Graham Farish 00 gauge vans

[cessna152towser]

I had always assumed that Graham Farish 00 vans were all of a standard bodywork style, like the NE van which I have illustrated and which has an identical body to various others in advertising liveries, Knorr, Terrys, Zoflora, Fyffes, Railmail, in my collection.  I just realised this morning that the vans which were produced for Beatties carry an entirely different body moulding,   My Beatties pair have horizontal planking, double side doors and double vents on the ends, whereas all the others have vertical planking, single side doors, and ends with single vents and horizontal corrugation.  I am wondering whether Beatties went to the expense of asking Graham Farish to produce a separate moulding for their vans.

[BernardTPM]

Both of those two vans were produced a long time (originating in the late 1950s/early 60s, though with a metal underframe and tin roof) so you'll find the 'Southern' van in other liveries too. I did have a go at replacing the roof with the proper SECR shape in cardboard back in the mid-'70s.

Edited April 30, 2020 by BernardTPM

[Il Grifone]

Neither is correct lengthwise IIRC. I'll see if I have one to hand and check.

[kevinlms]

Is it possible that Graham Farish did some repairs to an existing mould and went looking a retailer to make a run and pay back the tooling costs?

[Il Grifone]

I found a 'Worthingtons' van in chocolate brown (marked 'Grafar' underneath and the same moulding as the LNER one above). it measures 72mm over headstocks on 43mm wheelbase. The brake gear is LNER type clasp, but missing one of the V hangers and obviously drawn up by someone who had no idea how the real thing works. It's fitted with 10 (12? I didn't count) spoke wheels. Not having access to  my LNER wagons book and the 'net not being a great help, I can't say whether there was an 18' version - most were 17' 6"

There was also a body of the old metal series, less underframe and showing signs of zinc pest. This is also 72mm long and similar to the 'Beatties' van with the Southern style uneven planking, but with outside framed hinged doors, lending support to Kevin's suggestion of a repaired mould.

[BernardTPM]

Both versions of the 00 vans were scaled down for N Gauge from 1970 and described as Single Ventilator Van and Twin Ventilator Van. Both were still listed in the 00 gauge until production stopped at the end of the '70s.

Early in the 1950s Farish made a series of diecast wagons, including vans, but these were different designs to the later plastic body ones (one of them was the GWR type).

[1E BoY]

On 30/04/2020 at 13:04, cessna152towser said:

My Beatties pair have horizontal planking, double side doors and double vents on the ends, whereas all the others have vertical planking, single side doors, and ends with single vents and horizontal corrugation.  I am wondering whether Beatties went to the expense of asking Graham Farish to produce a separate moulding for their vans.

 

I have two Beatties vans probably purchased from the then local Bletchley branch or the Milton Keynes one. The first has a single vent and vertical planking as per the Railmail of Watford van and the second is the twin vent version which has horizontal planking.

 

A check with Ramsay's shows that both versions (listed under single and double vent) were produced in 1980, just before the OO range ceased production that year. Farish also produced a 5 plank wagon around the same time in the livery of A. (Albert) Sharpe of Bletchley for Neals Toy Shop in Queensway, Bletchley.

[1E BoY]

There were other versions of the twin vent van from the latter OO period that I have notably Gibbs SR Toothpaste and Sportsman Chewing Gum. There is also an LMS van numbered 7126 in my collection.

[kevinlms]

I had a couple of these vans (can't remember which version, or even if i still have them).

One thing I remember, is that they roll as well as a brick. Give them a good shove on the track and lucky if they went 2 vehicle lengths!

[1E BoY]

There are two types of plastic chassis. The first has the wheels sitting in two clips rather than in the axleboxes. The later type of chassis has conventional wheels fitted in axleboxes.

 

The first type do run like bricks and it is not easy to replace the wheels. The second run as good as any others.

 

Check your chassis type - if they run badly chances are they are the earlier type with the clips.

[Il Grifone]

The first plastic rolling stock had an underframe consisting of two die-cast solebar/axleguard units which plugged together holding the couplings and wheelsets in place. Each wheelset comprised plastic wheels free to rotate on a steel axe with a a plastic tube press fitted to the centre. This was as crude and free running (not) as it sounds.

