Limby Class 59

nevard_091027_59005_IMG_5910, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

As part of the occasional looking back at specific items of modelling, today's BLOG post is looking at the '*Limby' Class 59, this one being one of the 2008 Hornby re-releases after a bit of cut and shove. Sadly Hornby got it completly wrong with the ends for a 59/0, so quite a bit of surgery was needed, along with new new grills and plates etc. Howver they did do a good job with the paint finish, this bein the incentive to have a bash converting 59004 to 59005.

When relaunched by Hornby there was much promise of improved running over the previous Lima incarnations, but sadly it's still rather lacking in that area. The answer could probably lie in the replacement with a Bachmann Class 66 chassis unit, but alot of work would be needed to cosmeticaly morph the chassis into that of a class 59 sadly. So for the time being (forever most likely), it's just been pumped full of lead and is best run with a non-feedback controller, feedback making it more twitchy than a hamster on too much Red Bull! The wheels have somewhat deeper treads than regular Hornby locos too, so they rattle along C&L trackwork making more of a clatter that a half full money box bouncing down the staircase making this release far more 'Lim' than 'By'.

I blogged about it back in 2008 here, these pages touching some of the work needed to represent 59005:
http://nevardmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/nip-tuck.html
http://nevardmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/post-op.html

*Toy chuffer fanatic's jargon for Hornby re-releases of old Lima tat, aka 'LIMBY' - gettit?