Every two years or so I open the box in which are stored old train stuffs. This morning I retrieved this HO 0-4-0 saddle tank steam loco I bought more than forty years ago. It was made by Lima, Italy and it was quite cheap (I had no money at that time so I couldn’t afford better locos).
At first, I thaught I should repaint it and put it on a flat car heading for the scrap yard but I am now wondering if it is worth investing in DCC conversion.
I know I will have to change the motor. I already have a small can motor from a Bachmann Spectrum GE 44 Tonner available but I don’t know how if it will fit and what kind of modification I will have to do to gear it correctly, if ever possible.
I also know that I will need some advise from members of this forum in the future.
But for now, I only want to know if it is worth the effort or even if it can only be done.
Hi Guy. Well, I have a very similar loco bought about 40 years ago in similar circumstances… Bought it after mowing the lawn of our neighbours for a few weeks. She still runs, quite decently in fact, and I use her to test things in DC. She is powered by some kind of pancake-type motor, all plastic. Changing the motor sounds like a headache, unless you used a really tiny can motor to fit in parallel with the wheels… You could try putting a non-sound decoder directly. I might try that some day. The mantua model is probably easier to convert given the gear arrangement. But that would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it? Let us know if you attempt something.
May be you can find an answer on the Nscale motor side.
The following address offer small can motors, some whith reduction gear which can slow down the speed of the loco.
As a Lima model all the shaft are probably in metric.
Kato or Atlas could be also a ressource for a powerful small power.
This small motors use low current drawn under charge, so you can use a small Nscale decoder most are rated at 1 amp draw much over of this kind of motors.
These motors could be mounted on a small brass or plastic support made to fit.
The two look pretty similar. I don’t remember under which brand name I bought mine and the box it came in had been tossed a long time ago. All I can say is that the inscription “Lima, Italy” is molded on the underside. The only obvious difference is the fact that mine was not a kit.
Your loco is exactly the same locomotive I got for Christmas in 1960. Mine was a Tyco loco it came with a Gondola and Box car and Bobber Caboose. Mine had an open frame Pittman type of motor. Mantua made this as kits and think Tyco was the RTR side of Mantua. There must have been a tie between Mantua and Lima; or, wone of them just copied the other. Along with this train set, I got a Varney Docksider “Little Joe” which I still have and have considered upgrading and converting to DCC. In fact there was an article in Model Railroader on adding DCC, sound and a TCS Keep alive to an old Docksider that would be a good read for you. It is in the January 2013 issue and starts on page 58.
