Page created on 23/09/2024; updated on 22/01/2025.
The facts
This machine was released in the early 1990s, over thirty years ago! So, when I bought it, I wasn’t expecting exceptional engraving finesse.
General appearance
Apart from the pantographs (Sommerfeldt, with their fanciful bows), no parts are fitted, including the MU jumpers, windscreen wipers and loco monograms and numbers on the front panels. The roof platform railings are crude.
The handrails are moulded with the body.
The insulators in the roofline are stepped parts that have nothing to do with reality; even Jouef wouldn’t have dared to do that!
All eight wheels are driven. There are no grip tyres. No three-point suspension. The only travel is in canter, and even then, the air tanks at the ends of the chassis butt up against the underside, preventing the bogies from pitching up.
The couplings are fitted with NEM housings, but they are difficult to replace because the bogie gear casing has to be removed. They have no elongation and are 3 mm too long.
The steps and pendulum suspension brackets, which are moulded into the chassis and therefore made of metal, are not perforated.
Operation test
The worm gear and spur gear cascade transmission is noisy, more so than that of the Piko. Power consumption is between 470 and 500 mA at 12 V DC when slipping. When blocked, it rises to 1.3 A (taking into account incandescent lighting). The red and white lights reverse with the direction of travel. The red ones are shaped like little nails protruding from the edge of the lanterns: ugly! They can be easily removed by pushing from the inside: they should be replaced by a light guide or by filling with Krystal Klear.
Inside inspection
Opening the loco
To open the loco, the instructions state that the buffers should be removed. However, given the chassis, that this is not necessary: the buffer tails do protrude inside, but the corresponding recesses in the chassis are open towards the top. So all you have to do is gently spread the sides of the body to drop the chassis.
The chassis is serious; the electrical wiring less so! The small PCB is not varnished, and is quite dirty and oxidised, it’s been so long! There are only two colours of wires. Not very practical!
The transmission is done by shaft drive and worms, which is good; and by a cascade of spur gears, which is not so good and explains the noise. There’s no flywheel.
The circuit is fixed by a single ⌀ 2.2 Parker screw; there is a second unused fixing hole on the side opposite, hidden by the PCB. There is no interference suppression, only two 1N4148 diodes for light inversion are present.
When the “nails” (light guides) on the red lamps are removed, a black screen, designed to prevent light leaking into the cab, falls down. The light guides for the white lights are strongly glued in place. It’s a pity, because the silver surround of one of the headlights is badly painted: it would have been easier to correct with the optics removed. These guides will have to be milled to make room for the new LED circuits.
What do I intend to do with this locomotive?
This machine is supposed to be from subseries 17038 to 17105 with reinforced buffer beams. I’d love to make it into a Lens or La Chapelle machine (Nord network) in the 1970s, starting with number 17072. We are going to see that this wish will be complicated to fulfil.
Compared to the real thing, the Lima machine has some errors on the decking and the roofline, on details that are very visible in a scale model.
The roofline is that of the first subseries (17001 to 17037), so it doesn’t conform to 17041:
In red, the old assembly, in blue, the new one.
Given that the roofline is to be completely replaced, this modification will be necessary, anyway.
More annoyingly is the fact that access to the roof has been modified from 17051 onwards.
- Up to 17050 and 17052, access is via an external ladder to the body ends:
The gratings in blue are removable on the model.
- 17051 and 17053 to 17105, access via interior trapdoor:
The Ⓣ access hatch added in front of the panto meant that the end decking, fitted with two handles, had to be moved and widened.
All the parts in red are different. In practical terms, since the decking is moulded with the body, the modification would mean levelling them all and replacing them with photo-etched parts, which would themselves have to be manufactured… Photo-etched numbering plates would also have to be provided.
I’m afraid it wouldn’t be worth the effort. So this loco will remain 17041 at Achères (Ouest network), and too bad for compliance with the Nord network.
Modifications and improvements planned
- Pennati pantographs.
- Roofline redone and in compliance with the subseries.
- Roof rails remade in metal.
- Body lowered.
Lowering the body: a good idea?
The loco is 0.6 mm too high. That’s not a huge amount, but if I wanted to fit it with wheels of the right diameter, it would rise to 1 mm. Hence, this feasibility test.
I tried lowering the machine where the underframe bogie slides are, by cutting them flush on one bogie (mark ① in the following photo): we gain 0.5 mm. Now, the transverse pins, passing through the slotted holes ④ visible on the sides of the chassis, are what support the chassis.
- Cut slides.
- Risk of electrical contact.
- Mechanical contact.
- Bogie holder.
- Mechanical contact.
This has a number of disadvantages:
- transverse guidance is no longer guaranteed;
- there is a risk of contact between the chassis and the screws ② where the current pickup strips are fitted;
- the air tanks touch the chassis (they already did originally, but it’s worse now);
- the buffers are too low.
Comparison with the Piko
Before modification:
The buffers are the same height, whereas the Lima is visibly higher. You can clearly see that the axis of the buffers is not at the same height in relation to the buffer beam.
After lowering:
It’s better, but as we suspected, the Lima’s buffers are now too low! In the end, I gave up trying to lower it. But how to repair the cut slides?
Repairing the “operated” bogie
To restore the span of the bogie whose slides I’ve cut, I take advantage of the fact that they have a dovetail cross-section. I made two connecting pieces in 0.2 mm nickel silver, the dimensions of which are shown opposite.
The bend lines are engraved on the mini-milling machine using a conical mill bit for PCBs.
Advantage: even without gluing them, which is what is planned for the future, these parts will hold the slides in place, allowing me to adjust their height if necessary.
Parts before assembly:
Assembly completed:
Click on the image for a closer view on the part.