Graham Farish 70 year old Black Five (and more)

[sncf231e]

 

Regards

Fred

[Paul H Vigor]

37 minutes ago, sncf231e said:

 

Regards

Fred

I have always had a soft spot for older/vintage 00 locomotives.

[Il Grifone]

 I see that the original 'motor' has been replaced with a Tri-ang X.04. Well worthwhile as the origianal has a tendency to stall. My G.P.5 had a badly made clutch and the would either fail to start or stop at the slightest provocation. I am in the process of replacing it with an Airfix motor (either from a 14xx or the 61xx I'm not sure which.

They also made a 81xx Prairie, a King, a MN/BOB/WC (available as all 3 IIRC) and a NYC Hudson. In 3 rail there was an 0-6-0 with a passing resemblance to an SR Q.

The coaches are all straight (as in not warped) so from the 60s/70s production. The Pullmans are quite good (very good for a model originally from around 1950). The others can only be said to 'based on' LMS coaches for the non corridors and SR for the corridor stock

Edited January 24, 2021 by Il Grifone

[woodenhead]

It seems sad that Graham Farish didn't keep with the OO stuff, given it's age the Black 5 looked quite a good representation of the real thing.

 

The coaches were simply shrunk to 2mm scale - my dad had quite a few in N and I always thought they were nice coaches, generic being quite normal in the 1970s.

[David_Belcher]

Always good to see some 00 gauge GF stuff, I'm a big fan of the coaches and the suburban ones in particular are neat. Currently have some of the 2nd & 3rd generation styrene-bodied Pullmans on the workbench awaiting roof details, a new coat of paint and for the brake car some major underframe details as it should be a 12-wheeler. I recently acquired a second parlour car so I now have a 3-coach set to work on; one of them will be a 2nd class car (169 or 171) with 'Iolanthe'* as the 1st class one - the bodies are almost identical on the real thing. They've also got decent Keen buffer beams and buffers now plus gangways bodged from old Hornby Gresleys.

 

Already in service - one SR green main line brake compo (original bogies but Ratio corridor connections, MJT vents & turned metal buffers) as a loose through coach, a two-coach suburban set (1 compo, 1 brake 3rd) in unlined LMR maroon with MJT buffers, bogies and vents.

 

David

 

*I'm not a Gilbert & Sullivan fan, but it was Reggie Perrin's middle name** and I do like a classic sitcom, so...

**I didn't get where I am today by buying the earlier GF Pullmans with bodies that warped.

[5050]

Many years ago I had a 94XX which was a good runner but didn't really fit in with my North Wales rural branch line layout style.  When I decided to adopt P4 standards it was apparent that it didn't really fit in with myaspirations so was sold on.  A nice solid well made loco though.

 

I have a Black 5 body, stripped of paint if anyone is interested?  I'll never do anything with it.  I got it from an odds and sods box at an exhibition which was going to be thrown out if stuff wasn't taken.  There was also a Prairie Tank body (which has found a new home) and an SR side tank body which I still have.

[David_Belcher]

On 24/01/2021 at 17:05, Il Grifone said:

 I see that the original 'motor' has been replaced with a Tri-ang X.04. Well worthwhile as the origianal has a tendency to stall. My G.P.5 had a badly made clutch and the would either fail to start or stop at the slightest provocation. I am in the process of replacing it with an Airfix motor (either from a 14xx or the 61xx I'm not sure which.

They also made a 81xx Prairie, a King, a MN/BOB/WC (available as all 3 IIRC) and a NYC Hudson. In 3 rail there was an 0-6-0 with a passing resemblance to an SR Q.

The coaches are all straight (as in not warped) so from the 60s/70s production. The Pullmans are quite good (very good for a model originally from around 1950). The others can only be said to 'based on' LMS coaches for the non corridors and SR for the corridor stock

The non-corridor stock isn't a bad representation of LMS designs. Pity they didn't capture the Maunsell roof profile for the corridor coaches though.

 

The Pullmans could have done with a bit more roof detail, but the matchboard sides wouldn't be done again in 00 RTR until the current century so noteworthy from that point of view. The brake car should really be a 12 wheeler; which mine will be, one of these days...

 

David

[David_Belcher]

On 24/01/2021 at 17:08, woodenhead said:

It seems sad that Graham Farish didn't keep with the OO stuff, given it's age the Black 5 looked quite a good representation of the real thing.

 

The coaches were simply shrunk to 2mm scale - my dad had quite a few in N and I always thought they were nice coaches, generic being quite normal in the 1970s.

It's a little bit of a shame that GF didn't keep 00 going, but with a lot of competition (I think they pulled out around the time that Mainline and Airfix were launching RTR) in 4mm compared to far less in British-outline N it was a canny move.

 

David

[sagaguy]

I actually got one these running with the original vibratory motor but it wouldn`t handle Dublo 3 rail points.

 

                     Ray

 

 

[Il Grifone]

I'm impressed. A Farish motor that actually works. I did see another one (a King) running in Gamages nearly seventy years ago. It actually managed two Pullman cars. My Dublo 'Atholl' could only pull one (just - they are very heavy and not very free running*), but didn't have the dubious advantage of traction tyres.

Early Farish models really require 2 foot radius curves. The King bogie rear wheels are even closer to the front coupled wheels than on the prototype and foul on anything sharper. The U/J drive between loco and tender isn't too flexible either.

