oreamnos

I have used EZ track in the past and have a lot of experience with it. Unfortunately, I have a lot of it, too, after throwing good money after bad... It's now all stored away in a box someplace. EZ track is adequate for test ovals and perhaps for setting up something to run on a floor. Farish and Dapol locos and stock run fine on it. The problem with EZ track is that it is a grossly inferior product compared to Kato Unitrack, which is a similar type of track. Unitrack is 1.) much better made, 2.) looks more realistic, 3.) much cheaper (at least here in the US), and perhaps most importantly, 4.) Unitrack also offeres a far greater variety of curve radius and of straight track lengths. And yes, Farish and Dapol locos and stock run fine on Unitrack, too. In fact, you can get Unitrack in 7.5" radius, and Farish and Dapol locos will run fine on that, too, although the newer Farish "Blue Ribband" labelled coaches don't. Since you said you are new to N gauge, I want you to have a positive experience. So I strongly recommend you do not use EZ track. Matt

Neat links. Thanks. "Realism, Value, Quality, and Super Detail" In all seriousness, I had not realized that the "Blue Riband" branding that Bachmann has been using for the past 8 or 9 years to denote the higher specification Farish models actually dates back to Farish's 1970s packaging. I had always thought this branding seemed a bit silly, but now that I understand the historical context and how it makes a link to "old" Farish, I actually appreciate it as an homage and a thoughtful detail on Bachmann's part. I learn something every day! Matt

Re: blackened wheels, I have seen a very late Poole production A3 and 8F that both had factory blackened drivers (but chrome bogie wheels!). I myself own a very late production Poole Class 40 which has factory blackened wheels. The wheel profiles on both the A3 and 8F I saw, and on my Class 40, are still pizza cutter shaped, however. Very early (1970s) Poole boxes had gold printing. This later shifted to yellow, and then late production (mid-1990s or so) Poole boxes added a vertical yellow stripe on either side of the clear plastic "window." Earlier boxes did not have the stripes. Poole plastic body shells for diesels were always moulded in white plastic, then painted. This plastic is a very soft polystyrene which reacts very strongly and quickly to solvent or glue. The plastic for Bachmann/China built diesel bodies (and some coaches and wagons) are moulded in color which is sometimes painted over and sometimes just clear coated. The Bachmann/China polystyrene plastic is much harder (and I believe, stronger) than the Poole plastic and reacts slower with glue and solvents - I personally prefer it compared to the Poole plastic. Paint application and decoration printing on the Bachmann/China built models is noticeably better than on anything that every came from Poole. There are a lot of major differences (e.g., completely different chassis!) between Poole and China built mechanisms under the body shells of diesels, and even China built versions of Poole designed steam engines have detail differences in how the mechanisms are assembled. Matt

This has gone off topic. In my instance the Class 55 I returned was clearly listed as "pre-owned" and like all their pre-owned items, Hattons posted pictures of the actual item being offered for sale, so whatever cosmetic flaw I had taken issue with (and I'm fussy) would have been clear for anyone to see. This was also around the time the first batch of the new tooling blue Class 55s had run out of stock with Bachmann, so someone was able to get a model they would otherwise have been unable to. Given those circumstances I don't have an issue with what Hatton's practice. Matt

That's pretty funny. To be honest, a couple years ago I returned a blue Class 55 which to me had some sort of unacceptable flaw on the body (don't remember what it was) and few weeks later I noticed it was offered as pre-owned at a small discount. One man's trash is another man's....

Seems to be a fault in assembly with the bodies of the latest batch. If you look carefully at the pictures on the Hatton's website you'll see that even the one they photographed shows evidence of this problem (though not as bad as your example). A pre-owned one currently being offered by Hattons (https://www.hattons.co.uk/427100/Graham_Farish_371_629_PO_GWR_Railcar_20_in_GWR_chocolate_cream_with_shirt_button_emblem_Open_box_minor_/StockDetail.aspx) looks as bad as yours, however. Yours is a duff, but it looks like at least other examples are duffs, too. I have two green and two crimson and cream ones from the last batch issued 5-7 (?) years ago. They are all fine along the windows, but one has a bit of extra glue along the roof/side join on one side. Matt

I received (and I suspect many did, too) an update from what was formerly a Liverpool located box-shifter that the Dapol 50s are now expected March/April, 2019. This is good for me since I'm short of funds right now, but maybe not so good for others... Matt

