British N gauge Mechanical Quality

[David Bale]

It is annoying if you receive an untypical noisy loco, but should be the advantage of sites like this. It sounds like any replacement class 121 I will receive may not be much quieter due to an older design.

[Chris Morris]

It is annoying if you receive an untypical noisy loco, but should be the advantage of sites like this. It sounds like any replacement class 121 I will receive may not be much quieter due to an older design.

Agreed. Mine is quite noisy and goes very fast but it also runs well at low speeds so not a problem. It is a rather nice model and mine has seen plenty of service. The high top speed meant it was always the item sent out to test my layouts when they had been set up at an exhibition. I expect another batch would be geared differently to give it a lower top speed but better controllability at low speed.

[Webbo]

This issue of UK mechanical reliability is a hoary chestnut and has been around for as long as I've been in the forum (6 years). I have mostly North American equipment, but I do like British outline as well. In my experience, Dapol and Farish produce beautifully detailed models but their robustness and reliability is not quite where it should be. Also, there is really no excuse  for tender drives and Cardan drives in our present age of miniaturisation. I'm a fan of Kato locomotives. Their split frame construction is old, but it is reliable and easy to work with. Kato goes for a level of detail in their diesels and steam engines (North American) which falls short of the leaders in the industry, but which is good enough in my opinion.

Webbo

[Bealman]

Totally agree. I bought a Kato Japanese diesel the day after I met railsquid in Tokyo, and while it's short on detail, it's the best-running locomotive I own.

[David Bale]

Perhaps things are improving? Me and my dad have avoided farish for 20 years and bought Kato mainly. But recently made dapol and Farish may be better mechanically better, like my class 33.

[Bealman]

I recently bought a tiny little 04 shunter by Farish, second hand here, and it's a lovely little loco.

[David Bale]

Excellent I am encouraged to buy more UK stuff!

[crewearpley40]

The hardest thing I'm finding, with the situation  it is you want to visit your preferred railway shop or see an engine at an exhibition, rely on or take for word of mouth .
What do you do now ? Take the word of the retailler?  A question I have always wondered

[David Bale]

I am pretty certain whether dapol or farish like it or not the distance buying online regulation covers them. Which means you can always send the model back and they are obliged to pay the postage. As the saying goes it was not quite what I thought!

[railsquid]

My main gripes with British N gauge ere the propensity of Farish items to develop split gears

In the process of going through my British stock to rebox for convenience, and lo-and-behold my Farish Class 25 (the DCC version, bought new in 2014), which was fine last time I tried it, set off with the distinct "clack clack clack" which indicates at least one of the gears has fallen victim to the gear weevils...  :'(

[David Bale]

Is that dapol or farish?

[crewearpley40]

Is that dapol or farish?

David. Farish 371087A mine was 2016 and only had split gear issue lprails fixed her

[railsquid]

Is that dapol or farish?

Farish (updated post to mention that).

[David Bale]

Is that dapol or farish?

Farish (updated post to mention that).

So the gear just splits in two? Do you think that has happened too soon? Or worn out?

[railsquid]

It's a known issue with Farish gears , hence my previous comment. It just seems to happen randomly, other manufacturers are not affected in the same way.

Here's an example:


Farish (Bachmann) split gear by Rail Squid, on Flickr

(head of the screwdriver is pointing at the split).

Loco still runs, but with a "clack clack clack" sound, and if kept running would quite likely lock up, which would damage the motor.

This is why I have a baggie of these:


Bachmann 16 tooth gears by Rail Squid, on Flickr

I suppose the upside is that I've acquire a few very nice second-hand locos over the years for a good price due to this issue, which is fairly straightforward to fix (I'll write it up if we don't have it somewhere already).