The last series* and the Formo versions of the die-cast wagons also had the clip type inside bearings (calling it a bearing is being generous.)

 

* Single plank, bolster, 3 and 5 plank wagons in plain (no lettering) grey, bauxite, or dark brown.

Edited May 4, 2020 by Il Grifone
addition to the list

[john new]

A bit more on these vans in this thread.

here.  

[Il Grifone]

Somewhere on RMweb, there's a Farish catalogue (late '40s?) listing many more wagons. AFAIK most of these never saw the light of day (Korean War shortages or maybe sales didn't come up to expectations?). The Formo series retooling was completely pointless, as the existing version would run perfectly well (or at least as well as can be expected) on 3 rail track, certainly better than the Formo ones, which were/are extremely prone to derailment due to the awful wheel profile.

 

The grey van in the link is the same as mine, except mine has a chunk broken off - the result of an attempt to straighten the bent sides. I have only ever seen the brake van in bauxite, whereas  the others can be found in all three colours.

 

The eccentric coupling will only couple (sometimes) with itself. I believe it should be straight, but is often found bent down (as above), presumably in an attempt to couple to Peco/HD or Tri-ang. this is doomed to failure and, in the event of attempts to run the things, they should be run together or the couplings replaced.

 

Despite the above criticisms, I find they have a horrid fascination (and a Grifone friendly property of usually only costing a pound or two). I have most of the metal ones and an aversion to fake P.O. liveries enables me to refrain from collecting more than one or two of the plastic ones.

[barney_leadhead]

On 02/05/2020 at 22:15, 1E BoY said:

 

I have two Beatties vans probably purchased from the then local Bletchley branch or the Milton Keynes one. The first has a single vent and vertical planking as per the Railmail of Watford van and the second is the twin vent version which has horizontal planking.

 

A check with Ramsay's shows that both versions (listed under single and double vent) were produced in 1980, just before the OO range ceased production that year. Farish also produced a 5 plank wagon around the same time in the livery of A. (Albert) Sharpe of Bletchley for Neals Toy Shop in Queensway, Bletchley.

 

Slightly OT........ I remember the Beatties shops in Bletchley and MK but wouldn't they still have been Taylor and McKenna in 1980 changing to Beatties shops in the very late 80's after T&Mc went pop?

I'm certainly not questioning your memories though as in 1980 I was 9 or 10 years old depending where in the year it was.

I had a Hornby H&B van in Taylor & McKenna livery which IIRC came free with a loco purchase from the MK shop which I'm sure I didn't get until after 1981.

My original wagon is long gone but I did pick up a couple of replacements a few years back.

 

I do remember Neal's in Bletchley too and spent some pocket money there.

[1E BoY]

You are right, they were probably acquired from the Holborn shop (Beatties) as I worked at Euston between 1979 and 81 before promotion took me to Watford. 

 

Further research tells me that Taylor & McKenna was not taken over by Beatties until 1987. I too have several of the Taylor & McKenna (Hornby Hull & Barnsley) vans.

 

Taylor & McKenna had quite a few shops around the area. The 1981 MKMRS exhibition guide has shops listed at Bletchley, Central Milton Keynes, Luton, Aylesbury, Hemel Hempstead, Banbury, Northampton and Kettering. I recall visiting the Hemel Hempstead shop long before they opened in Bletchley (16 The Councourse, Brunel Centre). Originally the company were based in Harlesden, North London.

 

The main T&M warehouse was in Burners Lane, Milton Keynes and they had took space at the bi-annual MKMRS exhibitions during that time. After the take over the office was listed as High Street, Hemel Hempstead which was part of the Kohnstam organisaiton. I think it was a takeover to add a number of shops to the Beatties portfolio rather than any financial failure of T & M who were a very successful chain of model shops. At the Bletchley store the whole of the first floor was dedicated to model railways and I can remember them selling Marklin HO at one stage. 

 

Financial failure came much later under Beatties. I can remember the shops closing and being stripped out, Bletchley was an early casualty. I was back working in Watford at that time and the Beatties there took stock from other shops to shift it before finally closing its doors. I think it is a Weatherspoons now (near the pond).