Jump to content
 

Farish N - 50 years


AY Mod
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Premium
6 hours ago, Roy L S said:

 

I would have said slightly later, possibly 1983 ish, but it's a long time ago now!

 

According to the 1984/5 catalogue, the whole range was changed over to 5-pole by March 84. Fits in with how I remember it, picking up an HST with the 'Now with 5 pole motor' sticker over the old box which boasted twin motorised power cars. The originals had the old power bogie with brass gears, same as the class 101 DMU. I still have a pair of class 20s with brass gears, my 47712 which also had a brass gear train having been replaced. They do wear, but at least don't split....

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I guess there should be a little mention of Graham Farish before N gauge just to tell the whole story. A lot of the early N gauge locos had been made in 00 first, albeit with rather dodgy buffers as I recall. I remember I rather liked the 00 Farish suburban coaches. I think they were generic but they looked the part and I had a rake of them when I was a lad.

 

Agreed that Peter Graham Farish was a lovely man. Full of enthusiasm.

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

The adverts of the then New Farish range reminded me of my start into N.

 

I was given some old Triang stock and track which due to taking up the living room floor my father took me to a model shop in in West Brom where I came away with a new Farish LMS surbuban set complete with an oval of track. Oh happy days. Still have the stock and a neighbour in Ludlow gave me this little beauty, definitely in the eyes of this beholder. How far N gauge has come on with the Farish Blue Pullman. The early Farish of the 70's brings back may happy memories of yester year as a kid.

IMG_4825.JPG

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
22 hours ago, Roy L S said:

 

I would have said slightly later, possibly 1983 ish, but it's a long time ago now!

Hi Roy,

 

Just checked and found that I obtained it in July 1981 from the rep to check that the chassis still fitted the D&M N gauge kits.

 

Phil H

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

 

Hi Andy,

 

Great topic!

 

I had a 00 set as a child, but had always been fascinated by the tiny N gauge models.  As an adult, returning to the hobby, N gauge still appealed and my first Farish model was a Poole-made Class 33, which I repainted into BR Green and renumbered.  

 

I quickly became a fan of the unpainted bodyshells available for pennies direct from Farish in the late 1990s, and they enabled me to practice my airbrushing skills.

 

However, compared to other comparable models I had acquired such as the Kato Eurostar I began to get frustrated with Farish’s toy like shiny wheels and non-flywheel, non-illuminated models.  

 

When it was announced that Bachmann had bought the company and was moving it to China I was delighted, and for me the brand has simply gone from strength to strength.  As others have said, the latest models are sublime and there is more to look forward to.

 

If I had to pick one “highlight” of the Farish products it would be the superb range of Mk1 coaches.  They could’ve taken the easy way out and just modelled a basic brake, open and corridor, but the range has continued to grow to include NPCCS, Sleepers, a variety of dining vehicles and so on, meaning that even some of the most esoteric trains of yesteryear can be accurately depicted; and the models are superb, down to their prototypically accurate bogies and underframes.

 

Without Farish setting the “gold standard” and providing a comprehensive range of coaches, wagons and locomotives Revolution would never have started.

 

I once heard N gauge trains described, scathingly, as cake decorations.  Those behind Graham Farish’s models of the last two decades have ensured such comments no longer have any justification.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

  • Like 8
  • Agree 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Ben A said:

If I had to pick one “highlight” of the Farish products it would be the superb range of Mk1 coaches.  They could’ve taken the easy way out and just modelled a basic brake, open and corridor, but the range has continued to grow to include NPCCS, Sleepers, a variety of dining vehicles and so on, meaning that even some of the most esoteric trains of yesteryear can be accurately depicted; and the models are superb, down to their prototypically accurate bogies and underframes.

 

For me, I'd take that back to the first MK1's they produced - they were a game changer.  I'd just started in N gauge with the ubiquitous Hornby Minitrix "class 27" passenger set in maroon and was quite happy with that though there was something a bit off with the two included maroon MK1's.  They just didn't seem quite right (beyond the anaemic B4 bogies and lack of interior).

 

And then Farish produced their MK1's, and one of each in maroon were duly purchased - and these actually looked like MK1's (we'll gloss over the LMS bogies for now...) despite the self coloured plastic (and the lining rubbed off very quickly with handling in the way the Minitrix ones didn't, oh well).  These were the originals with the window strip inserts of course.

