Dr Al

Cracked cylinder blocks are very common on A1, A2s due to bad packing design that means the cylinders hold the loco in the packing and therefore take all the stress of drops, bad handling etc in the post. May be similar for the Duchess, or you just may have got unlucky - main thing is that they have resolved the issues. Cheers, Alan

No, no, no. It's the front bogie wheels that are clearly out from the photo. Do not touch the drivers, they are highly unlikely to be out, and you risk messing up things like quartering and valve gear (crossheads are cast, so particularly delicate - I've seen a clutch of Farish models with broken valve gear in this area, likely due to mishandling). I would strongly recommend firstly removing the front bogie (just one screw) and you'll probably find it no longer derails, therefore confirming it as the cause. Second, adjust that front wheel back to back, or if too afraid, unclip the bogie base and swap the two wheelsets around to see if that changes things. Thirdly, seek professional assistance of someone to make the corrections for you. Best, Alan

No, the Farish Duchess does not have this. Cheers, Alan

I wouldn't be afraid of moving the bogie wheel - it's just a push fit onto the axle. Cheers, Alan

Did you fix the back to back on that front wheelset? As I say it looked narrow, so that's likely wrong. Cheers, Alan

Problem looks to be the sharp curve entering to the point - looks like the cylinders may be clashing with the bogie, as it's when you push onto the curve that that happens. I suspect therefore you've hit the R1/R2 problem, and it may be Bachmann had the cylinders off to repair and reseated them a fraction differently so they are now catching. Also, from your previous picture, the BTB on front wheels looks far too narrow - this may not be helping, giving less lateral movement that it should have. I'd fix this first. Cheers, Alan

Unfortunately while much less common than in the past, it's still a failure that hasn't been totally eliminated. Open out the holes when fitting new so the stress on the fit is less using a taper broach. Generally these seem over-tight and over stressed, and there seems a correlation between the split position and bubbles in the moulding (which will clearly weaken it). Seems very empirically common. I've never had any re-splitting of gears when care is exercised on refitting them by opening out the holes. Fortunately, it seems Bachmann are now fitting all new models with white nylon gears, so hopefully this will finally eliminate the problem. Time will tell! Cheers, Alan

While far less common (not that it's very common on Farish now either) this is ultimately untrue - I've seen several Dapol 73s and 66s with split gears. Farish have quietly moved to white nylon gearing in recent times - no comment or shouting about it, but I suspect this is the final act in ending the remaining split gear occurrences. All my most recent Farish diesels have white gears - I'd presume the 31s are the same. Cheers, Alan

Very interesting, thanks Andy for the pointer. Looks a much lower profile drive to get the DCC gubbins in, so I can well believe it to be a smaller diameter coreless motor. Interesting, one wonders if the class 14 will get the same motor change also. Cheers, Alan

Interesting - if anyone is fitting DCC or suchlike and has a moment to take a chassis exposed picture, that'd be very interesting to see what this generation of chassis look like. Thanks, Alan

Out of interest, how does this model look under the shell? I've read some comments in places implying it has a coreless motor now, which I wonder if are really true, as that'd have been a bigger change than just adding the sound gubbins I'd have thought. Cheers, Alan

Only once new traction tyres were fitted Tim! Cheers, Alan

To add to Tony's request for a year sum up - here's mine, all N gauge for something different. I'd say though that the year's not complete for me yet! With work winding down I'm hoping to knock off a few more projects before the year end! These have been completed so far though - the are a mix of kit, scratch and RTR upgrades (both basic and complex), which is largely the way for N Gauge: Caledonian 0-4-4T in BR black (Dapol M7 chassis, scratchbuilt body in brass (partly pre-built by a previous owner)) 55260_1 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr B4 in BR Black (Peco whitemetal kit, Arnold chassis) B4_1 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Farish black 5 renumbered, details fitted B5_5 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr LMS Turbomotive (whitemetal kit, refurbishment by rebuild and full repaint....that lining!) 6202_4 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr LMS 4P tank (whitemetal kit, refurbishment by rebuild and full repaint) 4P_1 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Rebuilt Scot (converted from Farish Royal Scot with Jubilee cab) Rebuilt Pat1 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Standard 5MT (heavy weathering, detailed Farish model) 73099_2 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Standard 4MT (Langley whitemetal kit with brass superdetail detail parts and Farish chassis) 75037_2 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Ivatt 4MT (conversion from Farish Standard 4MT 2-6-0) 43017_1 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr The lower Gresely brake (and the storage box foam!) Gresley3 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr J27 (Nu-Cast whitemetal kit, detailed, modified Farish chassis) J27_final2 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Parallel Boiler Patriot (Atso 3D print body, BHE tender body in whitemetal, Farish Jubilee loco chassis, Uniion Mills tender drive with Peco wheels) Patriot_final1 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Farish 87 (renumber, name, new wheels fitted) 87015_1 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Farish 5MT (light weathering, details fitted) 5MT2 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr EM2 (3D printed kit, Kato pantographs, Farish chassis) EM2 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Coronation 6220 (restoration/rebuild and repaint of whitemetal kit on Minitrix chassis) Coronation_set3 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Highland railway X class tank number 1 (whitemetal kit, detailed with brass parts, extensively modified Farish chassis, Peco Jubilee rear bogie) 15306_2 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Highland railway X class tank number 2 (whitemetal kit, detailed with brass parts, extensively modified Farish chassis, Peco Jubilee rear bogie). That lining was a hell of a job! HRX1 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr J52 (rebuild of whitemetal kit with extensive detailing and repaint) J52_2 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Coronation 6225 (restoration/rebuild and repaint of whitemetal kit on Minitrix chassis) 6225_1 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr LMS 2P (Union Mill superdetailed with brass parts, Peco tender wheels, full repaint and re-line) 2P0 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr LMS Black 5 with coal weighing tender (tender bought and upgraded to later style with more handrails, late crest, loco attached and fully detailed with new handrails, front end detail and old Duchess chassis, N Brass front bogie). This as been subsequently weathered to bring all together. B5-1 by Dr Al 60103, on Flickr Only when you look back do you realise quite how much you've achieved in this, most strange, of years. On top of this I've probably repaired a good 100 locos or so, so quite a year! I actually hope we get to a position of achieving less next year, and getting back out to normality! Cheers, Alan

