I've taken no offense to any of the comments in this thread. I just wanted to point out that this was a low cost set for the time period that for me had a lot of play value.

I can understand that Rev Jay probably has a sentimental attachment to his Canadian Pacific locomotive as well. The unfortunate part for both of us, Lima went out of business in 2004 and although Hornby acquired Lima's assets, I do not believe they offer replacement parts for the Lima N gauge pancake motor.  From time to time you'll find some Lima replacement parts on eBay, but I've not seen pancake motors listed.

[peteski]

I can understand that Rev Jay probably has a sentimental attachment to his Canadian Pacific locomotive as well. The unfortunate part for both of us, Lima went out of business in 2004 and although Hornby acquired Lima's assets, I do not believe they offer replacement parts for the Lima N gauge pancake motor.  From time to time you'll find some Lima replacement parts on eBay, but I've not seen pancake motors listed.

We don't yet know how mechanically inclined Rev Jay is. It might be possible that the motor (or the entire loco) simply needs some cleaning and lubrication.  He also mentioned a possible motor replacement (which in this particular design is not trivial). That is why I suggested simply replacing the mechanism with something more modern.

[randgust]

Pete - one of the wonderful design features of the Lima Pancake (and you can see it in Mark's photos) was that the brushes were mounted in the plastic motor case itself, with that wrapped coil-spring deal pushing them down.   Reminded me of the Aurora slot car motor design.  Anyway, if the motor gets hot enough, the first thing to go is the plastic area around those brushes - they seize or enlarge.  No metal brush holders.     It's almost like the tiny metal end bearing on the end of the Rivarossi motors that would melt the case and shift the motor shaft if it got hot enough.

Step one is to hot-wire directly to the brush holders with test clips and see if she still spins.  If it does, well, maybe, probably a pickup/dirt issue, but if she doesn't, well put it on the shelf, replace the mech with another one on Ebay, or get a shovel.

Not that I'm immune to nostalgic favorites - that's one of the reasons I use Peco C55 instead of Atlas so I can still run them - but I always try to balance the frustration of trying to make the old horses still work against the more relaxing nature of newer stuff that just plain works - always.