 

 

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, frobisher said:

 

For me, I'd take that back to the first MK1's they produced - they were a game changer.  I'd just started in N gauge with the ubiquitous Hornby Minitrix "class 27" passenger set in maroon and was quite happy with that though there was something a bit off with the two included maroon MK1's.  They just didn't seem quite right (beyond the anaemic B4 bogies and lack of interior).

 

And then Farish produced their MK1's, and one of each in maroon were duly purchased - and these actually looked like MK1's (we'll gloss over the LMS bogies for now...) despite the self coloured plastic (and the lining rubbed off very quickly with handling in the way the Minitrix ones didn't, oh well).  These were the originals with the window strip inserts of course.

 

 

 

 

I have to agree about the Mk1s, they really were a game changer. I still have a 7 coach rake of Chocolate & Cream Mk1s bought not long after they came out, including a buffet car (which I understand is un-prototypical in this livery). They are long retired from use and kept just because of their sentimental value.

 

Shiny pizza cutter wheels aside they still pass muster quite well, it is notable that there is even a representation of the first class lozenge on the windows of those compartments and although underframes are generic the buffet nonetheless has a correctly different roof.

 

Roy

Link to post
Share on other sites

On 29/07/2020 at 18:18, Suffolk Rob said:

Like many I had a break from model railways until I randomly purchased Model Rail, sometime in the early 2000s containing an article by Ben Ando on detailing the newly reintroduced 37/4. Found myself purchasing "Highland Region" and, whilst still stretched to fit the chassis,  the wheel profile and running quality was a world away from my old blue one- that was the next step change for me. Not lost on me that the man who unknowingly prompted my return to N and Farish is now getting a big slice of my N gauge spending money!

 

This same article really inspired me too! @Ben A has a lot to answer for :)

 

Like many others I had a OO collection when I was a kid, and a bit of a layout set up in my grandma's spare room, but I definitely remember being fascinated by the tiny Graham Farish models, in their neat black and yellow boxes, at an exhibition my parents took me to when I guess I was around 10. That must have been about the same time as the Shredded Wheat promotion - which I got - but the coupling rods on the loco, and pin couplings on the coaches quickly snapped, and they are long since gone (which I regret!). I even have a vague memory of trying to make some extra coaches for it from cereal box when my parents wouldn't buy me any Farish at an exhibition once! The OO was almost all sold in the early days of eBay. 

 

The interest in railways never entirely left me though, and like Rob, I think I randomly bought an issue of Model Rail from Smiths, and found Ben Ando's article really inspirational. I definitely remember the article on improving the 37, and I seem to recall similar ones around the time by Ben on other Farish diesels, and perhaps on weathering containers? I certainly remember the small mainline with tunnel diorama they were all posed on, which I found really inspirational.

 

That set me off, and while I was, I think, an MA student, I ventured into ModelZone on High Holborn and bought a Bach-Farish 08, and I can't even remember which wagons, some PECO track, and a Gaugemaster controller to build a little Inglenook type plank - which wasn't that successful. I remember a Bach-Farish 20 followed (small but not so likely to stall on points), and before long a Dapol 73, an oval of KATO Unitrack, and then I was hooked on the seemingly endless Hatton's and Signalbox of Rochester bargain buckets of Farish modern era wagons and coaches - I certainly remember buying a whole train of SuperBG bogie vans for about £10 each.

 

I never did do a detailing project on a Farish diesel as per Ben's articles (although I did start on a Class 90, which is still half-finished in a drawer!) , but detailing Farish PGA wagons with TPM etched kits really got me into the DIY side of N gauge.

 

I'd always been interested to model the railways of the area I grew up in East Anglia, and enthusiastically ordered a BH Enterprises kit for a GER "Claud Hamilton" when I learned that it existed and sought out an old Farish LMS 2P that it needed as a donor chassis, but it was the disappointment with both of those that pushed me into the dark side of 2mmFS! 

 

Justin

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

A bit more recent, but the model that finally turned my idle curiosity into am serious interest N gauge was the retooled 37. Once I’d seen one of those in the flesh I realised I’d found my scale. There’s something satisfying about holding a finescale replica on the palm of your hand!


11CE929B-C32D-486A-A253-A75A56D42F47.jpeg.ba49f2edb217fbbe9e8342b241cfbcf6.jpeg

 

Such a key item for British diesel modellers whatever era or location you are modelling and streets ahead of the old. We’ve really been spoilt since.

