Identifying new farish

[Intercity]

I'm sure this has been brought up and asked many times, however the bumbling idiot that I am seems to be unable to find it.

How do you identify the new tooling (china) farish models? Is there a specific number sequence to look for? Or is it a matter of just knowing.

I ask this as I saw the fine NSE mk2s posted in the latest locos thread, wouldn't mind picking some up myself and if there is a way to tell New from old it would assist with other potential bank emptying projects (west coast rake, charter stock etc)

I'm trying to stay away from the flat sided models as they seem dated by today's standards.

Thanks for any help

IC

[bluedepot]

I think in the case of nse mk2s just look for mk2a coaches in a box with more yellow on than the older style boxes and they'll be the new ones.

plus it probably has a blue riband logo on the label and definitely six digit product number like 3xx-xxx as opposed to the older 5 digit numbers of farish poole.

the actual product numbers will be on the bachmann website - I think they've only made a few different coaches, second open and brake second open I think they are.

if I was at home I could go and check the numbers as I have some but I'm at work now.

good luck


Tim

[Crepello]

The current Blue Riband Mark 2As are the first incarnation of this coach ever made by Farish. They only made Mark 2Ds before, from Poole and then China. If I were you I'd invest in a Farish catalogue.

[Yet_Another]

A word of caution: some old stock has new numbers.

To be safe, google the number you're interested in, and look at the pictures. You should be able to tell the smooth, printed sides of the old stock from the new, separately glazed new stock.

The Blue Riband nomenclature is useful, but really new stock doesn't have it, as everything is now to the new standard.

[ODRAILS]

A google search of "Farish Bachmann products" provides a full historical list...........

http://www.bachmann.co.uk/pdfs/farish_products_by_item_no_rev5.pdf

Cheers,
Ian

[Newportnobby]

An excellent reference site but, as Tony says in reply #3, some of the old stock carries the new numbers so maybe it's safe to assume all Farish 4 figure stock numbers denote Poole manufacture and then to ask the NGF membership regarding the 3xx-xxx ones.

[PLD]

An excellent reference site but, as Tony says in reply #3, some of the old stock carries the new numbers so maybe it's safe to assume all Farish 4 figure stock numbers denote Poole manufacture and then to ask the NGF membership regarding the 3xx-xxx ones.

Indeed...
The 4-digit numbers are pre-Bachmann take-over production. 3+3 digit numbers are post Bachmann take-over production, however that can include:

• post takeover production of original Poole-style models
• 'Improved Poole design' models e.g. revised chassis, finer wheels
• All New designs

Unfortunately there is no simple rule for identifying from the product code alone which of those three categories a model falls in to...
A classic example: two BR black 08s:
371-008 - Improved Poole design.
371-020 - New version.

[Steven B]

The current Blue Riband Mark 2As are the first incarnation of this coach ever made by Farish. They only made Mark 2Ds before, from Poole and then China. If I were you I'd invest in a Farish catalogue.

You can find old Farish catalogues here:
http://www.ness-st.co.uk/N-gauge-catalogues.html

The stickers on the end of the boxes are also a give-away to Poole era stock. If the label is Yellow, Red or Silver then it's a British made model. Chinese made models have a white label with a bar-code.

The older Mk1s have a common underframe that's very basic. Blue-Ribbon ones have much more detail that varies between models.

To date Bach-Far have only produced the MK2a in Blue/Grey and NSE colours (with a FO in maroon or Green due sometime). The Mk2f has yet to be produced. Any Mk2 in Intercity, Regional Railways, Virgin or FGW colours are Poole era models. Bachmann did a run of blue/grey Mk2d using the Poole era tooling. These are easy to distinguish from the blue-ribbon standard Mk2a as the windows are a single pane of glass, rather than having the Mk1 style of the MK2a.

There are no blue-ribbon standard Mk3 or Mk4s. Chinese built ones can be identified by improved detail on the livery and blackened wheels.

If pre-BR is more your thing then things are a little simpler. Anything with silver wheels will be the generic "suburban" or "Mainline" coaches - the same body shells were used for GWR, LNER, SR and LMS liveries. Stanier, Bullied,Hawksorth or Thompson coaches will be Blue-Ribbon quality.


Don't get too hung up about only buying the latest models. The later Poole-era models such as the Std4MT and class 31 were very good models for example, particularly when improved in the early Bach-Far era.

Steven B.

[GScaleBruce]

I find the N Gauge Resource site very useful...