Farish Class 319

[JR_P]

15 hours ago, grahame said:

Rumour has it that the 319s have arrived at Barwell.

More than a rumour - the Bachmann website shows as “arrived” for the 319s and 769….

 

looking forward to getting hold of one of these, although my preferred retailer seems to be suggesting it is sold out on pre-order…. somewhat surprised by that - perhaps just their allocation and not generally….
 

….. unless there is pent-up demand for SouthEast-centric models from the last 30-40yrs…. after all, until Revolution delivered the 321, there was almost nothing truly representing the last 40yrs of London commuter belt and the SouthEast…. granted there has been stuff like 101 in NSE, 159 in SWT, 168 in Chiltern and 171 in Southern done by Farish, but these are hardly representative of the huge fleets of 312, 313, 315, 317, 319, 321, 365, 165, 166, 455, 465, electrostars that were/are the workhorses of SouthEast passenger services….

 

The Farish 319 (& Revolution’s 321 and forthcoming 313) are nice additions that fill a significant gap.

 

No apologies for the unashamedly SouthEast-centric post 😋 …. some of us have to live here (and want to model it)…. 😀

[msw2009]

I picked up NSE 319 004 from the always helpful Great Eastern Models yesterday.  It's a lovely model but the pantograph, which is very fragile, hadn't been assembled properly and fell to pieces as soon as it was very gently removed from its packaging.  I tried to reassemble it but it seemed to be missing a tiny pin so reluctantly had to return it.  It's the only one they had in stock so will have to wait a couple of days for a replacement to arrive.   I wondered whether to just glue it in place - I model 3rd rail Southern so wouldn't ever run it with the pantograph up, but didn't really want to drop just shy of £300 on an imperfect model.  

 

Mark 

 

[TomE]

Picked up my 319 today. Only had a quick inspection and grabbed one photo but the overall impression is that Farish have done an outstanding job with the 319. 

I'll be having a better look at it over the weekend. 
 

Tom. 

[grahame]

Shouldn't that second driving car (furthest from camera) have pick up shoe beams on the bogie?

[TomE]

Good question! There is nothing loose in the box and the diagram on the instructions doesn't show them either on one either so I guess not!

 

Tom. 

[grahame]

It's going to need two pick up shoe beams on each side otherwise it'll get gapped, stall and become stranded. I asked about them at Ally Pally as the display models didn't have any fitted and was told not to worry as they'd definitely be included on the finished product. Looks like they've failed to deliver on that.

 

My pre-ordered ones have not yet turned up. But looks like they might need careful checking.

 

Edited June 23, 2022 by grahame

[John M Upton]

How easy will it be to change the destination displays do you reckon?  I fancy a Southern liveried one if it ever appears.

 

Mind you, the side saloon windows look too curved at the corners to me...

[BR(S)]

As well as the missing shoegear, which seems to be on all variants looking at the useful Kernow Model Centre pictures, the blue/yellow one only has a toilet on one side of the toilet coach.  As far as I remember, these had two toilets, next to each other, at the end of the coach next to the pantograph.

[BR(S)]

Seems like the shoegear will be easy enough to fit if Bachmann send out spares, as there appear to be holes for them.

 

I can't work out what coach they've used to get the toilet on one side only though on the blue/yellow one. Doesn't seem to be a disabled-only toilet coach, as per the 769, as there's a big window one side and a toilet window the other. Seems to be a standalone coach moulding, unless I'm incorrectly remembering the toilet set-up on the blue/yellow one (or at least on some of them, as YouTube videos clearly show toilets both sides).

 

The NSE livery one is correct, so bodes well for the one I hope to get if they make it in OO!

[grahame]

1 hour ago, BR(S) said:

As well as the missing shoegear, which seems to be on all variants looking at the useful Kernow Model Centre pictures,

 

Damn annoying as I specifically spoke with them at the Ally Pally show pointing out they were missing on the display samples, and they assured me it would be correct for the production models.

[davebem]

19 hours ago, TomE said:

Picked up my 319 today. Only had a quick inspection and grabbed one photo but the overall impression is that Farish have done an outstanding job with the 319. 

I'll be having a better look at it over the weekend. 
 

Tom. 

Looking forward to seeing these on your excellent website.  How is the coupling system with the electrical contacts?

[cs233]

Can any owners couple the two driving cars with the functional front coupler and show the gap? On the pre prod models it was a comically large gap

Edited June 24, 2022 by cs233
Typo

[TomE]

1 hour ago, cs233 said:

Can any owners couple the two driving cars with the functional front coupler and show the gap? On the pre prod models it was a comically large gap

Still quite large:

 

 

Tom. 

[John M Upton]

That's not a gap, its a chasm....

 

[grahame]

51 minutes ago, John M Upton said:

That's not a gap, its a chasm....

 

 

Yep, I've seen smaller canyons. And I was hoping to run 8 car (2x4 car sets). Looks like more fiddling and correcting is going to be needed. Have Farish rushed these out without finishing the development?

 

 

[TomE]

30 minutes ago, grahame said:

Have Farish rushed these out without finishing the development?

I don’t see any evidence to support that.
 

The missing shoebeams from one end is an unfortunate oversight (hopefully Bachmann will make them available, preferably foc, to 319 owners via their spares site) and the extra long unit end couplings could easily have been designed shorter, but having been over mine in detail now I’ve found that apart from the minor issues mentioned above, it’s a very high quality model indeed.

