There seems little point in criticising Lima 'pancake' motors time and time again. This will achieve nothing. Lima no longer exist, so where exactly are the criticisms directed, and 'what' do you want 'who' to do about it?
Repeated criticism is not going to magically remotor your locomotives with the superior offerings from Bachmann and Heljan from recent years.
You have your lemon and have 3 choices:

1. Suck the lemon.

2. Stand with your lemon looking lost.

3. Make the most of what you`ve got and get on with it.

I am going for option 3. I have a large number of Lima motors in my fleet, and for the time being they are here to stay. A point worth remembering is that no one motor seems the same, Some have better running charactersitics than others. Some need more TLC, but some run as sweet as a nut, even at slow speeds. Likewise, most Lima pancakes are very noisy, but 'some' have an acceptable level of noise reduction. Look after what you`ve got, and always keep your motors oiled and cleaned. Here`s a tip that some may find useful:

I was thinking back to school days, and how we marvelled at the idea of a potato being able to light a light bulb or power a clock.......
With no potatoes to hand, I settled for a trusty lemon. I decided to change the chemical energy in the lemon into electrical energy. Inserting a copper and a steel wire makes a circuit and allows a small electric current to flow. One lemon produces about 0.7 volts of electricity. At that voltage the effect is totally harmless, but connecting your Lima motor gives enough power to give it an extra bit of bite, and this charge should hold for at least a month......
As we all now, pancakes are always so much better with a splash of lemon!

I have recently aquired a bottle of blue liquid, which is actually used by engravers to blacken brass. Although designed to specifically blacken brass, I thought I`d give it a go on some of those over shiny wheelsets which plague my fleet of Hornby 86`s and 90`s. The wheelsets were dunked briefly (With a bent paperclip) into the 'blue' and emerged seconds later looking very black. When the excess fluid was mopped up, and the wheelsets were wiped, I was left with a realistic looking dark brown effect. This experiment has proved a success, and was certainly very quick and easy to do.

I shall now quickly work through my Fleet of Hornby 86`s and 90`s to improve their appearances. Pictured below are 86635, 86628 Aldaniti, 86205 City of Lancaster, and 86433 Wulfruna who await blackened wheel treatment. The freightliner locomotives are sitting on a test plank, which quite literally is a plank of wood with track crudely affixed!

On my Stereo: Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Rust never sleeps

Saturday afternoon - 9th July 2005

I need a Panto-graph, without my pants............

A decent model pantograph is one of my biggest banes. A great proportion of my locomotive fleet are of the AC variety, and obtaining a quantity of decent pantographs can be time consuming, expensive, and virtually impossible all in one! Classes 81 -85 are catered for with a great range of european pantographs available, with Sommerfeldt 968`s being predominately used. However, this is not the case for 83009 which should have a cross-arm panto, but I have had to settle for an old LIma offering. Most class 86`s are catered for with the previously mentioned Sommerfeldt item. However, locos fitted with Brecknell-Willis High speed pantographs are left suffering. The Hornby offering is not the most convincing and is very obtrusive. A quick spray with Railmatch weather black helps tone things down though. The plastic pantograph as featured on Hornbys later class 92 is not an exact match, but is certainly an acceptable replacement, but it`s a pity to buy a whole locomotive to simply steal a couple of pantographs. It`s a shame that Hornby don`t make these available as a spare part. A good example of the Brecknell-Willis pantograph was available as a kit from Hurst models, but alas, is not currently in production. My current requirements stand at around 30 High speed pantographs, and 8 cross-arm pantographs. I don`t particularly want to buy 15 new Hornby class 92`s, and I am yet to see an example of a cross-arm in model form. Frustrating......

On my Stereo: The Subways - Young for eternity

Thursday lunchtime - 7th July 2005

For better or worse?

A bumper feast of reading material this morning as the postie dropped Traction Magazine, Model Rail, the very first issue of Rail Enthusiast (From 1981) and the latest AC Lines onto my doorstep. And what a breath of fresh air too; not a single sight of one of those ghastly pendo-dildo type things. (Don`t you dare move your mouse over the above image.)
Suffice to say, even if the Dapol model was as up to scratch as say, Bachmanns Voyager model, I would not have one of these plastic turds whizzing around on my layout. A few modellers licence 'one-off' models aside, 1997 is a definite cut-off point for Rugby Parkway, a year when most things in general have since gone downhill.
Here`s to the next general election........

On my Stereo: Blur (Self titled album)

Tuesday morning - 5th July 2005

Raising the roof......

