Farish V2 2-6-2 tender loco

[oreamnos]

Hattons had been trying to sell its last remaining stock of Gresley V2s in BR green for what seemed liked ages. I had just bought a Dapol B17 from them but sent it right back (the front bogie just would not stay on my 11 inch radius curves), so I decided to check if they still had any V2s. They had one left, so I bought it and it arrived two days ago.

 

I have read a lot of complaints about various locos here and on other forums over the years, including about the Farish V2. So I just wanted to say that the V2 I received runs perfectly (even over my medium radius insulfrog points), looks very nice (in spite of the skirts under the boiler that others have groused about), seems well assembled and pulls eight Mk1 coaches without a problem. It's a really nice loco, was a good value for money and I actually wish I'd bought one years ago but I'd been put off by the negative comments I'd read.

 

Point being of course that, while I certainly encourage people to be wise consumers, I think people tend to be more vocal when they have something to complain about and as consumers we should avoid falling prey (like I did initially with the V2) to letting those louder voices influence what we decide to buy. Perhaps when we purchase a loco that meets our expectations we should say so as readily as when we buy one that does not? I think so.

 

Matt

[Roy L S]

Hi Matt

 

I agree, I am and always have been a big fan of this model.

 

I have five, a BR black one, An LNER "Coldstreamer" a BR green "Green Arrow" plus two more in BR green renumbered to non-named locos one lightly weathered.

 

They may not quite meet the level of detail of more recent models (e.g. see through spokes) but they have a robust well engineered mechanism that runs smoothly and reliably (including a double reduction gearbox which really helps control).

 

As to haulage which some say is poor, all of mine happily manage eleven coaches on the flat (Three more than my fiddle yard can handle) and I had my BR black one at one point pulling 36 Farish wagons through the 9 inch radius reverse curves each end of the said fiddle yard loops so that it was pulling them through both at once, this it did without a trace of a slip.

 

These locos in my view had a particularly and unfairly bad press in some quarters.

 

Roy

[BECMAYE]

Hi, I have a couple of V2's. The only problem I have had with them is that the front bogie would derail over some pointwork but I fixed this by adjusting the tightness of the screw holding this in place and they both run fine.

[Elvinley]

I have found that some perform better than others and that also goes for haulage capabilities. One of mine has a wobble which means it isn't as powerful as it should be. They also vary in noise levels.

[MrSimon]

The ones I've had have always run well after running in, quite a lot of running in usually, but they can pull lenghty trains as long as everythings free-wheeling. It would be good to see them revisited and bought up to the new standards, but theres things in the Farish range that need it more!

 

I added a tiny bit of lead to the front bogie and it stays on fine now...

 

Simon