The Pullman car bogies also foul on sharp curves. How I got mine (Pauline) to run on Dublo track I can't remember. It must have done, though I remember the bogies got lost. The expensive Nucro replacements (9/-) failed to function (sprung BRMSB wheels are not compatible with Dublo track) i always intended to get a set of CCW Pullman bogies, but could never raise the 6/6d needed. Then I discovered the roof had warped (as they do**), so perhaps it was just as well. Childhood delusions....

 

*   As in 'mechanical arthritis'....

** I now have a complete set of the first series K cars (if you don't count the C.I.W.L. variant) and they are all warped though some less than others,

Edited January 26, 2021 by Il Grifone

[sagaguy]

I had to run it off of an old hammant and morgan powermaster and use the green boost button to start it.I then fitted a marklin skate and it worked on straight 3 rail track but didn`t like points,I then dropped the tender body and being bakelite,a corner broke off.Interesing experiment though.

 

   Ray.

[David_Belcher]

3 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

I'm impressed. A Farish motor that actually works. I did see another one (a King) running in Gamages nearly seventy years ago. It actually managed two Pullman cars. My Dublo 'Atholl' could only pull one (just - they are very heavy and not very free running*), but didn't have the dubious advantage of traction tyres.

Early Farish models really require 2 foot radius curves. The King bogie rear wheels are even closer to the front coupled wheels than on the prototype and foul on anything sharper. The U/J drive between loco and tender isn't too flexible either.

The Pullman car bogies also foul on sharp curves. How I got mine (Pauline) to run on Dublo track I can't remember. It must have done, though I remember the bogies got lost. The expensive Nucro replacements (9/-) failed to function (sprung BRMSB wheels are not compatible with Dublo track) i always intended to get a set of CCW Pullman bogies, but could never raise the 6/6d needed. Then I discovered the roof had warped (as they do**), so perhaps it was just as well. Childhood delusions....

 

*   As in 'mechanical arthritis'....

** I now have a complete set of the first series K cars (if you don't count the C.I.W.L. variant) and they are all warped though some less than others,

Did they do a cellulose acetate brake car or did that come later with the change to styrene? For parlour cars, I've seen a Golden Arrow example or two recently, but not a faux-Wagons Lits one.

[Il Grifone]

I think there was an acetate brake car, but am not sure. The one I have is styrene.

 

I understand some real cars were sold to C.I.W.L. in the 20s, but whether they were still around in the fifties I don't know. The Farish car is rare (as in hen's teeth). They didn't make many, the high price (28/6d IIRC) ensured they didn't sell many and the material's instability resulted in few of them surviving. Tri-ang's car is likewise rare.

[Silverfox17]

7 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

Tri-ang's car is likewise rare.

Tri-ang Pullman rare? 

 

Garry 

[Il Grifone]

3 hours ago, Silverfox17 said:

Tri-ang Pullman rare? 

 

Garry 

 

The C.I.W.L. one is. The British ones aren't, though 'Anne' and 'Ruth' seem less common than 'Jane' and 'Mary'.

[sncf231e]

10 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

I understand some real cars were sold to C.I.W.L. in the 20s, but whether they were still around in the fifties I don't know. The Farish car is rare (as in hen's teeth). They didn't make many, the high price (28/6d IIRC) ensured they didn't sell many and the material's instability resulted in few of them surviving. Tri-ang's car is likewise rare.

In 1925 10 British Pullman cars were loaned to the CIWL and received CIWL number 51-60. 8 of these returned to the UK a few years later to be used in the Golden Arrow; 2 went to Egypt.  These wore the brown/creme Pullman livery and did not wear a blue livery or the Restaurant lettering. So the Farish CIWL car is the product of a messy mind, just like the Triang CIWL car is.

 

Regards

Fred

[cessna152towser]

A fascinating little film.     I have one of the Farish Pannier Tanks, dating from the 1970s.   There was a recent post on the eBay Madness thread about an identical loco which had a badly fatigued metal body.   I had mine out of its box today for inspection and the body is still in excellent condition with no signs of fatigue cracking.     While it was out of the box I gave it a run on my layout and it still goes well.     Have I just been lucky getting a good alloy casting?  Were these models prone to Mazak rot?   Or perhaps the one listed in eBay had been abused in the past?

[Silverfox17]

11 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

 

The C.I.W.L. one is. The British ones aren't, though 'Anne' and 'Ruth' seem less common than 'Jane' and 'Mary'.

I had not thought about the blue wagon lits one. Strangely though one did appear on Ebay before Xmas. 

 

Garry 

[Il Grifone]

13 hours ago, cessna152towser said:

A fascinating little film.     I have one of the Farish Pannier Tanks, dating from the 1970s.   There was a recent post on the eBay Madness thread about an identical loco which had a badly fatigued metal body.   I had mine out of its box today for inspection and the body is still in excellent condition with no signs of fatigue cracking.     While it was out of the box I gave it a run on my layout and it still goes well.     Have I just been lucky getting a good alloy casting?  Were these models prone to Mazak rot?   Or perhaps the one listed in eBay had been abused in the past?

 

Mine is OK (or at least it was the last time I looked at it). I did see one at a Toy Fair that had succumbed however. Needless to say, it stayed there!