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Graham Farish Spring 2021 new announcements


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On 04/02/2021 at 11:50, msw2009 said:

 

  I'm not sure how well the Merchant Navies sold - they seemed to hang around on the shelves for ages, although I note neither Rails nor TMC have any in stock now.  Contrastingly, the N class must have sold well for Farish to invest relatively quickly in new liveries and a sound fitted model.

 

Lovely selection of locos you have there - thanks for sharing.

 

Mark

 

I don’t think the Merchant Navies sold well. Rails were selling them at close to the £100 mark which was a very heavy discount. An unrebuilt MN did seem like an odd choice to me. As all the MNs were eventually rebuilt the era for the original version is fairly limited. Also MNs were pretty much only seen on the very main lines. An unrebuilt WC/BB (as per the hypothetical Dapol plan) would seem to have been a better choice as these had a much wider span of operations. Not only were they almost as good as MNs on express work but they could also regularly  be seen pulling 2 or 3 coaches along a single track branch. Some never got rebuilt which widens their era. And what’s more they also worked along the sea wall in Devon which would have suited me! So far as I am aware no MNs were allowed west of Exeter in BR days. I imagine that the apparent  poor sales of the MN may have had a sobering effect on Dapol’s plan for a BB.

 

Shame.

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In addition to the new items announced last week, the following is due in the shops in the spring quarter:

371-180A  Class 40 Green Disc Headcode
371-180ASF Class 40 Green Disc Headcode Sound Fitted
371-184 Class 40 Blue Disc Headcode

371-388 Class 66/4 Freightliner G&W
371-389 Class 66/7 GBRF BR Blue

371-885A Class 108 3 car Blue
371-887DS Class 108 3 car Green Sound Fitted
371-888 Class 108 3 car White & Blue

373-350 WD 40T Parrot WD Grey
373-351 WD 40T Parrot LMS Grey

374-122A MK1 RU Blue & Grey Weathered
374-123 MK1 RU Chocolate & Cream

6 x versions 16T Mineral Wagon

377-275C 27T Steel Tippler BR Grey Early
377-280 27T Steel Tippler Lancashire Steel Black
377-281 27T Steel Tippler Grey & Yellow Weathered

377-451C 16T Slope-sided Mineral Wagon Bauxite
377-453 16T Slope-sided Mineral Wagon BR Grey Early

377-475 5-plank China Clay Wagon With Tarpaulin Cover GWR Grey Weathered
377-476 5-plank China Clay Wagon TOPS with Hood BR Bauxite Weathered

379-201 Platform Ramps


Best

Scott.

Edited by scottystitch
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I’m hoping to get the class 101 2 car in blue and grey with sound (371-506SF) for my birthday in May. TMC has it listed as ‘on order with supplier’ at the moment. Would anyone have any thoughts as to whether it might actually be available by May though?

Thanks in advance.

 

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Realistically I think that we will have quite a while to wait for already announced models, even where it is a re-run from existing tooling, I would think the flurry of Thomas models released of late has had an impact, and I would have no doubt that in both OO and N these would take priority for what production slots there are.

 

I have just pre-ordered two of the sound upgraded 5MTs, according to my Bachmann Times (arrived today) these are currently in the tool-room. I reckon (and I would love to be proved wrong) release of these could be 18 or more months away. 

 

Roy

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, scottystitch said:

377-275C 27T Steel Tippler BR Grey Early
377-280 27T Steel Tippler Lancashire Steel Black
377-281 27T Steel Tippler Grey & Yellow Weathered


From your list, at least these three are already in the shops. 

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Honestly, I've gone back to 00. The situation wouldn't be as bad if N had the same sort of kit support for locomotives and rolling stock, but that's not practical. When you are forced to rely solely on rtr it's no good if it's not in the shops in the first place. 

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There are a growing number of people 3D printing stuff in N, which is ripe for it due to smaller sizes. 
 

Always a bit bemused by people “giving up” and changing scales (thereby implying you had a collection) because you can’t buy more stuff.

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2 hours ago, njee20 said:


 

Always a bit bemused by people “giving up” and changing scales (thereby implying you had a collection) because you can’t buy more stuff.

 

One of the great pleasures of railway modelling is replicating the current railway and keeping up to date by modelling the trains you travel on and see every day on the wat to work. It is difficult to do that in N at the moment - the RTR isn't there. 

 

I started in 1993 and can run my relatively small N layout in any period upto about 2010. Then it gets difficult as there isn't all that much modern passenger stock. It is improving but I can understand frustrations of people who want to model bang up to date practice. I'm old enough to remember when Lima 00 brought out new liveries within weeks of the real thing - in fact there was at least one occasion (60s?) where their model came out before the real thing entered traffic.

 

If anything we seem to have gone backwards even though modern technology ought to make it easier to go from design to production much faster. The current business models and modes of batch production seem to make rapid turnarounds impossible - so for example we get London Midland Dmus after the franchise has ended, by which time the livery is obsolete. Not sure how that helps sales... or keeps people in N gauge. 