Edited by jonas
  • Like 4
  • Agree 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

On 29/07/2020 at 14:53, Scottish Modeller said:

Hi Andy,

 

I'm sure I have seen somewhere a written history of Graham Farish N Gauge?

 

I think the frst 5 pole fitted locoi was the slightly revised Black 5 - that would put it about 1979/80.

 

Bob Russell would be able to provide a lot of information as he became a Farish rep in either 1980 or 81.

 

Thanks

Phil H

N Gauge Now magazine did a comprehensive report on GF. Lots of details.

I started in N in 1974 or 1975. Along with track I bought the GF GER J69 and Minitrix 2MT and a short passenger and goods train of rolling stock. 

I used my old Hornby Dublo controller, which was 20 yrs old by then! The starting voltage had the J69 rattling along at a scale 300mph, so I rigged an ex-steam radio resistance into the circuit, which allowed for a more gentle start. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

The new tooling class 37 was what sucked me into N as well and they remain popular if the often eyewatering prices second hand examples are currently fetching is anything to go by.

 

I like the 20 as well and not just the new one, with a new set of gears and a decent paint job, the old tooling 20 still looks the job too.

  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I started off with Lone Star 000 push along when I was very young and the smaller size of N has always appealed, so when I saw some early Farish models in Hamleys in the late 70s I bought a Black Five, two coaches and a length of Peco flexi track. That got me started in N. 
 

The early Farish models did not compare well with their European counterparts detail and running wise but I stuck to British outline N and was pleased to see continual improvement. The latest Chinese made models are really good.
 

Of my older Poole models a few have survived most having been upgraded but my favourites are a trio of 2-6-0 ‘Crabs’ which run really well indeed. Other survivors are pannier tanks and a rebuilt Merchant Navy. I have a really growly brass geared class 37 that I like too. 
 

There is no doubt that without Graham Farish British N gauge would be a lot different and might not have survived commercially at all. 

 

 

Edited by Silly Moo
  • Like 3
  • Agree 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • Moderators
On 29/07/2020 at 11:05, AY Mod said:

to run a vote on their most influential or best models from the range.

 

I've now set up the poll for you to vote for your favourites - 

 

I'll see if my guesses as to what the winners will be comes out right!

  • Thanks 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Andy,

 

I first took an interest in trains at the age of 4 and soon had a Hornby track plan pinned on a sheet of chipboard. By chance I discovered N gauge at the age of 8 as a result of moving house. My mum had commented on a train board to the owner of a house she went to view that was folded up against the wall on brackets. He said it was going to get scrapped as he would have no room for it where he was moving so when we got to go and look round I was shown how to operate the layout and it was left. We use to go to Poole to visit family and the Graham Farish range and layouts were in display cases at Merley House.  I always liked watching the 100 wagon train on one of them. I wonder what happened to it all. 
 

Cheers

Mark

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I first got into N gauge when my grandad retired and moved to a nice bungalow in March. I remember he dismantled and sold his 00 layout that I had played with for years. One day I found him with a tiny train set up on the dining room table. A long freight with a farish black five. I couldn't believe how long a train was moving around the few lengths of flex track. My parents soon moved themselves and with no prospect of a 00 train set I looked at N. With some birthday money I went to a local swap meet and came away with a farish 4f, a Worthington's van and a saxa salt wagon. The adventure began! A few months later my grandad arrived with my very own 4x2 layout. I can still remember coming home from school and just setting a train running, the sound of the farish mechanism sending me into a trance. The 4f was later joined by some friends and a minitrix 27. But nothing would compare to the farish duchess of Hamilton I saved up for. It was the first pacific I ever owned. The way it stormed around my little board with a huge five coach train still makes me smile. And strangely the new super detailed model just doesn't do it for me like the old girl with the tiny bogie. Good Times! 

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I can vividly remember my introduction to Farish, as my Dad had part-exchanged some OO stock for N gauge at John Dutfield’s first shop in Chelmsford, up on Broomfield Road in a post office I think. 

 

I then swapped some Hornby stock and came away with the then brand new Class 91 and an 08 shunter. What I remember most was realising the length of trains you could fit in N, and from them on I’ve not looked back. Almost thirty years later and I still think N is the best scale for capturing the modern mainline railway.

 

David 

  • Like 5
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

I got into N gauge in the mid 80s as a kid. We’d had an old OO layout in the loft but it wouldn’t fit in our new house.

