Icons of N gauge

[Roy L S]

Forthcoming icon prediction: watch out for the RTR Dean Goods, which should finally arrive in September!!

Union Mills? I look forward to seeing it. A great choice, surprising it has taken so many years for Mr H to pick a GW prototype!

Roy

[NeMo]

Forthcoming icon prediction: watch out for the RTR Dean Goods, which should finally arrive in September!!

Union Mills? I look forward to seeing it. A great choice, surprising it has taken so many years for Mr H to pick a GW prototype!

Indeed! And I for one will be buying one the month it comes out!

It's often been said on the forums that the UM mechanisms are too big to fit into the low, flat tenders commonly used on small GWR engines. I wonder how Colin H. has worked around this?

Cheers, NeMo

[Roy L S]

Since there has been talk of Farish's second loco, the Holden Tank but no pics up to now I will add one.

[smg id=28143]

In the hard plastic box is an original in GER livery. These have a subtly different chassis to the next variant. The keeper plate has squared off ends, the later one's taper plus the earlier one has gears integral with axles, the later's ones are a push fit onto axles (cheaper I am sure but a bit dire in the robustness stakes). Both of these are runners, the blue one is very noisy (Wifey wondered what the noise was and it scared the cats in the next room!) the black one as I mentioned elsewhere is actually a very nice runner in spite of having clearly previously having a hard life! I also have squirreled away an absolute mint BR one which also runs well but most of the time I'm too scared to run it given that mech's reputation for fragility!

I have included by way of comparison one of my original 94xx Panniers, this shows just how tiny the Holden is (look at those wheels) quite an achievement for 1972. Wouldn't it be nice if BachFarish surprised us with a state of the art one for the 50th anniversary of Farish N?

Roy

[johnlambert]

What about rollingstock? Are there certain runs or sets that are sought after?

I'm not sure about sought after but I'd have thought that the Graham Farish 'Blue Ribband' Stanier or Mk1 coaches deserve 'iconic' status with their flush glazing, separate hand rails, close coupling mechanisms and NEM pockets.  Were these the first N gauge coaches to offer all these features?

I think the Minitrix Gresley coaches might also deserve the icon label for being nicely detailed and finished by the standards of the day.

I'm not sure if there are iconic N gauge wagons but I'd be tempted to nominate the Peco wagon kits for offering a cheap and easy introduction to kit building, painting and detailing.

[Chris in Prague]

I agree with you, John, on all of your above points.

[silly moo]

I like the old Farish Pullman coaches even though they look as though they've been printed with a John Bull printing set  It would be nice if Bach/Farish did them again to modern standards, they'd look very nice behind a Merchant Navy.

As a matter of interest does anyone know if the newer Mk1 Pullmans were ever pulled by Merchant Navy locos during BR days?

[Roy L S]

What about rollingstock? Are there certain runs or sets that are sought after?

I'm not sure about sought after but I'd have thought that the Graham Farish 'Blue Ribband' Stanier or Mk1 coaches deserve 'iconic' status with their flush glazing, separate hand rails, close coupling mechanisms and NEM pockets.  Were these the first N gauge coaches to offer all these features?

The Staniers are lovely coaches but I think Dapol may have got the drop on Farish with their Gresleys which also have all those features.

Regards

Roy

Roy

[Dr Al]

this shows just how tiny the Holden is (look at those wheels) quite an achievement for 1972

The Holden body casting is really pretty good, and could still stand well in amongst more modern stock with only a minor amount of detailing.

The chassis is the thing - if there was a suitable modern replacement that could be shoehorned into the shell it could be a great little model. I just don't know that there is such a chassis - anyone tried it or got ideas?

Cheers,
Alan

[Roy L S]

this shows just how tiny the Holden is (look at those wheels) quite an achievement for 1972

The Holden body casting is really pretty good, and could still stand well in amongst more modern stock with only a minor amount of detailing.

The chassis is the thing - if there was a suitable modern replacement that could be shoehorned into the shell it could be a great little model. I just don't know that there is such a chassis - anyone tried it or got ideas?

Cheers,
Alan

Hi Alan

The Dapol Terrier I think has been suggested?

Regards

Roy

[Dr Al]

The Dapol Terrier I think has been suggested?

Regards

Roy

Pretty sure the wheelbase/diameter is all wrong?

cheers,
Alan

[Roy L S]

The Dapol Terrier I think has been suggested?

Regards

Roy

Pretty sure the wheelbase/diameter is all wrong?

cheers,
Alan

Hi Alan

You are right I am sure, but possibly a compromise some might accept?

It was always a disappointment to me they the Holden wasn't reintroduced but clearly that was down to limitations of the "new" 1975 style chassis which would never have fitted. I have to confess I wasn't aware that the Holden tooling had been wrecked when adapting for the original "General Purpose" Tanks but there are only minor detail differences between the two so makes sense.

However today it is a different matter, the 03 and 04 shunters show what is possible by way of micro-engineering compared to which I am sure a Holden Tank would be a comparative breeze!

Oh well, I can  dream on I guess, we do have a J72 to look forward to (and I am!). I'm just going to have to keep those little Holdens well looked after!

Regards

Roy

[PGN]

Keep the chassis and substitute a modern can motor? Is there one that will fit?

And Roy - it was the "Standard Tank" (which was on old,can-motor model) which was made by butchering the Holden moulds. The "General Purpose" tank was a brand new model (but no less freelance and generic) produced when they introduced the open-frame motors.

[Dr Al]

Keep the chassis and substitute a modern can motor? Is there one that will fit?

The gearing and wheels are pretty terrible by todays standards also - it would really need a complete replacement chassis IMHO.

Cheers,
Alan

[Roy L S]

Keep the chassis and substitute a modern can motor? Is there one that will fit?

And Roy - it was the "Standard Tank" (which was on old,can-motor model) which was made by butchering the Holden moulds. The "General Purpose" tank was a brand new model (but no less freelance and generic) produced when they introduced the open-frame motors.

Hi PGN

Of course it was yes, I stand corrected. I have just had a "body count" and have no less than 6 LMS Standard Tank bodies in various states of repair, their chassis long gone to the parts bin in the sky, most without their chimneys. I think I may even have a working one somewhere!

Roy

[Roy L S]

Keep the chassis and substitute a modern can motor? Is there one that will fit?

The gearing and wheels are pretty terrible by todays standards also - it would really need a complete replacement chassis IMHO.

Cheers,
Alan

Agreed, it is really the chassis design that is the weakness (especially later ones) the motor is actually comparatively good. Maybe a fold up etched chassis could be a solution with 2mm wheels/gears (or these days even 3D printed ones?).

Roy