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7 hours ago, fezza said:

 

If anything we seem to have gone backwards even though modern technology ought to make it easier to go from design to production much faster. The current business models and modes of batch production seem to make rapid turnarounds impossible - so for example we get London Midland Dmus after the franchise has ended, by which time the livery is obsolete. 

 

The world is changing - developing, evolving and facing new challenges like environmental damage, AI, the covid pandemic, etc. People are changing. Businesses are changing. Markets are changing. The nature of risk is changing. And all constantly so.

 

In some respects it might be easier and quicker to bring goods to market, but I don't think it's necessarily the case that will happen with great regularity due to all those other factors.

 

 

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7 hours ago, fezza said:

 

I started in 1993 and can run my relatively small N layout in any period upto about 2010. Then it gets difficult as there isn't all that much modern passenger stock. It is improving but I can understand frustrations of people who want to model bang up to date practice. I'm old enough to remember when Lima 00 brought out new liveries within weeks of the real thing - in fact there was at least one occasion (60s?) where their model came out before the real thing entered traffic.

 

Voyagers, Pendolinos, mk5 coaches, HSTs, 800s are all due in the next few months, in liveries they still carry. many are re-runs anyway, save the mk5s and 800s. What’s missing where OO is so much better catered...? Mk3 coaches are commonly available, plus various DMUs. We could do with a new 90, 91 and mk4s I’ll concede, and various EMUs are lacking (in both scales), but I think I’d say it’s disingenuous to say it’s hard to model the last 10 years. 

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Putting it another way round. I like N because I have my collection and there is currently nothing else available that fits my era and location. If I was doing 00 there would be a lot more items to tempt me that fitted my needs. Great, but I would then be frustrated because I would always be wanting more while knowing I can’t justify all the cost of buying them. So choice might be greater in 00 but how many of us have the ability to buy and store everything available in 00?

Also 00 is still to big to run convincing main line trains in an average  room space.

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2 hours ago, Chris M said:

Putting it another way round. I like N because I have my collection and there is currently nothing else available that fits my era and location. If I was doing 00 there would be a lot more items to tempt me that fitted my needs. Great, but I would then be frustrated because I would always be wanting more while knowing I can’t justify all the cost of buying them. So choice might be greater in 00 but how many of us have the ability to buy and store everything available in 00?

Also 00 is still to big to run convincing main line trains in an average  room space.

I got tempted earlier in the week by the livery sampled Accurascale Deltic, started imagining a loco stabling point - couple of Deltics, a Peak, a Heljan 47, a Heljan 25, an Accurascale 37 - all with sound of course, plus at least 8 foot of space to put the track down.  Didn't take long to realise I would have to sell all my other N gauge steam stuff and my OO steam stuff to cover the cost of just 6 lovely OO locos.

 

I do need to think about all this stock though, it's not being used.....

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20 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

 

I do need to think about all this stock though, it's not being used.....

 

Build a layout to use it on, rather than thinking about buying more stock for a layout that you haven't got but had a dream about.

 

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47 minutes ago, grahame said:

 

Build a layout to use it on, rather than thinking about buying more stock for a layout that you haven't got but had a dream about.

 

I have a layout I am building but it is going to be in the 1970s - it's the steam stuff that is sitting in boxes, the blue stuff is mostly out.

 

I sold some stuff recently to fund my foray into DCC Sound but I've still a lot of stock sat in boxes and then there is the OO stuff that went into storage when I moved rooms around the house and the N gauge came out to play again.

 

It's all been used on different layouts over the years but as I get older I realise that constant switching between scales and periods is not a good idea.

 

The temptation for the OO diesels I know is my brain wanting to make a purchase, it enjoys the chase but once I have them they can lose the appeal - I built a whole Southern EMU layout on this, getting bargain units was the thrill but I lost interest quickly once I had secured the models.  I was able to recoup my costs when I sold it all again which was lucky.  Or the 8 coach blue/grey HST - took years for Dapol to release all the elements to make this and once I'd got it all I couldn't run it much because it was too long and dictated a model railway I did not truly have the space for without massive compromises, so I sold it has a job lot.

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18 hours ago, Mr chapman said:

Honestly, I've gone back to 00. The situation wouldn't be as bad if N had the same sort of kit support for locomotives and rolling stock, but that's not practical. When you are forced to rely solely on rtr it's no good if it's not in the shops in the first place. 

 

Going to 00 from N is OK if you have the space to run 36 wagon MGR trains and full length HSTs. Much more practical in N...

 

13 hours ago, fezza said:

 

One of the great pleasures of railway modelling is replicating the current railway and keeping up to date by modelling the trains you travel on and see every day on the wat to work. It is difficult to do that in N at the moment - the RTR isn't there. 

 

I started in 1993 and can run my relatively small N layout in any period upto about 2010. Then it gets difficult as there isn't all that much modern passenger stock. It is improving but I can understand frustrations of people who want to model bang up to date practice. I'm old enough to remember when Lima 00 brought out new liveries within weeks of the real thing - in fact there was at least one occasion (60s?) where their model came out before the real thing entered traffic.