A recent trip to the In-laws co-incided with a short visit to the Bromley Model Railway Show. I took my chance to purchase another class 90, an extra Super GUV, and a rake of Network Southeast liveried Mk1s by Bachmann. The Mk1s will be a firm starting point for the Northampton-Euston 'Cobbler' rake I intend to recreate. If anyone could provide me with furher details of the Cobblers rakes, I would be very grateful.
Anyway, it`s time for another quality control gripe! You may notice that the coach roof in the above picture has not been correctly seated. It took only a matter of seconds to rectify the problem, but one has to ask why a brand new model could come out of the box in this condition?

On my Stereo: Boards of Canada - Music has the right to children

Wednesday morning - 29th June 2005

Back to the Nineties......

Attention has been turned to my fleet of Class 90 locomotives. Starting in numerical order, 90002 was the first to undergo surgery. The underframe skirting at the front ends was the feature which I most wanted to rectify, as on the Hornby model this is split into two to cater for 1st radius curves. The bottom sections were cut from the bogies, and cemented to the upper sections which are moulded to the chasis. Plasticard was sandwiched between these sections to ensure the correct profile was achieved, then milliput was used to fill the gaps, and was subsequently filed and rubbed down to a smooth and satisfactory finish. This was quite time consuming but the drastic improvement made it all worthwhile. The model was then adorned with the relevant pipes and sockets from the Craftsman range, and buckeye coupling from MJT.
Now for the rest of the fleet. One down, ten to go......

On my Stereo: Ben Folds - Rockin` the Suburbs

Sunday Evening - 26th June 2005

Under the weather...........

I thought I`d get round to some weathering this weekend, and I decided to pick on a few shunters. First to get the treatment was 08580, which is now portrayed in the dilapidated condition it was in at Northampton before being repainted into EWS colours. It even features replication of some artwork by an unknown West Ham fan...

08742 has also been similarly treated. You may notice that I have yet to add further detailing and coupling arrangements, so coupling rods aside, weathering has not been done to the underframes as yet.

Hornby`s 08402 has a new identity of 08458. A word of caution for those wishing to renumber who use paint thinners to remove the printed numbers is to make sure that no thinner gets in contact with the plastic windows! That`s if your windows are still in place, as both the 'open' side windows have come adrift on my model, and it took me quite a while to disemble the cab to refix the windows with liquid cement. Another gripe I had with 08402 is that the wasp stripes which wrap around the side of the loco at the front were painted too far back towards the cab which I feel a poor oversight. However, as I was painting over the upper two stripes anyway, I rectified this problem while my paints were out. With that in mind, I`m still not sure about the Hornby model. Rugby Parkway is to provide home for a couple more 08`s very shortly. Bachmann 08`s...........

On my Stereo: Killing Joke - Wilful Days

Sunday Afternoon - 19th June 2005

Doing things wrong to make things right............

After several voiced concerns and protests, 87019 has lost its CR#AP AC#RP nameplates, and has been renamed Sir Winston Churchill.

The latest addition to the loco fleet is 87019 Sir Winston Churchill. I am quite happy with the repaint, although the numbers are slightly too large, but they are of the closest match typeface I could find. I wasn`t sure about the livery at first, but it has grown on me and I think it suits the 87 very well. Reinstating the original nameplates is obviously not authentic, but what did they think they were doing? Besides, this loco runs on MY railway and I am entitled to make up my own rules! However, if 4mm nameplates do become available, I may possible rename one side for the sake of authenticity......

On my Stereo: The Cure - Pornography

Wednesday lunchtime - 15th June 2005

Shunting Stalemate?

Recent arrival is Hornbys new 08402. It`s certainly a very impressive model. I think it has some features that score over the Bachmann model, yet the Bachmann model is superior in other areas. I don`t have a place on my layout for this particular shunter, or even one in this condition as it has too few toolboxes for any extra locos I had in mind. I`ll have to look for a suitable renumber..... Anyway, It`s got to be worth giving the new Hornby model a run to see how I get on with it and look forward to seeing what forthcoming variants will be offered.
Other recent activity includes buffer beam detailing on some AC locos, and commencement of a daring repaint.............

On my Stereo: Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

Sunday Afternoon - 5th June 2005

A short break in Italy has resulted in little progress since my last update. However, a complete rake of Rugby Cement Presflos has been put together, and weathered, Johnsons baby powder coming in most useful! At the last count, I`ve had 22 Brake vans go through the works for various adaptations and detailing. At least we`re getting somewhere! On a negative side, I was greeted one evening to a completed Cambrian Mermaid kit which had been knocked onto the floor by one of our cats, probably Samson who seems to make a habit of destruction! The wagon was totally shattered beyond belief.... I spent a couple of hours trying to ressurect it, but I gave it up for a lost cause. (I could have put together another Turbot or two in this time!)

In the company of The Duke of Wellington, my Mermaid now has weeds and grass poking through the ballast. This wagon will now be relegated to a static display.

On my Stereo: Xentrix - For Whose Advantage?

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