One wet holiday in Dorset found us visiting Pecorama. In their display they showed how layouts could fit into the house and we were instantly taken with N gauge. The rest of the rainy holiday was spent with my father doodling plans and me drooling through the Farish catalogue. When home we part exchanged all the OO stuff for Farish N, including a black 5 and a compound. If I’m honest that wasn’t Farish’s best loco - rather out of scale and could barely haul itself. The Black 5 still gets a run from time to time!

 

later as a teenager doing my Duke of Edinburgh award I needed a ‘skill’ project so built my own tiny GWR layout (it even appeared in Railway Modellers junior modeller section!). I remember vividly the new 57xx - I was amazed they could make such a small loco work and finally I had something realistic for my layout

 

Many years later as an adult I was looking for a hobby and my parents found all my old N gauge stuff - and I started again in earnest. The standard and detail of the new stuff was amazing. My latest Farish purchase was a sound fitted castle. - who’d have thought even a few years ago we’d have super detailed DCC sound steam locos. So looking forward to seeing what comes next!

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
17 hours ago, Mr chapman said:

But nothing would compare to the farish duchess of Hamilton I saved up for.

Totally agree! I was in precisely the same position - I was never particularly into steam locos, but the Duchess of Hamilton looked fabulous and I saved hard to afford her! Remained my only steam loco until a few years ago when I bought Tornado (which is also fantastic albeit of a different generation of detail, so cannot be directly compared).

 

To complete my line-up of childhood Farish locos, I also had a 91 and an 08 in BR green.... plus for rolling stock I had the classic Fyffes banana van, Terry’s [chocolate] van, plus some mk4s in Swallow livery, so it was a bit of an eclectic mix, but I was only ten years old (or so)....!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Very much a late bloomer to the N gauge scene, but it was the N class mogul and the standard 4 tank that made my mind up. My uncle was heavily into N but as an 00 modeller I never really took my notice, but these two models blew my mind, from that day I sold the majority of my stuff and started on my journey into N gauge. We even went down to kernow that day and I picked myself up a standard 4 tank, two Bulleid coaches and a cct van. The rest is history as they say. No making some progress on a reading to Redhill themed layout 

LRM_EXPORT_239930684592034_20181218_161958192.jpeg

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

N gauge got me back into model railways 35 years ago when I built Kingham. It was 99% fished when I went to a 2mm society show a couple of years later and saw the track that was available. I wasn't going to rip up the track so I started afresh in P4! I have to say that the Farish locos and rolling stock were far better than the track.

 

33038939_Kingham4a.jpg.949d8261ea76ddea3ecdc76569bcf112.jpg

 

2079328897_Kingham5.jpg.0cc208398275aeba8e9ce919936c19c9.jpg

 

Apologies for the picture quality!

 

 

  • Like 7
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

After having the traditional Hornby set up in the late 70's and early 80's , I think it must have been my Dad who instigated the move to N gauge.

First loco was BR early crest 4P, and slowly collected a menagerie of stock including a rake of chocolate and cream suburban coaches, but eventually a lovely rake of maroon MK1s with a blood and custard one thrown in.  The loco fleet expanded with a green 08 from a swapmeet, (repainted into General Grey livery many years later), and favourite at the time 34066 Spitfire Battle of Britain class.  The 4P and BoB came from Tony's Models and Hobbies which was in the Old Police Station, Frodsham, Cheshire.  Loved going into that shop, and seeing his N gauge model depicting the viaduct and junction  between Frodsham and Halton.  The catalogues of the early 80's depicting the 3 levels were inspirational to me, but I would have to make do with a flat but quite lengthy layout which my Dad and I built over a number of years.

First mainline diesel was the 47 in two tone green, with working headlights, but my interests started to become contemporary, so gradually the lesser loved stock got exchanged for modern day examples, and my first BR blue loco was 33012, followed by 40145.  My favourite loco at the time was 50024 Vanguard bought from a swapmeet.

The introduction of sector liveries and modern wagons further heightened my interest, with a Swallow liveried HST bought from Photoworld in Llandudno (they always seemed to be cheaper than most advertisers in Railway Modeller).

When the class 91 was released, I wanted it, along with a rake of MK4s, so much, but the cost at the time, along with lack of catenary, and I'd decided to model the South West after a couple of visits to Westbury, meant I didn't get one.  (Oh how I'd jump at the chance of a modern tooled class 91 now).

4 years at university followed by marriage and 3 children meant modelling was on the back burner for quite a while, but now I've got a decent sized modern tooled fleet, helped somewhat by selling my old models (no regrets).

