Why Farish doesn't re-release its steam?

[Portpatrick]

In fairness to Farish, the last year or so I have noted new issues of (updated?)  Black 5, Standard 5. Ivatt "Mickey Mouse" and 4F.  I have had a new Std 5 but already have what I need of the others.  For myself I am not likely to add any new release of previous locos to my "stud".  Indeed I am thinning out, especially of duplicated Rule 1 items.  I could be tempted by, say, a new Crab and perhaps under Rule 1 a Compound is they ever made them.  My own interests are currently dominated on Northern Scotland.

I suspect, as others have suggested, steam is starting to become of less interest, and perhaps governed by what is preserved. Whereas c 20 years ago there was a ready market for the range of whitemetal kits, to run on the then simpler Farish chassis.  I built a number over the decades as well as hacking kits and complete locos to give visually reasonable models of what I wanted - some examples in the NGS journal c 2 years ago.  These days we are looking at 3D prints .  Rudi Newman, of Newman Miniatures has produced a wide range of these.  Eg,  Clan, Glen, K1, K2 and K4.  I have "built " a K2.  But I had to source a whole Farish N Class at significant expense.  Some fettling required.  And removing the chassis of modern locos can be tricky = no longer a single 8BA screw and easy unhooking.  And we have to think about weight/traction.  Whitemetal bodies at least had the benefit of being heavy enough for the loco to pull a decent load!  Followers of the Facebook Group page will have seen a photo of my resultant K2. 

Yes it is inevitable that the hobby will change.  I have been into it since I was 14, moving to N in my early 20s.  And I am now 71.  But one of my 2 small layouts can operate from early BR via green diesel to mid term blue diesel.  The other is very definitely post Privatisation.  Though the challenge there is keeping up with ownership and livery changes.  If we are modelling the current scene we can easily find a recent purchase is out if date.

[Chris in Prague]

Dapol are still very much flying the flag for N Gauge steam with both the GWR Mogul and Bulleid Light Pacifics both underway and in tooling. There are a few other kettles in development that I cannot talk about yet, as well as planned upgrades to some of our older models.

That's good to know. We've already had the upgraded M7s and the upgraded Ivatt 2-6-2Ts are coming.

[emjaybee]

Bullied introduced the higher sided tender, as I model mid 1930s Bullied's influence is absent.)

I never realised Bulleid was bullied. Poor chap

Farish just seem to be re-issuing steam with sound which interests me not one whit. Dapol have yet to give us the light pacifics and the Mogul so they're an unknown as regards new items.
Sonic are doing the more simple steam but may build up to something larger. RevolutioN appear to keep well away from complicated stuff so 'boxes on wheels' seems the norm (and my 128s are just awesome), and Rapido seem happy to knock out steam era wagons but no locos to run with them.

As those of us who do prefer steam age and, eventually, pass on, the market potential will shift even more away from steam.

I think Chris is right, although the second hand market will blossom for a while as we shuffle off this mortal coil

Hmmm, interesting...

...I can wait a while.

Do you have a list? Asking for a friend.

[Bigmac]

any updates on the large prairie ?  I thought it would be here by now.

[joe cassidy]

Don't write off Farish - remember the SECR C class loco ?

It doesn't fit in with the rest of my rolling stock but I bought one, and I'm looking forward to the SECR wagons that I pre-ordered from somewhere.

People said there would never be an RTR Blue Pullman - Farish did it.

People said they would would never see the LMS twins in N gauge - Farish did it.

I predict that within 12 months Farish will do the 1500v dc Woodhead electric locos, and we will snap them.

As for steam, I reckon they will do an unrebuilt parallel boiler Royal Scot.

[PaulCheffus]

I predict that within 12 months Farish will do the 1500v dc Woodhead electric locos, and we will snap them.

Hi

It would be nice but I don't think it will happen unfortunately.

Cheers

Paul

[tunneroner61]

any updates on the large prairie ?  I thought it would be here by now.

The large prairie is a Sonic project so not really relevant to a thread on Farish steam locos.

[PLD]

any updates on the large prairie ?  I thought it would be here by now.

The large prairie is a Sonic project so not really relevant to a thread on Farish steam locos.

Nor is the previous dozen posts of speculation on new tooling relevant to the OP, which was specifically about re-runs of existing locos... 

[Roy L S]

Just from the evidence available, Farish have re-released some of their steam locos, but being commercially "savvy" have recognised the need to upgrade even more recent models as part of this process to incorporate DCC sound. This costs money and takes time.

