Over the weekend I have picked up a second hand Graham Farish Suburban 57 Coach.

While it runs quite smoothly there does seem to be a small problem with the bogie's snagging on the chassis elements which hang beneath the coach.  It is not a frequent problem but one I'd like to fix.

Has anyone come across this in the past and found a fix?

Is yours  this the Chinese made one? Had a look at my two and the bogies
do not snag on the chassis although the clearances are quite small.
As yours is S/H check that the bogies were the original types.
Hope this helps.

How would I identify it as a chinese made one?

If it came in the original box the end label would be white if
Chinese made and yellow if made in UK. Also in very small lettering
on the underside in the centre of the chassis it would say either
"Bachmann or Grafar made in China " or  "Grafar Ltd Britain".
Hope this helps.

There are two completely different types of "suburban coach" done by Farish or Bachmann

The early one is a generic coach with a low arc roof and usually with big chunky shiny metal wheels. It's painted with separate glazing that is a bit recessed.

The modern 'suburban' is a Mark 1 57ft suburban printed onto a plastic shell so flush glazed and with darkened wheels and fine flanges. If you hold it up to the sun then due to the slightly naff printing you can usually see light shining through all the door edges.

Alan

Thanks for info EP, I have the brake coach with the light leaks
and the non brake with the plastic glazing insert. Hope this is of assistance Lionwing.

Quote from: lionwing on July 29, 2013, 04:30:09 PM
While it runs quite smoothly there does seem to be a small problem with the bogie's snagging on the chassis elements which hang beneath the coach.  It is not a frequent problem but one I'd like to fix.

Has anyone come across this in the past and found a fix?

There are actually quite a few spots that can catch and foul between the  bogies and the underframes, especially when riding over pointwork and at gradient changes.  Hold the coach upside down and try rotating the bogies back and forth, rocking the bogies up and down a bit as you do so, and you should be able to find the sticky bits.

Most of the problems occur with the back of the bogie hitting the corners of the under frames.  These frames are just press fits, and can be prised off with a screwdriver.  Some still have moulding flash along their top surface, and don't fit properly under the coach.  This can be cleaned up with a sharp knife.  The bogies may still catch on the corners of the mounting flanges of these frames, and if so I cut these corners off at 45-60 degrees as well. 

Sometimes just swapping the bogies can also solve running problems - the manufacturing tolerances were sloppy enough that different combinations of parts give different results.

The front corners of of the bogies can also jam when they hit the coach sideframes just behind the buffers.  I solved this one by removing the bogies then trimming their corners slightly to give a downward slope.  Just a tiny sloping cut to remove the pointy tip of the top corner is all that is needed.

Thank you for all the input.

It looks like I have a British made coach with the recessed glass.

Now...having never removed a coach bogie before I assume I first need to remove the body (via the screw in the centre on the underside) and then the bogie's are some how secured internally within the coach body?

Quote from: lionwing on July 30, 2013, 08:26:28 AM
Now...having never removed a coach bogie before I assume I first need to remove the body (via the screw in the centre on the underside) and then the bogie's are some how secured internally within the coach body?

The bogie pin is a press-fit plastic part with a flat head, not a screw (unless somebody has made changes to the model before you got it).  The way I remove the bogie is to gently pry it loose using a 6" steel rule inserted between the bogie and the chassis (using a screwdriver under the pin itself can damage the pin) - just be ready to catch the pin if it goes flying!

I see that the suburban's are going to be released in blue. Anybody know if they have NEM coupling sockets ?

Not unless they've changed the design from the last batches. Buit if anyone knows it will be Bachmann so drop them an email and ask!

Woo blue suburbans! I love blue suburbans 

They can now go with my 5 vintage farish blue suburbans!

Quote from: EtchedPixels on July 29, 2013, 05:41:54 PM
The modern 'suburban' is a Mark 1 57ft suburban printed onto a plastic shell so flush glazed and with darkened wheels and fine flanges. If you hold it up to the sun then due to the slightly naff printing you can usually see light shining through all the door edges.

Alan

As illustrated here:-
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=4734.0
Cheers,
Neil