My dilemma over steam - Dapol or Farish ?

[Milton Rail]

Hi there, welcome to the forum, lots of sage advice to be found on here as I have found (I only joined a couple of months ago).

Most of my loco's are Farish, I have one of the Dapol M7's and on my last layout had an incline that everything else could pull a couple of coaches up, but the Dapol could barely pull itself up (I didn't get around to trying to weigh it down before I had to collapse the layout to move house).  Most recent brand new purchase was a Farish J39 and it runs like a dream on my test track (on DC, bit jittery on DCC).  I bought a Farish Class 47 earlier last year and it is the same, beautiful slow speeds on DC but jittery (and now dead) on DCC (think the chip might have got fried with all the testing... and not researched how to test it)

Hope you enjoy the forum as much as I have

Cheers,
Andrew

[daveg]

I've had several disappointments with both Dapol and Farish but I think Dapol are slightly ahead on running problems/DOAs.

Eagerly awaiting the Farish Castle and the Osborne Schools special. Hope they are both worth the wait.

I've just given my 2 Farish Ns (372-931 and 372-930) a decent first run and they are both Excellent! 

Dave G

[PLD]

My dilemma is with the locos. Dapol or Farish? I know it's the unanswerable question

It's actually an easy question - it depends what locos you want... With the one exception of the B1 no type has been produced by both manufacturers so if you want an A3 or a Manor it's got to be Dapol if you want a Black 5 or an A1 it's got to be Farish...

What I will say, is while there are some cases of locos that are faulty out of the box ( In my experience, about the same proportion for each manufacturer), there are just as many 'faults' reported which are actually user inflicted either by rough handling or poor maintenance. In this category Dapol locos do seem a bit more vulnerable (and steam locos form both more vulnerable than diesels) A steam loco by it's design has a lot of moving parts which when scaled down by a factor of 148 are quite delicate.

If you look after them properly, loco form both manufacturers will generally give good service.

[JRS747]

Firstly thank you one and all for your well reasoned and most helpful comments; you all sound like very nice people.
I won't be able to start work on my layout for another five or six weeks so no rush apart from the discount on the Dapol A3 ending in 3 weeks or earlier. I intend to avoid curved points and have minimum radius curves of 12" overall, 15" and 18" on the "main line" to avoid as many problems as possible.
As PLD says it depends what locos I want.
I'm sticking to my steam only policy for now. I don't particularly like black and I like BR green even less; so this seemed to leave me only 2 Farish locos until I saw the specials on the Bachmann Collectors Club. I have ordered one of each: a CR Fairburn tank and a  SDJR 4F. Beautiful models judging by the photos.
Now I want the SDJR Jinty.
I've decided not to go for the Dapol A3 for now, the technology seems to be dated and the motion noisy compared with the latest Farish offerings. The A3 wasn't on my list, the A2 "A H Peppercorn" is still on even though it's twice the price of the A3.
I'll be looking out for an LMS Duchess (Cumbrian set) and the Longmoor 2-8-0 as well as the Jinty and hoping the new Castle is as good as promised. A GWR pannier is on the list as well.

Thank you all again, John R.S.

[Newportnobby]

I'll be looking out for an LMS Duchess (Cumbrian set) and the Longmoor 2-8-0 as well as the Jinty and hoping the new Castle is as good as promised. A GWR pannier is on the list as well.

Thank you all again, John R.S.

The new Jinty is a cracker and the Cumbrian Mountain Express pack is well worth the money.
I'd say beware the Longmoor 2-8-0 as, although there were few complaints about the black WD Austerities, there seem to have been many about what is the same loco but in a different livery
The Farish 64xx pannier can't be far off now and I anticipate this landing before the Castle.
It's well worth checking out the reviews of locos on this forum before parting with your money.

[JRS747]

I went for the Dapol A3 Grand Parade LNER green. Beautiful model but faulty on arrival: no electrical pick up from the main wheels only the tender wheels   Also got the Osborn's special Hinderton Hall (Dapol) which runs well but they sent the wrong one  
My order from Bachmanns Collectors Club has gone missing but Fedex say it's been delivered !! 
Not a good start to my modelling.

John

[Newportnobby]

Oh Heck - as you say, not a good start

[Les1952]

My experience is that if you have a problem with a new Dapol loco a phone call or email to DCC Supplies will get you a post-paid label to send it away for repair.  They usually take a couple of weeks and email you with the progress.

Farish I've found a lot more hit-and-miss with repairs.

Don't let your first experiences put you off either make.  My steamers see a lot of mileage (enough to wear wheels out on both makes) and reliability is generally high.

