N Gauge Reviews

[theboyrob]

Graham Farish - Class 158 'Central Trains Livery' 371-550A


(Picture Taken From Hattons)

Released in 2005 under Bachmann ownership, this class 158.

Near as identical to the earlier 2002 released version (running numbers different, 371-550) this 2005 version has the updated chassis.

The unit took a good hour in either direction to settle in and until smooth running started, although I am sure over time it will improve more.

The running is excellent, anything from a steady coast up to full speed is very smooth. The unit runs well at very low speed, but not in the same league as the farish Class 66. Only one of the cars is powered, the other being extremely light. Some weighting to this dummy car will benefit the unit as a whole.

The detail on the unit is very good, the only real things letting it down being obviously no interior in the neither the powered car or dummy car, and the use of stickers for the lights. I am not sure why some directional lighting couldn't be added to the unit, and possibly a slightly closer magnetic coupling system as there is a good two/three feet scale between either carriage!

Overall a nice rolling stock item!

[theboyrob]

Graham Farish - Class 66 66200 'Railway Heritage Committee' 371-380


(Picture Taken From Hattons)

Released in 2006 under Bachmann ownership.

Graham farish have recently released quite a few class 66 locomotives in various different liverys, this being one of two EWS livery locomotives.

The unit ran extremely smooth from the off. The best running I have seen from an N Gauge locomotive. From anything from a 1mph crawl to full pelt down the straights it runs amazing, with no stalls over insulfrog points thanks to its twin bogies which both pickup from the track. The unit has a nice weight to it, and the livery detail is excellent giving the unit the proper shed look! The unit comes with some little extras (snow plough) to allow a little variation to the model. One of the downsides I have found is that one end of the loco is very hard to couple up to rolling stock due to a scaled hook on the front of the engine. Although they have added this for good detail it mkes uncoupling hard work as the loco itself has to be lifted slightly to break free.

Farish have also adde4d directional lighting which looks excellent and adds to the realism, Just a shame that the lights instantly cut off whe power is lost. Maybe a small capacitor or something to let the lights fade out gradually?

Overall 9/10
Overall a nice rolling stock item!

[theboyrob]

My class 66 runs great around setrack 1st radius curves (9 inch) and would probably run a little tighter

[saslord]

Nice to see some N gauge reviews

Looks like I will need to make a Graham Farish section.

[thedon]

Now that's an excellent idea.
thedon

[theboyrob]

Graham Farish - Class 56 56074 'Kellingly Colliery' 371-301


(Picture Taken From Hattons)

Released in 2003 under Bachmann ownership.

This is one of two available Class 56 Liverys. 56074 stands well in its Loadhaul Livery, and weathered fron the box and looks very good with it!

The unit is a nice smooth runner, speed varies a little over pointwork and tighter bends, but the loco refuses to stall no matter how slow it is moving. The detailing is very good, as mentioned above the bodywork and bogies have been weather extremely well. No directional lighting, but very quiet operation makes this diesel loco a good runner. It can also easily pull a realistic amount of rolling stock in its stride. Currently available from many online retailers at a bargain price (often under £50) therefore definatly worth a home in any modern image layout.


Overall 8/10

A nice rolling stock item!

[D2850]

Graham Farish 'Jinty' 0-6-0T


image from www.ehattons.com

This is a reasonable runner, has faitly good detail, is very cheap (avaliable under £40), and can cope with fairly long trains and tight curves.
However the locomotive will not run at very low speeds, making it unsuitable for shunting. This is quite a large problem, as the jinty class were frequently used for this purpose.

The locomotive is avaliabe in BR early creast as 47594 in the jinty suburban train set, or weathered as either 47493 or 47332. It is also avaliable in BR late creast as either 47514 or 47629.
It is not currently avaliable in LMS livery

Overall 6/10

Nice but really needed to be better at slow speeds

[D2850]

Dapol GWR/BR 14xx Class Autotank 0-4-2T


image from www.ehattons.com

A very nice runner, the 14xx runs from a crawl up to a very high top speed, although there is occasionally a wobble, which may be due to the sprung rear axle. The locomotive will take 1st radius settrack curves and insufrog settrack turnouts with no stalling except at the very lowest speeds.
The rear trailing axle is sprung, which allows it to keep in contact with the rail and thus ensure power to the motor

The locomotive has very fine detail, with the exception of the wheels. These are solid with the spokes moulded in to them, however this does not detract from the apperaence of the model significantly.

The only other problem is that due to size limitations the motor is forced to extend into the cab, howver the open upper half is clear of motor, so the poblem is minor.

Haulage wise, the prototype would usually only pull 1-2 autocoaches, and the model could clearly do this. I do not have any autocoaches, however it was able to pul both my farish MK1 suburbans, and then a dapol CCT and 12 wagons on top around 9" radius curves.

The 14xx is not currently avaliable form dapol, however several shops hold stocks, and they frequently appear on ebay. The tooling has recently been modified to produce a topfeed-fitted version, which will come packaged with an autocoach

Overall 9.3/10

This appears to me to be, with the possible execption of the farish 04, to be the best shunting loco avaliable in N gauge. It runs slowly and smoothly and is easily powerful enough. The only issues are minor compared with the overall quality

[santene]

nice to see n gauge reveiws

[ste234]

Graham Farish class 168/1 clubman 3 car DMU "Chiltern Railways" 371-435

371435_1.jpg (3.86 KiB) Viewed 8043 times

(picture form hattons)

A very nice runner which is quite on smooth track. The detail on it is good, in the two end cars there are little seats, and all the numbers, logos et are OK. It can get to a fairly realistic speed and can run at fairly low speeds also. Unfortunatley there is no directional lighting just stickers.
Only problem i have had is a front car kept derailing going over a point, just simply switched the two ends round.
Its available from most retailers for around £86, but its well worth the money.

7/10
looks great on a modern day layout but could do with a few little extras.

Ste.