Workbench EXPERT MODELLERS SHOW YOU HOW
Drop-in replacement drive units for temperamental Lima motors have been offered before, but George Dent puts a new product to the test, featuring a high-quality coreless motor.
The Lima brand was founded in the immediate post-war era, initially as a manufacturer of spare parts for the full-size railway. However, this output was short-lived, thanks to the Italian state railway taking the production of components in-house. Undeterred, Lima (Lavorazione Italiana Metalli e Affini) switched its focus to producing metal toys.
By the 1970s, Lima was one of the world’s largest model manufacturers, specialising in ‘HO’ scale railways and serving the European, North American, Australian and UK markets. With ‘HO’ having limited appeal in the UK, Lima switched to ‘OO’ gauge products for its British-outline models, which were offered at affordable prices. Thus, the brand became popular during the 1980s, particularly among UK modern ‐image modellers.
PLAYING THE CLASSICS
Eventually, the Lima stable played host to a wide variety of classic British Rail locomotive types.
The company’s ability to rapidly turn out new models also put the company at the vanguard of modern image modelling, with ‘OO’ Class 66 and 67 models being available soon after the real things entered service with EWS.
Sadly, as worldwide production shifted to China in the 1990s, Lima’s Italian manufacturing base began to struggle and, despite a merger with other European manufacturers including Rivarossi and Arnold, the company went out of business in 2004. Hornby acquired these brands later that year. One aspect of the ex-Lima designs that Hornby was quick to change was the power unit. Indeed, Lima’s Ringfield-type motors could best be described as unpredictable.
LORD OF THE RINGS?
Ringfield-type motors consist of an armature spinning within a ring magnet, and were employed in slightly different forms by many manufacturers across Europe from the 1960s until the early 2000s. Drive from the motor was transferred to a set of plastic reduction gears, eventually reaching the axles via a set of gear teeth fixed to the inside faces of the wheels).
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