The first 6 that went through refurbishment were painted in standard BR blue and only later repainted in LL. See: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/22865-class-50-refurbishment-dates/ Matt

What I haven't seen anyone comment on is that the motor seems to have been changed compared to the original split chassis Bachmann Farish version. Below is a picture of the original BachFar split chassis with the the open frame that was needed to make room for the large 5 pole motor. I notice in the picture above that motor is not visible and is fully surrounded by the frame. Does the new model have a coreless motor? If so, that's another improvement. Matt

While I completely understand Grahame's encouragement to have a go, having made, painted, and lettered many kits, if the truth be told no repaint is ever really simple. It's all relative. Compared to the old Poole based 40 where you all you had to do was push out the cab glazing and the nose ends before respraying and adding new transfers, this new 40 will require at the very least careful masking of all the cab and body side glazing and (possibly) the tiny indicator lights. I don't deny it could be done, but in this instance I personally will just wait for Bachmann to paint a disc fitted one blue for me! Matt

The new body looks very, very good and conveys the portliness and weight of the real thing. The bogies are not as good as the body and seem too svelte in comparison. To my eyes, the bogies are slightly too narrow, top to bottom, though that may be an illusion caused by the overscale bogie/body gap. Apart from that, the overall shape of the bogies is certainly a big improvement over the old Poole and Bachmann/Poole 40 bogies. I looks like Bachmann really did everything it could to narrow the bogies (side to side) so that body overhung them. The bogie mouldings look noticeably thinner (and I hope are not too fragile) than the bogies of the old 40 and Peaks, the wheels also appear to be narrower than used on previous models, and (unfortunately) the leaf and helical springs have fairly shallow relief. Given that the separately applied sand boxes and cab steps stand quite proud of the bogie frames it's a bit of a shame the spring detail was not made with deeper relief, too. On the light grey EPs, the spring relief looked all right, perhaps because any shadows cast by the spring relief were apparent on the light color. Painted black, however, the shadows cannot be seen and so the spring relief looks too shallow. Those are all nits, really. I'm quite excited that these are coming out and even have all the variants on pre-order with the exception of the disc version, but only because the discs of the disc variant EP were noticeably overscale and I haven't seen a more recent picture. Well done! Matt

Somewhere earlier in this thread there was mention of there being room for a speaker inside the fuel tank. See post #107. If I understood it correctly, some minor modification will be required by the purchaser who wants to fit sound. Matt

Just providing links to other threads on this board about the same topic: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/48089-Bachmann-farish-split-gears-in-diesels/ and http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/107147-split-gear-on-farish-prototype-deltic-dp1/ Matt

I run Farish Mk 3s with Dapol power cars whenever I run an HST on my club's modular layout. I found that the Dapol NEM Rapido couplers on the Dapol coaches regularly tended to uncouple, and that's a big no-no in my club when we run at shows. I tried several different types of coupler with the Dapol coaches but none of them really solved the problem. My solution was to buy a set of second hand Blue and Grey Farish Mk 3 coaches. The sprung couplers of the Farish Mk 3s stay together extremely well. I added BR lines interiors to my Farish Mk 3s and I think the combination of Dapol power cars and Farish coaches looks fine. I also replaced all of the original Farish coach wheels with new the current Farish coach wheels that have the finer flanges, and I removed the buffers from the Farish coaches, of course (which where designed to be pulled off, if need be). A few pics (not very good, I'm afraid) are attached. I think I should point out that the Farish Mk 3s that I run with the Dapol power cars are the older Mk 3s with an almost matte paint finish, and not the later ones with glossier paint (which I have a few of, too). The paint on the later Farish coaches is both 1.) too glossy and 2.) not the right shade of blue to match the Dapol power cars. The coach bodies of the later Farish coaches also tends to banana. The older Farish Mk 3s by contrast don't suffer from any of these issues. Matt

Exactly. Who wants to run a shunter or a Bo-Bo loco when you can run a 1-Co-Co-1 one on a mainline layout if 1st radius allows you to jamb one into the space you've got? I'm all in favor of models being able to manage 1st radius curves in spite of possible appearance compromises that may result as a consequence. Let's not forget what the old Farish Castle looked like either: https://hattonsimages.blob.core.windows.net/products/372-026-LN_3082791_Qty1_ruler.jpg Matt