 

Tom. 

[JR_P]

3 hours ago, TomE said:

Still quite large:

Indeed…. and that side-on view also highlights that the cab door window has the wrong aspect ratio - too narrow…. should be about half the width of the nearest passenger window…..

 

That aside, it does look like a very high quality model, from what I’ve seen (based on the nice photography by yourself and Kernow).

 

I am looking forward to getting hold of one of these for myself….

Edited June 25, 2022 by JR_P
Typo

[Steadfast]

22 minutes ago, JR_P said:

Indeed…. and that side-on view also highlights that the cab door window has the wrong aspect ratio - too narrow…. should be about half the width of the nearest passenger window…..

Yes perhaps slightly on the narrow side, however it's good to see Bachmann have tooled both styles of door. I didn't even know there were two styles until 5 minutes ago! The shoes beams looks an easy enough fix as the holes are there, they've just not fitted them on one driving car.

 

I really must stop looking, these are out of era and location and money will be at a premium this next few months. Tempting!

 

Jo

[BR(S)]

5 hours ago, TomE said:

apart from the minor issues mentioned above

 

The incorrectly tooled toilet coach on the blue/yellow model is a major mistake and impossible for most to rectify, even an experienced modeller. I still can't see where they've got the tooling from for this coach, other than it seems to be a separately tooled one. The correct coach exists in the NSE and Northern model.

[grahame]

6 hours ago, TomE said:

I don’t see any evidence to support that.
 

The missing shoebeams from one end is an unfortunate oversight (hopefully Bachmann will make them available, preferably foc, to 319 owners via their spares site)

 

I don't think it's an unfortunate oversight when they were directly reminded about it and did add shoe beams to one end (the pre-production display models didn't have any at either end). And there has also been a report of a fragile pantograph missing an assembly pin.

 

I certainly hope they can supply the missing parts foc. I'd hate to have to pay for them. 

[robf]

Slightly off topic, and I may have noticed this especially on this occasion as I'm waiting for my TfW 769 to be dispatched, is the Bachmann supply chain, I guess not all retailers can have them at the same time by the one I've ordered it from is still advertising a big delivery soon when most appear to already have the recent Farish delivery in stock.  Just an observation and waiting in anticipation for my TfW 769. to arrive.

[TomE]

4 hours ago, BR(S) said:

 

The incorrectly tooled toilet coach on the blue/yellow model is a major mistake and impossible for most to rectify, even an experienced modeller. I still can't see where they've got the tooling from for this coach, other than it seems to be a separately tooled one. The correct coach exists in the NSE and Northern model.

First time I’ve seen mention of this, what did they get wrong? 
 

Tom. 

[BR(S)]

20 minutes ago, TomE said:

First time I’ve seen mention of this, what did they get wrong? 
 

Tom. 

 

I've posted about it a bit further up this page.  The toilet coach on the blue/yellow version should have a toilet each side of the coach, with corresponding toilet window each side.  If you look at the pictures on the Kernow website, they show a toilet window one side and a full size passenger window on the other.  Unless I missed it at the time, none of these 319s (or any 319 at any time) had a toilet coach like this.

 

Missing shoegear and a large gap between units are solveable and I can live with a driver's window that might not be quite the right size, but this coach is completely wrong.  And bizarrely appears to be a separate tooling rather than the wrong coach used from another of the 319s that were produced.  To rectify the error, Bachmann would hopefully supply a new coach body from the NSE or Northern one (which are correct) painted in the blue/yellow livery.

 

Kernow pictures of both sides of all coaches here: https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/54892/372-876-Graham-Farish-Class-319-319382-Thameslink

Edited June 25, 2022 by BR(S)

[JR_P]

5 hours ago, BR(S) said:

The incorrectly tooled toilet coach on the blue/yellow model is a major mistake

Yes, I concur the error on the basis of a video I’ve seen on YouTube (not sure if I’m allowed to link, but just do a search on the running number). You can determine which side of the TSO is facing the camera and there is indeed a toilet where Farish have a passenger window for 319382. Does seem like an odd error to make because they had to go specially out of their way to make it!…. and specially tool for it…. and if you notice, the header tank refill nozzle is present on both sides of the model, which I would doubt would be the case if there was genuinely a passenger window on one of the sides!

 

That said, the 319s underwent a lot of butchery, especially in the vicinity of the toilet end of the TSO….

 

The most practical resolution to this, is just run it so that the toilet window of the TSO is the side facing you.

 

[John M Upton]

3 hours ago, robf said:

Slightly off topic, and I may have noticed this especially on this occasion as I'm waiting for my TfW 769 to be dispatched, is the Bachmann supply chain, I guess not all retailers can have them at the same time by the one I've ordered it from is still advertising a big delivery soon when most appear to already have the recent Farish delivery in stock.  Just an observation and waiting in anticipation for my TfW 769. to arrive.

 

Certainly from what I have seen looking at the Class 37's being delivered at the same time is that some retailers have only received an initial small batch of each model, the BR blue 37 for example has all but gone before it has even arrived with many retailers so there must  be (hopefully?) further deliveries in the pipeline and the same goes for the 319's too.