Jump to content

Train identification


mhf

Recommended Posts

Just started to get my brother's old set working. Dormant for decades, I think. The loco is driven from the tender, where the motor is housed, via a telescoping propshaft. The loco has a missing front bogie so not sure of the configuration, apart from ?-6-0. The centre pair have friction drives. The tender has 6 plain metal wheels (no drives). Track contact via spring plungers between the 2nd and 3rd pair of tender wheels. The train and tender is painted matt black and the rest of the set has goods carriages .There are no names or numbers on the loco. The tender has an old style BR logo on the sides (lion on bogie?). The underside of the loco and carriages is marked 'Graham Farish'. The track with the train is marked 'R607 Hornby made in Austria'. I assume the train and track came together but can't be certain. I need to replace the friction rubbers and source a front bogie but without knowing the make/model of the loco, I am stuck. Thanks for any pointers/advice.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello, and welcome to this friendly forum, mhf.  From your description, the loco is made by Graham Farish, and the track by Triang/Hornby, so wouldn't have come as a set.  A picture of the loco would help, but sounds like it could be a 'King' class or LMR Black 5 loco, but GF made a range of OO gauge locos in the '50s and '60s.  I have the King George V loco which, unfortunately, has fallen foul of Mazak rot, where the chassis fell apart in my hands! So any work needs to be carried out with care.  Unfortunately, I cannot find a support group for this marque.

Sorry I can't be of any more assistance

Rod

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 As already said Graham Farish was an old marque of train set made in about 1950. It was established in Bromley, Kent, and the firm was originally a domestic electrical appliance manufacturer.  The company name still exists but was solely associated with N gauge from the 1970s and was bought by Bachmann who still use the trade name for their N gauge range. It was never a large supplier and so far as I know there is no collector's association, and Bachmann will NOT deal with the former OO products .

 

You could look at http://traincollectors.co.uk/ where the more obscure makes are sometimes covered.

 

The more common models are the GW King, GW 94xx and GW 81xx tanks, LM Black 5, SR Q, SR Merchant Navy, and a NYC Hudson. Only the 94xx and 61xx remained in production up to the time they moved into N.

 

It started as a  two rail system, then went three rail before reverting to two rail again in 1961.

 

Mazak rot, cellulose acetate distortion and poor motor design spoiled what was otherwise a very advanced OO model railway system . Production of the tender locos ceased about 1953.

 

Spares are likely to be your biggest problem after all this time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello, and welcome to this friendly forum, mhf.  From your description, the loco is made by Graham Farish, and the track by Triang/Hornby, so wouldn't have come as a set.  A picture of the loco would help...

 

Many thanks for all your helpful replies. I knew it was old but not that old! Here's a couple of pics for confirmation

 

/media/tinymce_upload/8ef431e6b0e0dae3cc6d8c705ed6c276.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/890e67610b63570ec599f7f6557ca84c.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have quite a project there. According to "Ramsay's" it is the Graham Farish BR early crest unpainted numbers from 1949-1951 valued at GBP30-50.

 

The connecting rod has come away on the lhs and the front is missing the assembly with the four leading wheels.

 

Of interest is the plunger pickup on the underside of the tender.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can anyone tell me if the front bogie set of 4 wheels was fixed relative to the chassis or did it have a pivoting trunnion of some kind to allow for track following? I think I could make a replacement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The bogie was a four-wheel truck, with a flat plate "link", attached to the centre of the bogie frame (probably a rivet) through a hole. Another hole in the other end of the link would have a screw (Machine screw or Nut and Bolt) to fit to the chassis.

 

Interesting to see that the Cylinder Block is the same as that used for the Prairie Tank Loco.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
  • Create New...