Old Graham Farish coaches from the "Big Four" era - how many types?

[E Pinniger]

Following from the thread I posted a while ago regarding older Graham Farish steam locos, I'd be interested to know more about the coaches Farish produced around the same time. Being relatively new to N gauge, I don't have much in-depth knowledge about older products, and unlike the likes of Hornby and Tri-ang in OO there isn't much in the way of online or book information on the subject.

I know the 4-wheeled coaches all use the same basic mould and don't represent any particular prototype (and are closer to 6-wheelers in wheelbase). I always assumed Farish did the same with their pre-BR bogie coaches - I have a few of their GWR main line coaches which are nicely painted + lined but as far as I know not very accurate. However, I was recently given a box of old N gauge stock, mostly Minitrix and Farish from the 70s/80s, in it were a rake of Southern Railway green corridor coaches which on comparison to photos appear to be passably accurate models of Maunsell 57' types, and not just green-painted models from same moulds as the GWR ones, as I assumed at first.

Other than four-wheelers BR Mk.1s, the early Farish coach types I know of are:
SR main line (Maunsell)
SR suburban
GWR main line (lined)
GWR suburban
LMS
LNER (teak finish; I've heard these are "generic" and not accurate, unlike the newer Farish Gresley coaches)

How many actual moulds were there, and how many are accurate (in the sense of at least resembling a coach type used by the railway whose livery they bear, rather than being generic or re-liveried from another company's design)?

[Karhedron]

Hello. You are quite right with your assumption. Farish produced generic suburban and corridor coaches which it then painted in liveries of the big four. Some people take the effort to upgrade the Farish coaches into something more representative of a particular coach but with the increasing range of modern accurate coaches, I am not sure it is worth the effort. There was a standard a brake-end version of each giving a total of 4 bodyshells.

The following are the accurate pre-nationalisation coaches that have been produced.

LNER Gresley coaches: Minitrix
LNER Gresley coaches: Dapol
LMS Stanier coaches: Farish
GWR Collett coaches: Dapol
GWR B-set coaches: Dapol
GWR Autocoach: Dapol
SR Maunsell coaches: Dapol (in development but not yet available).
SR Bulleid coaches: Farish (in development but not yet available).

[BernardTPM]

There were four basic ranges of pre-Mk.1 coaches produced by Farish, though both the bogie chassis and some of the bodies were re-tooled at some point during the 1970s (presumably because the tools wore).

1. Four wheelers - two types, 5 compartment and three compartment brake. (chassis later retooled for the 'Shredded Wheat' models with simplified coupling, modified again for 'The Gaffer' train set). Early ones were supplied unpainted in light brown ('teak'), dark brown, maroon and green. Later versions were painted in many colours.

2. 'Suburban' (non-corridor) - two types, 9 compartment and 6 compartment brake. Again very early ones unpainted in brown, maroon and green, but soon changed to painted finish, at first in 'simple' 1930s style livery for LMS, GWR & SR. Also painted in LNER style 'teak'. The LMS, GWR & SR liveries were later back-dated to panelled style, appropriate for the 1920s. BR crimson added in the 1980s, plus Caledonian. This was the first range to use the bogie chassis with LMS style bogies. Early chassis was one-piece with a chunky channel section, later retooled with plain solebar and separate plugged-on trussing. The body tooling was improved in the late 1970s with bolection mouldings round the windows - early ones has a slightly rounded edge. Though not scale models, the bodies resemble LMS Period II non-corridor stock, apart from the roof profile.

3. 'Main Line' (corridor) - two types, eight compartment and six compartment brake. I don't think these were ever supplied unpainted, but otherwise they went through the same basic variations as the 'suburban' (i.e early and late underframes, early and late bodies (without then with bolections), two painting variations - but no Caledonian). Again, though not dead scale, they do resemble the 1929 Maunsell Restriction 1 stock (so correctly no duckets), apart from the roof.

4. Pullman - two types, diner (pre-war style) and parlour brake. Only one paint style*, no body retool but can have early or late underframes. The Diner is based on the 1923 'K' type, while the brake is based on an earlier converted First Class 12-wheeler (though on the standard Farish underframe, of course).

Note the underframe was altered at a later date to the body, so the revised body tooling 'Suburban' & 'Main Line' type can be found on both types of underframe.
* There was a run of the Pullmans in CIWL Wagons-Lits blue.

[E Pinniger]

Thanks for the information! I'd forgotten about the Pullmans (not having any myself). As mentioned, the GWR and LMS corridor coaches I have seem to use the same moulds whilst the SR ones use a different one which at least approximately matches Maunsell 1929 types in window/door layout.
I've ended up with a fairly large collection of these old Farish coaches, a few from eBay lots but most in a lot of N gauge stock I was given; it sounds like it would be better for me to sell most of them and use the money to buy some newer items, especially as the LMS ones don't suit the era or location of my layout (early 1960s West Country)

[BernardTPM]

As mentioned, the GWR and LMS corridor coaches I have seem to use the same moulds whilst the SR ones use a different one which at least approximately matches Maunsell 1929 types in window/door layout.

Sorry, but they used the same bodies for all the companies, including the Southern, though as there were two generations of the bodies it could be that those you have in Southern livery are either the earlier or later versions compared to the others. I remembered one other difference with early and late corridor coaches - the interiors in the later ones are one-piece while the earlier ones have a separate moulding for the corridor wall that slot into the seat/floor section.

[EtchedPixels]

passably accurate models of Maunsell 57' types, and not just green-painted models from same moulds as the GWR ones, as I assumed at first.

The "mainline " generic coaches are a passable representation of Maunsell coaches except that they have LMS bogies (very good LMS bogies at that) and an LNWR roof.

The first accurate ones were the Minitrix Gresley coaches which are extremely good, especially for their time. That was pretty much it until the Dapol B set kicked off the more recent round of grouping era stock.