In addition there has been re-release of the Bachmann tooled tender-driven "Black five" without upgrade due no doubt to the loco's popularity and class-size. What is notable is the comparative price differential between it and the recent upgraded "Standard Five" which is only slightly more expensive. then there is the Fairburn Tank being delivered without upgrade towards the end of the year, and the tender-driven J39 sometime after that.

I feel quite sure further "upgrades" will be in the pipeline, and I would predict that logically the WD 2-8-0 and Duchess will feature in that process, as will most if not all of the other coreless-motored loco-drive tender locos with the exception (possibly) of the poor-selling streamlined Merchant Navy, but it will take time..

In terms of Market, it is very clear that steam remains popular, especially in what is still the most modelled the 1957-68 transition period, and this knocks on to preservation steam.

However (big "however") time is marching on, and quite simply there are more eras evolving, more choices to cover and so it is inevitable that steam in a relative sense will be a smaller part of that over all volume of available models that a manufacturer has to attempt to cover off.

Manufacturers will choose steam models they can get the best returns on, and those will be the ones with most technology/features thus ruling out some of the earlier BachFarish steam locos. Personally (and I have said this to Bachmann) I think it was a big mistake to sell further models of the Black Five from existing tooling. If one model justified the loco-drive upgrade and sound-treatment it was this one, and had they done that it would have flown off the shelves, but as it is I am not so sure, as it is competing even in their range with what is the BR equivalent "Standard 5" fully upgraded for very little extra money.

The real test for me is arrival of the next Farish "new tool" steam loco, this seems a bit overdue given that the last was plus 7 years ago, but as this is about re-releases I'll leave that for another discussion.

So, in conclusion I would say, do not write Bachmann steam off in any way, but don't expect a glut, expect a small regular flow (say one/two a year) of upgraded "new" type models from those where this is possible rather than a re-run of all earlier models released.

Roy

[Dorsetmike]

Looking at the new Journal, there's not a single steamer in the trade news and only 2 articles with steam content.

[Jollybob]

Hi guys.

I have been having a few thoughts.

Do you think manufacturers announce new locomotives just to stop other manufacturers from producing them and thus taking away potential sales and then just sideline them?

Should we have more poles, with specific categories to see what we would love to see on our model layouts? Just to give the manufacturers, if they are paying attention, a hint and nudge into what we want them to look into.

I did have a third thought but I've forgotten it now. Flippin ADHD!
I'll get back to you on the third one.

Rob.

[ntpntpntp]

Do you think manufacturers announce new locomotives just to stop other manufacturers from producing them and thus taking away potential sales and then just sideline them?

That's a suspicion that's been around for ever, and there probably is some truth in it - we've certainly seen that kind of announcement from time to time.

Should we have more poles, with specific categories to see what we would love to see on our model layouts? Just to give the manufacturers, if they are paying attention, a hint and nudge into what we want them to look into.

Honestly I think polls on forums such as this have no clout at all.  Maybe established organisations such as The N Gauge Society have some influence, but more likely if the manufacturers approach the society with a request for a poll of the membership?  You do occasionally see "which of these proposals would interest you?" polls on the web sites of some of the manufacturers, and such expressions of interest can influence production (or not).

[PLD]

Do you think manufacturers announce new locomotives just to stop other manufacturers from producing them and thus taking away potential sales and then just sideline them?

Conspiracy theories abound, but I don't think any manufacturer has ever announced a product having already decided they had no intention ever to make it... Some may be vague ideas thrown out to test the waters, then quietly dropped if there is little/no uptake (e.g. the Hattons Garratt, several DJM projects); in this case others benefit in that the market research is done for them and shows there isn't the demand. Others are clearly longer term projects that won't be delivered overnight but do appear eventually (most of the Revolution range).

As regard "announcements" they're damned if they do and damned if they don't... Announce too far in advance and they get criticised for the lead times... Leave it to last minute, we get cries of "we haven't had time to save up"... If they do hide it for too long, AN Other manufacturer could be too far into development and too heavily invested to back out, so w get two versions of a Class XYZ when had they know each other's plans one manufacturer could have switched to a Class XYA.

Should we have more poles, with specific categories

My favourite category of pole is "telegraph"... 

[class8mikado]

Steam was withdrawn the year i was born, my only experience of steam is on preserved railways and steam charters, steam models are inherently unrealistic as they dont realistically steam  at 00 gauge never mind N, But steam is what i would want to model as steam locos with big wheels and rods are so much more interesting than something that is in effect a motorised carriage...