farish 4F or crab

[davieb]

i am considering buying one of the above for my layout but cant decide which one
has any one out there run either of these if so what are the pros & cons of each
i am thinking of the running more than the looks

hope someone will be able to help


thanks in advance

dave

[fisherman]

I have both...

I like the valve gear going round on the crab!!!

and the lining too....

the 4f is a real workhorse !!!

[EtchedPixels]

The trick with both of these is to fit tender pickups (see thread elsewhere on here). It turns them from variable on insulfrog or uneven trackwork to excellent runners. Older Poole models had these but then they seem to have been beancountered out of exiseance, and in doing so much reduced the power pickup and thus the slow running of the models.

The tender pickups make a huge difference because the main loco is a rigid six wheels, the tender is almost entirely articulated so it goes from rigid six wheeler (never good for pickup) to two effectively six wheel bogies and runs like the diesels

Alan

[painbrook]

Agree with zunnan , UM's 3f is very nice . cheers john .

[painbrook]

Forgot to mention , the crab I bought had to go back to the maker , after only 3 days running the motion  went left right and chelsea . The point being motions in our scale are , by nature very fragile . cheers john .

[Elvinley]

The trick with both of these is to fit tender pickups (see thread elsewhere on here). It turns them from variable on insulfrog or uneven trackwork to excellent runners. Older Poole models had these but then they seem to have been beancountered out of exiseance, and in doing so much reduced the power pickup and thus the slow running of the models.

The tender pickups make a huge difference because the main loco is a rigid six wheels, the tender is almost entirely articulated so it goes from rigid six wheeler (never good for pickup) to two effectively six wheel bogies and runs like the diesels

Alan

Tender pickups do make a huge difference. It is important they aren't too tight on the tender wheels as this can stop the wheels turning freely and add unwanted friction. There is a bit of a knack to fitting them, but it is well worthwhile. They can be purchased cheaply from BR Lines. I'll never know why Farish stopped fitting them.