Poole Farish rare items - are there any?

[belstone]

Now I have started acquiring locos for my next layout (S&C, 1947) I've noticed that Poole Farish stuff seems to have got cheaper.  This is a mixed blessing for me as I keep spotting bargains which I just can't resist. so I now have a Compound and Crab (both in LMS black) to go with my Peco Jubilee, and no layout to run them on. But they weren't expensive.  I guess the reason these models are cheap is that there are so many of them about, so they aren't really collectable.  Poole didn't usually do small batches, they just kept making the same models in the same liveries year after year.  Which makes me wonder - are there any Poole Farish models that weren't made in large numbers and are now rare?

[zwilnik]

Not rare as such, but generally going for crazy prices, are the various 4 wheel carriages. The moulds were worn out by the time Bachmann bought GF, so there's a perception of rarity from them not being produced since then. It's more of a crazy eBay thing though as there seems to be a lot of them out there

[Dr Al]

Yes, there are quite a few. Anything with blackened Poole style wheels is very rare - absolute last production in 1999/2000. I've seen Castle, A3, A4, 4MT, 8F, J94, 08 and Duchess with these but not much else. The BR blue A4 and BR blue A3 were both very rare as only a few were made. Some of the train set models are much rarer as a few were produced near the end with different numbers than the regular locos - e.g. the LMS 4F with number 4269 (normal 1841 procution was numbered 4232) and the 4MT tank as 80010 (normal production was 80064 and 80079).

There were also some official limited editions including the 57xx in LT red, a Maroon Duchess 46247, as well as at least one Castle and some rebuilt Bullied pacifics (names and numbers I forget).

In terms of diesels the class 20 in original Poole railfreight red stripe as 20215 (cat no. 8208) is pretty rare as only a few hundred were made.

Cheers,
Alan

[Northern Git]

If you want to look for rare Farish items how about the 08 made for Holland in there livery, I think they also did a couple of Steam engines too. But if you want more rarity value the Farish Class 47 diesel done in Rail freight Red Stripe. It was given the catalogue number which the Silcock Express 47 in triple grey used. Apparently they only did about 20 and realised that Minitrix were releasing there 47 in the same livery so changed to the other one.

[Dr Al]

Apparently they only did about 20 and realised that Minitrix were releasing there 47 in the same livery so changed to the other one.

There are varied reports on this one - some say there were only 3 made, some say a few more and the reason for stopping was tooling break or problematic production of the livery.

Same also for 20215 but a few hundred made it out in that case.

Cheers,
Alan

[Northern Git]

I know there was more than 20 of the 47's made but were they ended up I don't know. I did know where 8 or 9 ended up but not the rest. As for the 20's they were issued out to all Farish stockist at the time.

[Dr Al]

I know there was more than 20 of the 47's made but were they ended up I don't know. I did know where 8 or 9 ended up but not the rest. As for the 20's they were issued out to all Farish stockist at the time.

Interesting - I know Matt Richter who used to work in the factory said that 10 were made only and then the livery changed to something more modern (Silcock express sector livery) in the hope it would help bolster sales of containter flats.

Seems like the facts are not 100% clear therefore, but if you know where 8 or 9 are and only 10 were made, you know where most of them are now hiding!!

Cheers,
Alan

[johnlambert]

As far as I can tell there was a final run of Graham Farish Halls that came with blackened wheels plus a new front bogie that included closer to scale wheels and a NEM pocket to accommodate a front coupling.  I've got one and I've seen another for sale but they're rare compared with the earlier versions with the tiny bogie wheels.

I paid about £50 for mine, which seems to be around the going rate for good condition Poole-Farish locos so I don't think they're especially sought after.  The one I saw for sale was priced at £90, which I think was over optimistic but if the seller can find someone to pay that much then fair play to him...

Another official Limited Edition was the 3-car Class 101 in Strathclyde PTE Orange and Black.

[Dr Al]

As far as I can tell there was a final run of Graham Farish Halls that came with blackened wheels plus a new front bogie that included closer to scale wheels and a NEM pocket to accommodate a front coupling.  I've got one and I've seen another for sale but they're rare compared with the earlier versions with the tiny bogie wheels.

Bear in mind that while this is a Poole design it wasn't actually made in Poole which I think the OP was really getting at - it's a Bachmann iteration from China.

Another official Limited Edition was the 3-car Class 101 in Strathclyde PTE Orange and Black.

Good call there - forgot that one! If you can find one without split gears then double points 

Cheers,
Alan

[PLD]

there were a few "limited editions" but in those days that usually meant a reproduction run of 1000 or 2500 - so broadly similar quantities to current output for a standard production run of a single identity...

Other than the examples listed above, the one I can think of that is currently hard to find and trading at a premium is the Maroon Crab no 13000.

Possibly more interesting to hunt down are the errors that escaped. There were a few alleged sightings of odd locos with the wrong number, and I've seen coaches with no lining or lettering...

[Kris]

I remember that there were several limited edition liveries that came out in the late 90's. How "rare" these really are is debatable. 

[SidmouthJunction]

There was a J94 in Longmoor Military Railway blue, split from a set I think, in the showcase at Frizinghall for ages. Always thought about it but never acted, now gone and never seen one again.

[belstone]

Not rare as such, but generally going for crazy prices, are the various 4 wheel carriages.

Not just the four wheelers either.  I want to put together a rake of eight or nine Farish LMS liveried "mainline" coaches for the Jubilee to haul.  I know they are a freelance design but they look a tiny bit like some of the earlier LMS stock if you squint hard enough. But sellers seem to be asking about the same for them as new Stanier coaches.

[Agrippa]

There's a  NCB J94 on Ebay + several BR versions, though
not sure if Poole made.

[Dr Al]

There's a  NCB J94 on Ebay + several BR versions, though
not sure if Poole made.

NCB ones are Poole made.

HTH,
Alan