Lima Motor Chassis for (remixed) NER Inspection Car

thingiverse

In the 1970s Italian model train company Lima produced a small 0-4-0 diesel. I’m not sure if Lima based the model on any specific prototype, but it was marketed in all sorts of liveries and included in basic starter train sets. They are still relatively easy to pick up second hand. Despite the old style 3-pole “pancake” ringfield motor and deep wheel flanges, these models are surprisingly nice little runners, especially when more weight is added. The compact mechanism is completely self-contained and it’s simple to wire in a DCC decoder if desired. There are even kits available to swap the original 3-pole armature for a coreless motor salvaged from a CD player. I wanted to design a generic chassis that could take the motor unit from my loco (which I have had for more than 40 years!) so I could then create various body styles, in HO/OO as well and On30. Once I had developed my chassis, I looked around for a suitable body I could quickly adapt to test the chassis. I happened upon the NER Inspection Car created by JasonLiv (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3376888), which as luck would have it, was a good match in size and proportions for my new chassis. Although my chassis in no way resembles the running gear of the prototype NER vehicle, I find the finished model quite cute and works just fine as a small passenger railcar/tram on my layout. I made a few tweaks to the original body, not because there were any inaccuracies in the original design but because I wanted to personalise it for my layout. I also created some buffer beams and side steps. The mounting frame I incorporated into the body includes temporary horizontal printing supports. The Lima mechanism fits into the new chassis without any modification; it even re-uses the same mounting screws. The body is a good press fit onto the chassis, but I also used 4 x M1.7 screws for additional security.