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Farish Ivatt 2MT


TomE

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Mremag.com Pat Hammond says that the lined BR black versions have left the factory. Time to retire my Minitrix models

 

George

 

Mine retired itself a couple of months ago - contrary to previous reports it was a reasonable puller - romped up my 1 in 44 branch line gradient with 2 Mk1s and a CCT in tow many times...

 

I'll be on the lookout for a new one when they appear in the shops - looks like I'll have to settle for a green one as the black one has an early crest.

 

I also have a Minitrix 2-6-2T and a 9F - the tank is still going strong, and I can just about get a circuit out of the 2-10-0 before having to take it to bits again to correct the quartering of the drivers, as they are prone to jumping out of sync.

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I just had a quick look (mere seconds) at the review of the Ivatt in the latest edition of Model Rail in the Supermarket, and the reviewer mentioned chunky valve gear. Who would have thought things like that would have been considered seriously when you look back at some of the generic models (hall/castle/king) we have put up with for years. We N gauge modellers are becoming spoilt. They look stunning models though

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I just had a quick look (mere seconds) at the review of the Ivatt in the latest edition of Model Rail in the Supermarket, and the reviewer mentioned chunky valve gear. Who would have thought things like that would have been considered seriously when you look back at some of the generic models (hall/castle/king) we have put up with for years. We N gauge modellers are becoming spoilt. They look stunning models though

Just read the RM review.

 

What a little stunner, and from all accounts running qualities to match (as one would expect given the new style loco drive mechanism.is akin to the WD Austerity's).

 

The valve gear will inevitably be a bit overscale to make it robust enough to handle, and I agree, this little loco is absolute light years ahead of the old poole-derived stuff we were putting up with just a few years ago.

 

Roy

 

.

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The stakes are high for Farish with this one - mine is a belated birthday present but I fear if it doesn't work out of the box my wife will refuse to buy N gauge locos for the boys of the household ever again! ;-)

 

I agree - they look nice in the RM review pictures. Can't decide whether to have 46521 in SVR/89A guise, or whether to model it as it is today, in plain unlined BR black with early crest - at which it's a question of whether to try and take the lining off a BR black one, or put new emblems on an LMS one! 

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Does  anyone  remember  the Minitrix  version  all those  years  ago?

 

It  was  a  nice  looking  loco   for  its  time  but  performance  was not too brilliant, main problem  was  lack of  haulage  power, which I am sure  the  New  farish one won't  suffer  from!

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I just had a quick look (mere seconds) at the review of the Ivatt in the latest edition of Model Rail in the Supermarket, and the reviewer mentioned chunky valve gear. Who would have thought things like that would have been considered seriously when you look back at some of the generic models (hall/castle/king) we have put up with for years. We N gauge modellers are becoming spoilt. They look stunning models though

 

 

Just read the RM review.

 

What a little stunner, and from all accounts running qualities to match (as one would expect given the new style loco drive mechanism.is akin to the WD Austerity's).

 

The valve gear will inevitably be a bit overscale to make it robust enough to handle, and I agree, this little loco is absolute light years ahead of the old poole-derived stuff we were putting up with just a few years ago.

 

Roy

 

Just read the same two reviews in the local supermarket. An interesting contrast which shows the different editorial style of those two magazines.

 

MR tends to set out to pick even minor fault (yet often misses quite significant details or makes silly errors or strange comments) to come up with a "You should/shouldn't buy this" conclusion, whereas RM credits it's readers with a little more inteligence giving a comprehensive but unbiassed set of facts without any hype from which it allows the reader to draw their own conclusion.

 

 

As to the model itself, from the photos and performance reported in the reviews, it looks a cracker - streets ahead of the old minitrix version (which was a good effort for it's day) and up there with the best N gauge steamers of the present generation.

 

 

[HM was bagged and BRM is no longer stocked so I can't compare their styles/comments if they indeed have reviews of it...]

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The report of the Model Rail review has got me wondering if when they say the valve gear is "chunky", are they saying that it could be better in a commercial N gauge model such as this (which has to withstand handling and be viable to mass-produce), or is it a comment on the limitations imposed by the small size of N gauge models?

 

Having had a Minitrix Ivatt and a Kato 2-6-4 bought for conversion to British outline, the Farish Ivatt 2MT 2-6-0 looks excellent to me, except perhaps when viewed head-on.  The small wheels don't help the appearance compared to their BR Standard 3MT 2-6-2.

 

Douglas

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I took a little time looking at the almost head-on picture in the Railway Modeller- it looked wrong in some respect, and I couldn't figure out why.

 

 

Then I got it- they'd not straightened the pony truck wheels before taking the picture- at that point the image "self-corrected" and I thought "oh, nice!"    At least they took the front coupling off- gave it much more chance of acceptance against a OO model.  Shame they couldn't pose it on a section of track.

 

Still; eagerly awaiting mine.  With my 4MT running badly (still locking occasionally) the 2MT may have to work duties other than the inspection saloon.

 

All the very best

Les

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I have mine already allocated branch goods and local passenger duties, all we need now is a decent 4-4-0, see we N gauge modellers are never happy

You have only to look at Colin's at Union Mills, fantastic runners and will almost anything ;-))

Bill

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  • 2 weeks later...

is there an advantage to purchasing them outside the country? I have never done this before?

It would suggest that the very much shorter supply chain has led to someone getting them very quickly.

If you can get them almost from the factory gate, so to speak, and then use air mail, it will save a few weeks of waiting for a load in a container to leave the port, cross the oceans, be unloaded, pass through Customs and whatever, get to Barwell and then out to British retailers.

Elvinley has also found this route to be cheaper as well as quicker, clearly, but I'm fairly sure he didn't see it running on the shop's test track before he bought it! That's his own choice, and I hope his model arrives safely and in perfect condition!

 

Richard

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Only problem with the LMS version is that it is unlined.  Having just done a pair of lined black repaints in N I'm losing the will to live-- I'll just recrest/renumber  my black 2MT once it arrives and I'm happy with it.  Some other masochist can do LMS black ones into lined BR.........

 

 

All the very best

Les

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