Just need to pull my finger out and get a sizable layout to run them on!

 

Edited by Stuey
spelling
  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

My start with model railways was when I was six (and my family felt I was "grown up enough" to have trains) in 1988.  Childhood was spent firmly in OO gauge territory with plenty of 2nd hand Hornby stuff from the 1970s and 1980s, and later on in teenage years the Hornby stuff was bolstered with some Bachmann, Lima and Replica Railways products.

 

Fast forward to adult life in 2003 (and my own home), and the OO gauge is too big.  So, I took myself off on a trip to the much missed Hendford Halt model shop in Yeovil to investigate (and begin my first flirtation with) British N gauge.  There wasn't much N in stock (Bachmann was only just getting the Farish products back into production), but among the 2nd hand stuff was a Farish class 33 (33025 Sultan in 1990s civil engineer's "dutch" livery) as well as some Farish "Poole era" MK2s in Network Southeast livery.  While the class 33 and MK2s were nice, I didn't stick with British N gauge (eventually going for American N gauge for a few years).

 

Fast forward to 2008, and I visited a model shop in Bristol to find that Farish had started doing Warships......

02 042 00823 BR Class 42 D823 HERMES.JPG

02 042 00827 BR Class 42 D827 KELLY.JPG

02 042 00832 BR Class 42 D832 ONSLAUGHT.JPG

Armada of Warships 01.JPG

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

I had a 00 gauge set with Thomas, Duck, and some trucks when I was very young, and my dad had a continental N gauge layout.  Then after checking I could put N gauge on the track alright I got a 4x2’ N gauge layout for my birthday.  It had a Minitrix Queen Mother, 4 Farish Mark 1s and an 08 and 10 Peco/Minitrix wagons. 
 

D64A08BB-7B53-4A6A-A4F5-4A8317D4A37F.jpeg.5bdd9b6f1448976c9e337fbb0459968c.jpeg
The locos and 9 of the wagons are long gone, but I’ve still got all four Mark 1s 30 years later. This one has been updated with an Etched Pixels underframe and some different bogies - but the body shell/roof is unchanged.  It still has a place in my one of my trains today.

 

I kept various iterations of my layout until I left home after graduation, then 3/4 years later I started Gresby.  The new Chinese Models are great, but I still run a few Poole built engines scrubbed up and detailed no ones noticed!

 

Cheers

Simon

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

I got into N when I was about 11; I had the classic 6x4ft 00 gauge track on a board up to that point, but I can remember being entranced by the Warley MRC layout "Newanold", and long trains in N weaving around the landscape.  My local model shop, Ace Models of Dudley (in the Fountain Arcade) had a glass-topped cabinet in their old wooden display counter, with racks of Farish models in those eye-catching black and yellow boxes, and I'd spend ages staring at these beautiful little models.  A friend of mine at school was into railways, and his dad was selling an old n gauge layout, a roundy-roundy, 5ft by 2ft on multiple levels (based on a US trackplan in the book "Simple Model Railway Layouts" by TJ Booth).  My parents bought me the layout as my main present, and I used the Birthday money from other relatives, and all my pocket money, and bought the following;

 

BEN_BUCKI_Grafar_94xx_04.jpg.eb7ebd9de2c7d385795901c36305c80c.jpg

 

I could afford a single loco and a few wagons; the 9400 was the only loco in the cabinet I could afford whilst still having a decent selection of wagons.  The Terrys van was because I loved Chocolate Oranges :)

 

This little selection spent hours whizzing around the layout; the loco coped admirably with the gradients!  I loved this loco so much, it was the only engine I had for nearly a year and it saw so much use.

 

BEN_BUCKI_Grafar_94xx_05.jpg.8ae002ca0817485dfd18b9b8584cfc6e.jpg

 

Christmas saw the addition of the first coach and another Terrys van.  That early layout is gone; I really wish in hindsight I'd kept it, but it was just too big.  A regret is I never photographed it, but at least I kept the stock, even if it is a bit battered.  Impressively the 9400 still runs even now, it was certainly the most reliable Farish loco I ever owned.

 

BEN_BUCKI_Grafar_Class20_Class08_03.jpg.a7d815cf4316de979d8f0cad14f9e482.jpg

 

I bought a Model Power US diesel from the mail-order supply of the long-gone Shrewsbury Model Centre because the loco was cheap and I wanted a big diesel... it was naff, it couldn't cope with hauling trains on the flat, let alone the gradients, so my 12th birthday (following another trip to the Warley show) saw me get the 20, still one of my favourite models.  I'd watched one of these crawling around a layout there and decided I had to have one.

