Farish wagon questions

[OfficerDonNZ]

I've managed to acquire a half dozen of the old Farish four wheel coaches all but one have the very early coupling which from memory was notorious for coming uncoupled at the slightest provocation. Something I experienced this morning when I was giving a recently bought Class 47 a run. A Rail Blue 47 hauling six four wheel coaches is amusing to watch. My question is, is there a way to cure the uncoupling problem? 

 

I also have five of the Farish Mk 1 Horsebox in Southern region green. I know that the Horseboxes were run in passenger trains as and when needed but were they ever run in a dedicated train and if so what other coaches/wagons would have been in the formation?

 

Last but not least I have somehow or other ended up with a rake of thirteen of the old Farish 50 ton Sulphate bogie wagon in it's various guises. Trying to find information on these wagons seems to be a near an impossible task. 

 

As for my modeling period, BR Blue or bust.  I simply bought the above wagons because I liked them and were something a bit unusual and don't mind the fact they'd be out of period.  

[dpgibbons]

There's a lengthy spread on horse box traffic here, although it's mostly steam era. 

[roundhouse]

As I dont have those particular wagons I ma not sure if they have the plug in NEM couplers.

If they do then I tend ot put a tiny bit of canopy glue  Similar to PVA  glue)  into the NEM socket then puch the coupler back in . It stops the NEM coupling from bouncing up and down. I did this to 21 coal wagon rakes (and many other rakes) and has worked well since. Using canopy glue rather than Superglue allows you to remove the couplers and peel out the glue should you wish to change the couplers etc.

 

Edited October 12, 2019 by roundhouse

[Zunnan]

7 hours ago, roundhouse said:

As I dont have those particular wagons I ma not sure if they have the plug in NEM couplers.

If they do then I tend ot put a tiny bit of canopy glue  Similar to PVA  glue)  into the NEM socket then puch the coupler back in . It stops the NEM coupling from bouncing up and down. I did this to 21 coal wagon rakes (and many other rakes) and has worked well since. Using canopy glue rather than Superglue allows you to remove the couplers and peel out the glue should you wish to change the couplers etc.

 

 

These old coaches pre-date NEM anything by around 30-40 years

 

The best I can suggest is to try BR Lines for replacement couplers, GF0112-1 I think. Hopefully these coaches aren't so old that they don't have the drawgear box with a spring in it. As long as they have sprung couplers you should be able to remove the half thickness ones and replace with something more substantial. Failing that, you might be able to fit the Dapol easi-shunt conversion kit, ref 2A-000-009 I think.

Edited October 12, 2019 by Zunnan
adding item codes

[OfficerDonNZ]

5 hours ago, Zunnan said:

 

These old coaches pre-date NEM anything by around 30-40 years

 

The best I can suggest is to try BR Lines for replacement couplers, GF0112-1 I think. Hopefully these coaches aren't so old that they don't have the drawgear box with a spring in it. As long as they have sprung couplers you should be able to remove the half thickness ones and replace with something more substantial. Failing that, you might be able to fit the Dapol easi-shunt conversion kit, ref 2A-000-009 I think.

 

Thanks. Five of them pre-date the drawgear box with a spring in it which is the problem! Gives me something to try at least.

[Kris]

You might find that the best option for the couplings is to cut them off and replace them with and NEM box (Dapol do these). You then have the choice of couplings.

[Paul80]

It's often recommended to use a dab of tacky was on the inside of the hook, that improves the hold on most n-gauge couplings.

 

I have a large number of wagons from Farish, Dapol and Peco and find the couplings are more reliable if they are grouped together by maker, mix and matching gives far more unreliability than keeping them all grouped together.

[RichardT]

LNER bogie sulphate wagons - not much, if anything, online: snippets of info at https://www.lner.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1915 and some Peco blurb for the 4mm kit at https://peco-uk.com/products/lner-bogie-sulphate-wagon

 

They are covered (drawing, two photos and info) on pp258-259 of Peter Tatlow's "LNER Wagons volume 4B".  Summarising Tatlow's text, basically 80 unfitted steel-sided wagons with wooden side doors built c.1930 as LNER Diag.69 to carry 2cwt sacks of sulphate of ammonia (480 sacks per wagonload!) from ICI's Synthetic & Nitrate Works at Haverton Hill, Billingham to Middlesbrough Docks for shipment. 

 

Peco don't mention the "to Middlesbrough Docks" bit, implying in their advert that the wagons were used for general distribution of the sulphate whereas in reality they seem to have run on a very restricted "proto-merry-go-round" circuit.  That said, I've imagined some running empty for repair/special diverted traffic so I can use them on my LNER in Yorkshire layout. 

 

"Later in life" (Tatlow isn't specific)  they were sent south to work the landfill rubbish trains from Ashburton Grove (where Arsenal's Emirates Stadium now is, apparently) to Blackridge Tip (an old gravel pit NE of Wheathampstead).  That service ended c1972/1973.  Tatlow says the rubbish trains were "latterly" hauled by Class 15s (diesels, I assume), three of which were at Hornsey shed for this purpose.

 

So, lots of non-specific "latterlys" and "later in lifes" - given Tatlow's reputation for exhaustive research I suspect that there simply isn't much else known about these wagons.  But the Farish sulphate wagon labelled as a LNER bogie brick wagon is a "foobie" as US modellers say - the real bogie brick wagons were completely wooden sided.

 

Hope that is of interest.

Richard

Edited October 14, 2019 by RichardT
Edited to add hyperlinks and neaten up my rambling sentences