G'day all, This is a general type enquiry to help my longer type planning.  Back in the 1980's my parents made some trips to the UK for Dad to catch up with family etc. One trip Dad bought me a Graham Farish GWR Pannier tank loco. As most forum members would know this was not a successful model. I spent a lot of time refitting connecting rods etc. I have some GWR rolling stock collected and at some stage would like to make up a small GWR branch layout, using you know what modules. What are the options available at the moment, from limited web surfing BachFar have a new version and Dapol have/did have one.
Thanks in advance, Andrew G.

Farish and Dapol both sell them in a range of liveries, I think these are the
only rtr ones available though there may be kits.

Any reports on running reliability etc on these new models, I don't think I've seen any criticism of either model.
Cheers Andrew G.

I have the one you had in my spares box, with a can motor and slotted con-rods that dropped off every time the wheels turned!
Today's beasts are much better things; I have two or three that run with no problems.

There are 2 different versions of pannier tanks available at the moment and Bachmann (Farish) have said that hey are going to do a 3rd version.

57xx (also in the 87xx range) - Available from Dapol and Farish
The Dapol version was release recently where as the Farish version is Poole era so 20+ years old.
The Dapol one is leap years ahead of the Farish one in terms of detail. In terms of running the Dapol one can be hit or miss. I have a good one, but there are comments about bad ones out there that have needed various works to make them right. This one is DCC ready. The Farish one is mechanically very similar to all of the old Poole era models. It can suffer from the short wheel base. I have had some that are good runners, but I have also had a couple that are real pigs. This model is not DCC ready.

94xx - Farish

A very old model. Mechanically it is much the same as the Farish 57xx. The body is poor, and dimensionally is incorrect.

64xx - Not yet released, but coming from Farish (Bachmann). Based on the OO version that came out in the last 12 months - Can't remember if the release date has been given yet but it is likely to turn up in the next 12 - 24 months.

AFAIK the Bachmann/Farish one hasn't be available for quite a while, the only current one is the Dapol one and it is a lovely model, I've got half a dozen of them and all fitted with sound.     You can get a difficult one but a little fettling for the wheel bush pickups will sort it out, the important thing is not to over oil.

I bought one of the old GF models back in 1983.
Up until 2 years ago I used it as my everyday layout testing loco.
2 years ago it just died which I think was quite good for an oldie. Basically everything inside it was just warn out

Hi

I have a Dapol Great Western lettering model from (I think) the 3rd release. I am very pleased with it, have done nothing to it save initial oil and its a good slow runner even over points and as good at haulage as any small loco i have bought recently. As already said on this thread its a lovely model. Very good detailing.

Cheers

Mac 

Hi,
Sadly...I have only one of it ..it's a monstruos little loco..very fast, a big hauler, dont'stop on points....I' m going to order many others...in the meanwhile I'm waiting  for a Grafar Jinty 3 axles last batch... I doubt maybe the same.

Cheers
Marco

Thank you Belstone for your thread

http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=29147.0

in relation to this this thread,
Cheers, Andrew G.

I've got three of the initial batch of Dapol panniers. Lovely runners and great at slow speeds and running over points.
They replaced 2 earlier Farish panniers which I had from new and I was never happy with.
I've also got an ancient Farish 94xx which just keeps going.