 

The 08 was a bargain purchase; I bought (for a tenner!) a big cardboard box of N gauge spares and broken bits from under a layout at a show at the Glos-Warks; there were the broken remains of three or four 08's in there, and over the course of about a month, with no instructions to hand, and by trial and error I managed to assemble a working example from all the bits.

 

I really love these old 08's; I know they're toys, and the modern version with the outside frames is now around, but they're such appealing little things.  I bought three of the re-issues when Bachmann sorted out the chassis just after they took over the range in the 2000's.

 

BEN_BUCKI_Grafar_94xx_07.jpg.495f56aa61f1e43965a108fe3e460dfa.jpg

 

Another model from that spares box was this carriage; I love the old Farish freelance-type coaches, and this was in the box.  You can really see how the decorations and printing processes came on over the years comparing it with my 90's era example.

 

BEN_BUCKI_Grafar_4mt_01.jpg.33e408dccc5bb081318e42cb1f2ef6cf.jpg

 

My last Farish engine from my early years- I liked the 4MT tank on my local line, the SVR, and saved up birthday, Christmas, and pocket money for this.  I couldn't afford a tender loco, this was the biggest engine I could afford at the time- another decent runner, and the motion gear whirring around was mesmerising.  

 

Over the next few years I bought a few more N locomotives and bits from the likes of Arnold or Bachmann (US), but when the Grafar range was bought by Bachmann, I stopped buying N simply because it wasn't in the shops, and second-hand stuff went through the roof price-wise (even Lima tat was silly money).  I bought a few of the new-issue stuff like the J94 and aforementioned 08's in the mid 2000's, and eventually I owned a class 37 and one of the new 08's too, but ended up selling the new models when times were a bit tight.  Nobody wanted the old 90's and mid-2000's stuff, and in hindsight I'm glad, because actually they're really characterful little models.  So basic by modern standards, but robust, and if you can get them running well, they'll seem to go forever (and if even 12-year old me could rebuild a chassis, anybody can).

 

BEN_BUCKI_Grafar_GWR-Railcar_05.jpg.1461d49152b8ec69d3e872f33cdd6c94.jpg

 

Recent shortages in the shops, and high prices, haven't really tempted me back to N.  Occasionally I'll see a loco I like the look of in a mag (I bought an 04 just because I wanted to try a micro layout in the scale, and wanted a good, reliable little loco), but it was getting hard to find anything in the shops.  Last year though I got this GWR railcar, which judging by the silver wheels is a proper Farish issue, not a Bachmann version.  It was in the second-hand cabinet at Frizinghall Models, and was £50.  Weirdly it sat there for months which would seem to indicate people still don't want the old Grafar models, but eventually I caved in and had to have it.  Considering it's age, it is a beautiful runner, incredibly slow and responsive.  I always wanted one of these when I was getting into the scale back in the 90's, and it's satisfying to finally have one.

 

Lets face it; these models barely compare to the modern stuff.  The diecast bodies are basic, the chassis can be fairly poor depending on the age... but I love them.  I wish Bachmann had done a Hornby and decided to re-issue a model from these days, maybe the 9400 (but on the early 2000's re-done chassis) to celebrate the heritage of the range they purchased and developed.  N as it is now exists because Graham Farish bit the bullet and created such a massive selection of models, and these characterful little trains really appeal to me.

 

BEN_BUCKI_Grafar_Layout_01.jpg.76c0317d761a8630cab8ae0b9387a434.jpg

 

My little layout; a bit silly, but bringing things full circle as it were.  I wanted a test-track for my N and 009 models, and knocked this up from spares and a few eBay purchases.  I'm deliberately trying to recreate my first 00 layout from when I was 4, copying the plan from the Hornby book of track plans from the time, even down to the texture-painted board with gloss-grey roads, and foam-ballasted track.  The really nice Hornby/Minitrix N buildings, versions of the 00 range from the 80's and 90's, are gradually allowing me to recreate what I had in 00 as a child, and the basic train-set appearance seems to suit the appearance of the vintage Grafar locomotives and stock.

 

BEN_BUCKI_Grafar_Layout_03.jpg.5019098abac2fc9bc5f6892855c22d07.jpg

 

It's just nice occasionally to have little trains whizzing round and round, isn't it?

  • Like 9
  • Round of applause 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...