Public thanks to Paul (bigP), who generously sent me some of these. After 1/2 an hour fiddling all the points have been fully restored to original, and working (!) condition. Many thanks, Alan

For anyone who's interested, a haulage test. This was just starting to exhibit slippage. Cheers, Alan

I contacted them for precisely this (before trying the Wanted section) and had no reply. Cheers, Alan

Many thanks Paul - these look perfect - I will send you a PM shortly. Best regards, Alan

Hi, I've obtained a number of Peco code 55 N Gauge points, missing their over centre springs. If anyone is removing these from their own turnouts (I think any Peco will fit, code 55 or code 80 or Setrack), please let me know - I'm in need of about 10 of them. Edit: I believe also they are the same ones used in the older Peco 'adaptor bases', so any removed from those would do also! Alternatively, if anyone knows a source to buy these new then please let me know also. Thanks, Alan

One wonders why they don't offer axles with splined ends. The above problem is something seen on some N gauge models - particularly early Dapol tank locos. By contrast Farish used similar wheels, but the key difference being that the axle ends were splined (and still are on the most recent models). This stops any chance of slippage. Cheers, Alan

Long out of production now Tony. Last ones made (from a design based basically on a very early model dating from the mid/late 1970s, with a few updates to the chassis) around 2008, so it is a very very long time since these were in last in production. Secondhand now they are typically £30 to £45 depending on exact vintage and condition/previous use, so acceptable price I think given they aren't hugely modern (but the 5 pole motor chassis run really well if carefully maintained, as good as newer stuff, and have lots of useful kits under which they can employed). In terms of comments on detail on N gauge, bear in mind how harsh comments can be given that often they are on photos that are massively enlarged compared to reality. Wheel flanges can't really get much finer and still keep this a mass appeal scale - folks with bad track have difficulty already.... If anything N is more interesting in terms of building things. Less is available (though the RTR has boomed in the last 20 years) so there's a lot more prospect to do something interesting and unique - either via building something unavailable, or bringing up to higher standard an older or less detailed model. I offer a few examples of my own, mostly done during lockdown. Highland Railway X class "banking tank", in LMS crimson (whitemetail kit, superdetailed with lamp irons, handrails, running on Farish modified chassis). Ex-LMS parallel boiler Patriot (Atso 3D print body, superdetailed, Farish Jubilee loco chassis, whitemetal BH Enterprises tender housing a Union Mills tender drive with Peco 2251 wheels....!). Caledonian 0-4-4T, finished just before lockdown (scratchbuilt body in brass obtained a long time ago that was barely started by a previous modeller. Fully built up with remaining parts scratchbuilt, and running on Dapol M7 chassis). Finally, currently close to completion is a superdetail and complete repaint/line of a basic RTR Union Mills "City of Truro". These are basic cast metal, but reliable models, which can be brought up with all the detailing of separate handrails, brakes, front end detail, new buffers, replacement tender wheels etc. Anyone further interested can follow progress at N Gauge Forum thread (no need to be a member to view) where I mainly post updates: https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=27336.1050 Cheers, Alan

This is the chassis from a GWR Railcar. BR Lines have newer wheels, but don't bin the old ones - those white gears are rare, and the best Farish did (only in 1984, so dates this chassis precisely). These chassis are similar to Farish's 101 of the same time, albeit with longer driveshafts and wheelbase. They have very good slow speed performance due to the high gearing ratio and 5 pole motor. Various kits or scratchbuilds could use this (the easiest being a parcels GWR railcar that Farish never did, only the passenger version). Alternatively, given this is a white geared chassis and presumably working well, it'll have strong value on secondhand market (£35 easily) so you could move it on very easily I'd think to put funds to something else. Cheers, Alan

Yes, You can simply paint the visible areas with a dark grey paint. Done it countless times on Farish and Dapol with this type of pickup system. cheers, Alan

Crossings are SL-393s x2. I'll need to check, but I think there may be one or two points. Cheers, Alan

I have a couple of Peco code 80 crossings and a Peco curved turnout, all new or virtually new. Cheers, Alan

Tony, Would you maybe quantify what you think is actually poorer with your later builds? I'm sure you'll pick them out as all builders know what they cut corners on etc (I speak from experience!), but genuinely these all look of exceptionally consistent standard. The only thing that jumps to me are the slightly war weary cylinder drain pipes on the very last one! Is it also the case that over those 30 years your perceptions of quality, mistakes and standards have become higher and more critical? Cheers, Alan