Les

[N-Gauge-US]

I went for the Dapol A3 Grand Parade LNER green. Beautiful model but faulty on arrival: no electrical pick up from the main wheels only the tender wheels   Also got the Osborn's special Hinderton Hall (Dapol) which runs well but they sent the wrong one  
My order from Bachmanns Collectors Club has gone missing but Fedex say it's been delivered !! 
Not a good start to my modelling.

John

Yikes! Turns out your problems weren't with Dapol or Farish, but with Osborns and FedEx! ;P

In all seriousness, welcome to the forum. I have both the collectors club locos you mentioned and love them both dearly. I also love some of my Dapol engines. Here are my thoughts on the Dapol v Farish dilemma, and they are just that, my thoughts. It seems to me that Dapol have a less reliable QC department, so you more frequently get a locomotive that doesn't run or is poorly assembled than with Farish but this is easily resolved by sending it back for a replacement (unless, like me, you live in the US and so don't get refunded the return postage...). Farish locomotives tend to have less frequent problems out of the box, but they still occur. Beyond that initial point, the rate of breakage/deterioration seems comparable and seems to depend more on the individual model, as noted, than the company.

My advice would be to research any locomotive you are thinking about buying on here before you purchase it and see what the reviews are. I learned that the hard way!

On another note, glad to have another modeler on here interested in exclusively steam and especially not interested in yucky BR. (Pregrouping and grouping companies are just so much more delightful IMO). Always nice to have people who know what really looks good on a layout 

All the best and welcome again!

Philip

[JimF]

Careful Philip, you don't want to stir up the old steam/non steam is better 'discussions' 

And, you are not fully 'saved', as you show a small interest in the GWR, though there may be medical help for that 

Jim

[N-Gauge-US]

Careful Philip, you don't want to stir up the old steam/non steam is better 'discussions' 

And, you are not fully 'saved', as you show a small interest in the GWR, though there may be medical help for that 

Jim

I seek no quarrel! And I certainly am a strong believer in rule one and everyone modeling what they like. I also never give the BR people a hard time and they get all the models!

[MikeDunn]

Just remember - the BR guys can be "saved" by the post-Grouping steam engines 

[JRS747]

Hi everyone. I thought it time to answer the question I posted. So based on my very limited experience to date and steam only, my conclusions are.
Graham Farish models are excellent, no problems at all with any of them including an older LMS 4F and SDJR 4-4-0 and a new tender driven A2.
Dapol on the other hand have proved to be less reliable. Two out of three tender locos arrived with major faults requiring return, the third has been electrically tested but has not been on the track so far.
Graham Farish models are quiet and smooth but all the Dapol engines, tank and tender, generate a lot of mechanical noise and are slower; seemingly lower geared than the Farish models. It seems to me that Dapol are well behind Graham Farish with their drive systems. I hope that Dapol's new generation of locos beginning with the Bulleids is at least up to the quality control and running quality of the Farish offerings.
Dapol's range in my era of interest (steam pre-nationalisation) is far more extensive but sadly based on my experience, is now much less tempting than at first. How can GF have not a single GWR loco of any era in their range? Yes I know there are a couple on their way but the pace of introduction in the N world makes me wonder if I will live long enough to see them or the Dapol Bulleids.
So far my favourite locos are my 2 Maunsell N class; one SR and one SECR, just waiting for the Dapol SR lined green 6 coach set for them. 

John R.S.

[silly moo]

Thank you for your reply and your account of your experiences with steam locos from our two main suppliers. I too wonder if I will still be around to take delivery of a Dapol Bulleid 

Since my first post in this topic my Farish class N came to a sudden halt on our club layout due the running gear becoming completely jammed up. As I'm thousands of miles from the UK I had to fix it myself, very carefully, and touch wood, it seems to be ok.

I bought another Dapol Terrier which although it is a superb runner has a break in the chassis that has been glued together in the factory, a tank side crest that isn't straight and gaps in the bodywork which needed filling in with strips of paper to improve its appearance. Strictly speaking this should have gone back too.

I really hope that Dapol's new motor for the Bulleid locos will be worth the wait. I think that on the whole their locos are improving but buying steam locos from either manufacturer is still a bit of a lottery.

[port perran]

Up until a week ago I had little trouble from either Dapol and GF steam locos (and I have a fair few).
My only real feeling is that Dapol seem a bit more flimsy and delicate.
However, last week I had a major problem with my Dapol Ivatt 2-6-2T when the running gear completely fell apart on both sides.