Here are a few photos and thoughts on the Graham Farish Cross Country Voyager. The model has been around for a few years now but still holds it's own against some of the latest releases like the Class 150.

The power unit is fitted in one of the front vehicles which means only 2 decoders are required for DCC operation compared to the 3 required for the Dapol version. Performance out of the box was excellent, smooth and quiet as you would expect with a Farish product. The units are joined by means of a small coupling bar which I was glad to see came with a few spares as they look like they wouldn't really stand up to frequent use.

Finish wise it's generally very good, although there is a little fuzziness along some of the edges between the dark and light silver. The colours look to be a good match for the prototype, just like the Turbostar released last month. The red roof of the ex Virgin scheme gives the Voyager a different look to the 170 though, and really needs weathering down to match the real thing. In some cases it's impossible to tell the roof is actually red at all! There is a wealth of fine detail represented from warning signs down to the Destination screens and Quiet Zone stickers on the doors of one of the end units.

All in all a lovely model up to Farish's usual high standard and it looks great when formed up. These things crop up all over the place so you can pretty much justify one on any layout.

I await the Farish 222 Meridian with great interest and it should make an interesting comparison to the Voyager!

Tom.