Farish 0-6-0 GP tank - what was it in real life?!

[Ozymandias]

Can anyone tell me what sort of loco the Farish 0-6-0 "general purpose" tank loco - which they produced in Southern, LMS, LNER and BR liveries, from memory - was in real life?

I'm restoring one and I want to see what range of liveries it really carried, but don't know the correct name/class of the original to put into Google...

Many thanks for any pointers!

[Paddy]

Hi @Ozymandias

To my knowledge, the GP Tank is not a real prototype but takes inspiration from the type e.g. Jinty etc.  It dates back to the time when manufacturers released the same loco is various liveries e.g. the Hornby Dublo N7 (well, sort of N7).

So the world is your oyster!



Paddy

[Ozymandias]

Hi @Ozymandias

To my knowledge, the GP Tank is not a real prototype but takes inspiration from the type e.g. Jinty etc.  It dates back to the time when manufacturers released the same loco is various liveries e.g. the Hornby Dublo N7 (well, sort of N7).

So the world is your oyster!



Paddy

Thanks, Paddy - this might explain why I couldn't find a real one! ;-) That being the case I'm thinking I might go LBSC dark umber, just to be different...

[Paddy]

Hi @Ozymandias

That sounds perfect and would work really well I am sure.  No doubt when Farish designed the model they ensured it would look good in various different liveries.

Kind regards

Paddy

[thebrighton]

Indeed, a completely ficticious loco with a passing resemblance to a LMS Jinty. Langley did/do a small white metal kit to convert it into a Rhymney Railway tank.

[PLD]

In short, It's an LMS Jinty with a hint of Southern E2, stretched to fit the chassis they already had from the GWR 9400 Pannier... 

[zwilnik]

As they say, there's a prototype for everything. I did actually see a photo of an industrial steam loco that was almost a perfect fit for the GP tank when it was visiting the Tanfield Railway. Thing is I saw the photo in a search about a decade ago (and it looked like it was from around 2000 or so) and never found it since.

[Train Waiting]

 

As they say, there's a prototype for everything. I did actually see a photo of an industrial steam loco that was almost a perfect fit for the GP tank when it was visiting the Tanfield Railway. Thing is I saw the photo in a search about a decade ago (and it looked like it was from around 2000 or so) and never found it since.

I wonder if the engine you saw was Twizell, a Robert Stephenson 0-6-0T with inside cylinders.  I'm sure she's been at the Tanfield Railway.

Best wishes.

John

[zwilnik]

No

As they say, there's a prototype for everything. I did actually see a photo of an industrial steam loco that was almost a perfect fit for the GP tank when it was visiting the Tanfield Railway. Thing is I saw the photo in a search about a decade ago (and it looked like it was from around 2000 or so) and never found it since.

I wonder if the engine you saw was Twizell, a Robert Stephenson 0-6-0T with inside cylinders.  I'm sure she's been at the Tanfield Railway.

Best wishes.

John

No I saw Twizzel there when she'd just finished being restored. The pic I came across in a search was in their photo archive I think and was quite possibly an Andrew Barclay in a (very rough) light blue/green colour. There's a good chance it was an outside cylindered one but I also saw one that didn't have the pistons at the front.

[zwilnik]

aha, found it. Turns out the Tanfield pic I saw was an outside cylindered one (and had slightly sloping side tanks) but also had the massive overhang of the chassis over the wheelbase like the GP tank, so I mentally tagged it as a possible conversion.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tanfield-railway/2219640218/

It wouldn't be too unlikely that there's a inside cylinder variant of this loco.

[maridunian]

As people have said it was generic, but not unrealistic if Grafar had been brave and added a trailing pair of wheels.

There are many pre-grouping "coal tank" designs that were close. Since many of these were absorbed at grouping, (not least by the GWR and LMS) the liveries offered might not have been as outrageous as they first appear.

Mike

[Bob G]

IIRC the story was that they hacked it from the mould of the GER Holden Tank, so that might give inspiration.
However, the chassis were different, and so was the look of the tank...

[Roy L S]

There were two "General Purpose" Tanks, the first was indeed hacked from the Holden Tank tooling, the second came later after the "new" chassis with integral motor arrived, following the 94xx and using the same chassis.

Roy

[zwilnik]

There were two "General Purpose" Tanks, the first was indeed hacked from the Holden Tank tooling, the second came later after the "new" chassis with integral motor arrived, following the 94xx and using the same chassis.

Roy

Yup. Also we found the Shredded Wheat bodies are basically the same as the GP one so they can be a handy source of spares or used for trial runs of modification.

[Bealman]

I bought a GP tank (with the 94xx chassis) back in 1986 because it looked a bit like a Jinty. I've still got it, and it runs quite well.