Modified Locos - Body/Chassis swaps etc

Details of some of the locos I have modified - and more to follow

I, in common with many others, have a fair selection of older Lima, Airfix and Hornby locos to name a few. Many of these are suffering from age, many hours of running, even more years stored in less than ideal conditions and just plain poor desigh (by modern standards). We are now spoilt by the standard of detail and in particular the running quality of the newer models supplied by the likes of Bachmann, Hornby, Heljan and ViTrains etc.

Some of these old locos have quite good details even by modern standards but do not run too well. Some we are attatched to for sentimental reasons. Some we just plain like. So what do we do with these older models?

Well I have been recycling many of mine by fitting the newer chassis under the old bodies. I have been taking advantage of some of the broken chassis, swollen chassis due to the metal fatigue some are suffering, and any other damaged or non-runners that I find on ebay. I have been finding various ways of adapting chassis/body combinations to end up with a very good running old type loco.

Below are links to the various classes of locos I have been modifying, have a look if you are interested or if you are looking for inspiration on how to improve some of your own older locos.

class 50 locos

I have been using the newer Hornby class 50 chassis to power Lima bodies. The Hornby chassis is very weak at the thin section just behind the cab area and I have picked up several broken chassis quite cheap. Click here to see some of the ones I have converted.

class 47 locos

Because I have several Lima and Hornby class 47's I have been fitting them to a selection of Bachmann, Heljan and ViTrains chassis. I have come up with various methods depending on what parts I have available. The Heljan chassis block is far too wide to fit inside the Lima or Hornby bodies so needs either to be ground down considerably or else just use the motor and bogies along with the original Hornby or Lima chassis frame. The Bachmann and ViTrains chassis are a little easier to work with as they fit inside the bodies. One thing to watch out for is the various types of fuel tanks fitted to the different sub-classes of the 47's. Have a look here at some of the conversions I have done.

class 37 locos

I have a few Lima class 37 bodies that I have been fitting to a selection of Bachmann and ViTrains chassis. I have tried a few methods of doing this depending on what parts I have available. I have tried two methods to fit the Lima bodies onto a Bachmann chassis, one requires the use of the Lima chassis frame and the other needs "bearers" fitting inside the Lima body for the normal method of Bachmann screw fitting. Have a look here at some of the conversions I have done.

class 31 locos

I have been having fun devising several ways to fit Lima and Airfix class 31 bodies onto either complete or broken new type Hornby class 31 chassis. A lot of the chassis I have bought have been broken at their weak point just behind the cab area. So depending on what other parts are there I have adapted them to fit the bodies. Some are able to exchange bodies but a few others have had to have the cab and buffer beams glued inside the ends of the body so that they are now a permanent pairing. Once sorted out they run very well and although the Lima body moulds are from the 1980's they have some very fine details and I think hold their own with the newer Hornby if you ignore the opening doors etc. More details of the conversions I have done are here, so do have look at them.

Various other classes of locos

This page shows a few of the other modifications I have carried out to several Lima and Hornby locos.

Hornby class 29 Body on Bachmann Class 25 chassis

A hybrid Bachmann/Hornby chassis for an old Hornby class 29, note that altenative bodies can be fitted to the chassis as they just clip on as normal. The only alteration needed to the body is to fit some sort of flush glazing.

Bachmann class 40 lowered on its bogies

The early Bachmann class 40's ride too high on their bogies and look better if they are lowered. This is a realatively easy job.

Lima class 59 and 66 bodies on Hornby chassis

There is also some information on replacing the Lima chassis on the class 59 and 66 locos with the newer Hornby ones. And a method of replacing the pancake motor on a three axle Lima motor bogie.

Lima class 67 chassis PCB converted to DCC Ready

The other project was coverting the Lima class 67 chassis PCB to being DCC ready and also converting it for LED lights rather than the bulbs fitted by Lima.

So if any of that is of interest to you have a look here for more details - enjoy!!!