A Farish Prairie from 1951 - 70th Anniversary

[Robert Vale]

I've enjoyed reading the "collectable/vintage" thread on RMWeb for many years due to an interest in the by-ways of model railways. I've long wanted to have one of the original Graham Farish "Prairie Tankers" on my railway. This model was launched in 1951 and according to the GF advertising leaflet was exhibited at the Festival of Britain. Quite why they called it a Tanker as opposed to a Tank engine I have no idea. This year, 2021, is its 70th anniversary.

 

After gradually collecting possible locos there were enough parts to assemble a working example, with the body from one, chassis, motor and wheels from another and cylinders from a third. Surprisingly all three of the strange Farish motors in my collection are strong runners. The two-pole motor with sprung plunger pick-ups is a complete unit that fits into the chassis. It drives a centrifugal clutch so that it can start unloaded and then take up the drive when the clutch engages. 

 

The finished loco runs ok after quite a lot of fiddling about to get the correct setting of the springs that push the pony trucks down onto the track. Sometimes it will even start on its own without needing a push. In the photo it is pulling a train of matching Graham Farish diecast wagons. 

 

The biggest problem with this project was finding an intact chassis. I have enough parts to assemble two more locos apart from their cast Mazac chassis (chassises?), which have broken into chunks due to what the Germans call Zinkpest. I tried sticking the bits of one of the chassis together with superglue but the metal had expanded so much that the assembled chassis was too long to fit under the body. My two locos will have to remain unassembled until a couple more chassis can be found.

 

Does anyone have experiences of these locos to share? It's quite impressive that a loco that is 70 years old still runs quite convincingly.

 

 

[Il Grifone]

Zinc  pest is very common in Farish items from this era. My example of the prairie tank ('tanker' is indeed strange!?) has a sound body and a chassis* in pieces. She is to get a chassis from the later version with a proper motor, but some modification is necessary despite it being more or less the same casting. Three out of three that work is good; I managed two out of two failures. My GP5 runs when she feels like it, but it takes nothing to stop her again and the King has bits missing and a knackered switch assembly. (I did get the 'motor' to run a couple of times, but that was only because it was off load.) Both will get Airfix motors....

 

* It comes from French (hence the pronunciation) and is unchanged in the plural.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chassis#Firearms

 

If anyone wants any Formo wagons:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Formo-Graham-Farish-00-4-Wagons/383953983036?hash=item596570d63c:g:OmkAAOSwsxxgKBYL

 

There's also a brake van and some track at the moment.

[5050]

Ads from 1951 in Model Railway News -

 

 

 

Described as a self-assembly kit here.  Were they ever sold as a finished item - or was this a ruse to get round Purchase Tax?

 

Never noticed the 'Tanker' description before!  Any video clips of yours on the move?

Edited February 15, 2021 by 5050

[Robert Vale]

Well, I tried to upload a video as requested but could not manage to convert .mov to mp3. However, I found the suggestion to put it on YouTube and put a link to that, so, with luck, here is the link. It seems to work from my end, so here goes...

 

Video link

 

[5050]

Looks very smooth and quiet.  The wheels are wide though aren't they.  Seems to run well on Triang Standard track.  How does it cope with Triang pointwork?

[Robert Vale]

It runs really well. It's on Trix Twin Bakelite track in the film, so it won't go through points that are not set for the main line. In the past I found that only my older Tri-ang locos will run on Tri-ang Standard track. I've not tried the "Tanker" on Standard track but will have a go later today and see if it will cope with points.

[Robert Vale]

Later the same day...I've tried the Farish Prairie on Tri-ang Standard track and it will run through the points. It's a bit reluctant to run. not picking up power as well as a Tri-ang Jinty tested on the same track. The track is quite distorted because some of it is on the cellulose acetate base. 

 

Hope that helps to answer the question.

[5050]

18 hours ago, Robert Vale said:

It runs really well. It's on Trix Twin Bakelite track in the film, so it won't go through points that are not set for the main line. In the past I found that only my older Tri-ang locos will run on Tri-ang Standard track. I've not tried the "Tanker" on Standard track but will have a go later today and see if it will cope with points.

Silly me!  Of course it's not on Triang track in the video.  Tut, tut..................

[Il Grifone]

I'm surprised she would run around Trix curves. Farish stock is not particularly curve friendly. I have a feeling Trix pointwork would present a problem. Anything less than 'steamroller' wheels drop into the flange gaps. Early Tri-ang is nearly as bad, though some points are 'universal'. Farish standards are very similar to Hornby Dublo and, apart from the curves, Farish stock will run OK.

[Evanelpus]

I have 8 early Prairies, 5 in working condition. One is the earliest incarnation in that it was originally in kit form and has GP5 style wheels that are friction fit onto the axles. The next version had King style wheels attached by screws into the axles as shown in the video. 3 of the other working models have repro white-metal chassis produced by Weico models in Australia at one stage. The axle bearings were quite crude and the models have excessive clearance which can make them seize up when test-running whilst stationary. The last running model is 3-rail, I have posted a photo of this loco in an earlier post. I'd probably have enough bits to make several more static models but as all the chassis are affected by zinc pest I feel it's pointess making any more.

[Evanelpus]

On 16/02/2021 at 13:17, Robert Vale said:

Well, I tried to upload a video as requested but could not manage to convert .mov to mp3. However, I found the suggestion to put it on YouTube and put a link to that, so, with luck, here is the link. It seems to work from my end, so here goes...

 

Video link

 

Nice video! Once you get them going, they can run quite nicely as long as the wheels are true, I've got a couple of locos with seriously out of round wheels, especially pony truck wheels. The main problem is getting them started! A rapid number of flicks of the contoller throttle can fire them up, My solution was to get a Hornby controller and wire in a button that bypasses the throttle control to send a pulse of 12 volts straight into the track. Set the throttle at about half way, then hit the button and said loco lurches into life!

[Robert Vale]

Thanks for your kind comment. I've been using an old Duette controller but it's always somewhat hit-and-miss as to whether the loco will start. I did not realise the wheels can get out of true, that's something to look forward to! 

[russell price]

I have one that started out as a kit, still have its plain white box. Would that date it?  Mine had a new scratch built chassis back in the 1950s . It has Romford wheels and a 7 pole flywheel motor and  still puts in appearances on my layout.