 

But back then we didn't have the franchaise system where to produce every livery you needed to get permission to reproduce said companies' IP in the form of livery and logos....

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No way I have any thoughts about changing scales.

 

When I look at the range and quality of British N products now compared to 20 plus years ago there really is no comparison. Bachmann have made huge investments in the scale when you consider how the range of models compares with Poole days, there are so many more locos and a simply huge range of rolling stock - none with many generic parts, so it is inevitable that they will be made in batches and we won't see everything at once.

 

I feel sure that the Thomas launch priorities plus Covid have inevitably impacted things but I remain reasonably optimistic that Bachmann availability will improve in time. 

 

On top of that there are the other manufacturers like RevolutioN, Sonic and Rapido (Co-Bo anyone?) and Dapol producing stuff and I remain convinced that when all is said and done there really hasn't been a better time to be modelling British N.

 

Roy

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18 hours ago, njee20 said:

There are a growing number of people 3D printing stuff in N, which is ripe for it due to smaller sizes. 
 

Always a bit bemused by people “giving up” and changing scales (thereby implying you had a collection) because you can’t buy more stuff.

Not about buying more stuff, it's about building more stuff. Let's say I want to build a locomotive, I don't know, a H class. Perhaps a 3D printed body is available. Now where do I order wheels? Chop up an existing chassis? 

 

In 00 I can build an obscure prototype from a kit, order the correct wheels, transfers etc... In N you are far more limited so rtr is a big factor in modelling subjects. And it's just not there right now. 

 

 

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8 hours ago, njee20 said:

Voyagers, Pendolinos, mk5 coaches, HSTs, 800s are all due in the next few months, in liveries they still carry. many are re-runs anyway, save the mk5s and 800s. What’s missing where OO is so much better catered...? Mk3 coaches are commonly available, plus various DMUs. We could do with a new 90, 91 and mk4s I’ll concede, and various EMUs are lacking (in both scales), but I think I’d say it’s disingenuous to say it’s hard to model the last 10 years. 

 

As I said in my post, things are improving but we are not there yet. The only current Dmu available is an XC 170. There are no Emus as far as I'm aware? Some of the promised stock is very limited edition or pre-order too which makes it tricky to find unless you are in the know. I initially missed the Kato announcement of the 80x series and I follow n gauge news fairly closely. 

 

There is certainly a much wider variety of 00 stock and often the important 'glamourous' stuff arrives in 00 first - see Pendolinos, 80x etc. 

 

I'm not knocking n gauge but I can understand the frustration of people who want to model the contemporary scene and have long waits for RTR. It is never going to be a scratch builder's scale. Even repaint are much harder. 

 

Let's hope 2021 does indeed bring some breakthrough modern items. 

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1 hour ago, jdbsg65 said:

Does anyone know why the revised class 47 with next18 and sound has been revised back to be 6pin dcc?

That's interesting, have they actually said it would be Next 18 or is it just expected?

 

The Bachmann site clearly states still 6 pin though I would agree you'd think a body change would be a good time to also put in a chassis upgrade to N18 and put in the speaker.

 

Gaugemaster intriguingly have this: https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/graham-farish-gf372-262sf.html

 

No one else has this item code listing.

 

Perhaps it is a mistake or Bachmann are waiting to formally announce sound versions because they want to clear out the 6 pin existing stock before unleashing the Next 18 versions?

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47 minutes ago, njee20 said:

I suspect that pertains more to steam stuff, where I’m firmly out of my area of expertise, (hence perhaps my perception being off) but don’t companies like N Brass do those bits?

It is a real shame that with all the 3D printed loco bodies there isn't much in the way of chassis components available, N Brass does some really nice fittings and bits and bobs for steam locos but not chassis, wheels, motion etc.  

 

In fact I think one of the biggest constraints to modellers wanting to kit or scratch-build steam locos in N is the lack of availability of any suitable off the shelf wheels, axles and to a lesser extent gears. The only real option is cannibalisation recent RTR models that come up for "spares or repairs". ABS Beaver did make various sizes but that was many years ago, there has been nothing since in more recent times that I know of.

 

The 2MM Association does make a range of gears, axles and wheels, but obviously they are much finer and not suitable for N.

 

The question is whether there would be sufficient market to justify tooling for something that is suitable for N, and maybe fold up etched chassis or such like. It's a bit of a difficult one because without these components there seems little prospect of the kit market growing, but how big would it get with them and is it worth the financial risk?

 

Regards

 

Roy

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1 hour ago, fezza said:

There are no Emus as far as I'm aware?

 

Hi there,

 

Revolution Class 390 second run available to pre-order, and Class 320/321 in production with various liveries from retailers with an additional commissioned version that wasn't available to pre-order.   And Farish 319 coming soon.  But you can't go to a regular shop and just buy them for delivery tomorrow, it's true.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

Edited by Ben A
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