I am a bit confused !
Following the various posts about the ModelsDirect Sale in Bargain Basement and elsewhere I was quite interested in the offer of 4MT 372-651 (it fits my proposed era4+5 ideas)
I wanted more info than modelsdirect had on the site wrt the type of motor (coreless, tender drive etc&etc) and  couplings/ pockets(_NEM_ or Rapdo supplied)
I googled for reviews and found nothing but did find some old (2011) negative reports on running qualities.

So, in the hope of further info I went to Bachmann > Graham Farish > Products > Graham Farish N Scale Steam Locomotives
http://www.bachmann.co.uk/prod1.php?prod_selected=farish&prod=2
and it is not listed !!

Am I going blind or is it discontinued and thus on clearance sale ?

I had hoped to discover if it is compatible with the Dapol EasyShunt option

The 4MT is tender drive, has nem coupling pockets supplied with rapido coupling heads but swapable for any other nem type e.g. Dapol Easy Shunt.

A few reports of issues, mostly related to traction tyres, but nothing fundamentally wrong...

As for being "discontinued", it is probable that stocks of that identity have sold out but there are others in the pipeline which will have a different reference number...

From what I know and what I believe, here are the incarnations:-

372-650 early crest running number 76053
372-651 late crest running number 76069
372-653 early crest running number 76079
372-654 late crest running number 76063

Dunno what happened to 372-652
Only the last 2 are available on the Farish website, but Model Rails Direct were selling the 372-650 for 49.95 last week

Quote from: RChook on April 10, 2013, 12:34:28 AM
Am I going blind or is it discontinued and thus on clearance sale ?

I had hoped to discover if it is compatible with the Dapol EasyShunt option

This run is mostly sold now, but the model design is a current one.

Not a coreless motor (these are only on the very most recent models), but still a very nice running tender drive unit containing a reasonably decent can motor. DCC 6 pin NEM socket also in there.

The only real grumbles I've heard on these are cosmetic: loco-tender gap is quite large. I made my own replacement drawbar to shorten this on mine so no big issue.

Running wise, the one I have runs probably better than any of my other Farish tender drive locos, particularly slow speed running. Only the coreless ones better it, but not by much.

Nobby - there has been 76020 with the smaller tender also - this was -652....the most popular and seemed to sell out much quicker than the others.

Cheers,
Alan

Quote from: Dr Al on April 10, 2013, 05:18:06 PM

Nobby - there has been 76020 with the smaller tender also - this was -652....the most popular and seemed to sell out much quicker than the others.

Cheers,
Alan

Thanks Alan - I had quite lost track of that one. Was it early or late crest, d'you know, as I could quite like one of those.
The 2 I have are super quiet, but the motion on both can tend to stick at times if not repeatedly lubricated. Constant running seems to solve that problem too, as opposed to stop/start.

Thanks everyone for all the info, very interesting. 

I've just thought of another question, if I may  >
What minimum radius do you find it (them) to negotiate happily ?
thanks.


DrAl >

Quoteloco-tender gap is quite large. I made my own replacement drawbar to shorten this on mine so no big issue.

Yes I also thort it looked rather large, but being not an expert on these things I thort it was me knowing nowt ! I may have to get back to you on needed mods !

Quote from: RChook on April 11, 2013, 12:41:34 AM
I've just thought of another question, if I may  >
What minimum radius do you find it (them) to negotiate happily ?
thanks.

I find both of mine will happily go round 9" radius

Quote from: newportnobby on April 10, 2013, 07:32:59 PM

Quote from: Dr Al on April 10, 2013, 05:18:06 PM

Nobby - there has been 76020 with the smaller tender also - this was -652....the most popular and seemed to sell out much quicker than the others.

Cheers,
Alan

Thanks Alan - I had quite lost track of that one. Was it early or late crest, d'you know, as I could quite like one of those.
The 2 I have are super quiet, but the motion on both can tend to stick at times if not repeatedly lubricated. Constant running seems to solve that problem too, as opposed to stop/start.

Just to answer my own question, 372-652 carries an early crest and small tender. Just checked Fleabay and cheapest is BIN of £101.60 I don't want it that much

Quote from: newportnobby on April 11, 2013, 09:25:47 AM
Just to answer my own question, 372-652 carries an early crest and small tender. Just checked Fleabay and cheapest is BIN of £101.60 I don't want it that much

Yes, this is the most popular style of tender as the high sided ones were most often used only on Southern region metals. The smaller tender locos were more widespread.

I think another batch of these is promised in Farish 2013-14 range.

Cheers,
Alan