Class 20 and 31 Reviews

The following short reviews are of Graham Farish models that were re-released by Bachmann in 2004 following their purchase of the Farish company, brand and product range several years earlier. They make interesting comparisons with the more modern, all new and advanced products that both Bachmann and Dapol are now producing such as the class 66s and Peaks.

Graham Farish by Bachmann – Class 20 locomotive
(Ref 371-027)

The model represents class 20 number 20 227 and is basically the old Farish cast metal body on the old Farish style chassis finished in Bachmann style. Unfortunately, the body includes the deficiencies of the original tooling including a lack of front cab windows and insufficient curvature from the roof to body sides and nose. However, the moulded details, such as grilles, head-code boxes, handrails, exhaust ports and body side doors seem crisper and neater than the original versions.

The Railfreight redstripe liveried class 20

The livery is the attractive and popular red stripe Railfreight version. The paint finish is up to the now accepted higher Chinese standards and various items have been neatly picked out in contrast colour such as grilles, handrails, door and hatch handles and exhaust ports. However, to my eye the shade of grey used appears rather too light and the representation of the high intensity light on the cab end by just a printed silver blob in a square is disappointing although it is an easy fix for modellers.

Apparently due to limited clearance inside the body shell it was not possible to install the usual Bachman upgrades of a flywheel assisted motor but it has been tweaked to run rather better than the original Farish version. Overall this is a welcome return of an old favourite which has unfortunately benefited slightly less than the other recent Farish re-releases.

The class 20 locomotive is now also available in range of other liveries including DRS and BR green.

Graham Farish by Bachmann – Class 31 locomotive
(Ref 371-100)

This locomotive represents diesel class 31 number 31 601 ‘Bletchly Park’ in black Fragonset Railways livery. The livery is neatly applied and well finished plus some details, such as the windscreen wipers and exhaust ports, have been highlighted by picking out in a contrast colour. Also included are the blue star coupling restriction symbols, the latest electric warning flashes, data plate and the Fragonset Railways cab-side logos.

The 'Fragonset' liveried class 31

Unfortunately also printed on are the cab-side handrails and front headlights. It would have been nice if Bachmann could have made a few tweaks to the tooling to incorporate these as raised mouldings. The photograph shows the improvement made by the simple expedient of gluing plastic pre coloured moulded headlights from the Ratio range in place.

The model follows the format of most of the previously re-released Farish range; the original body moulding with it’s inherent faults, painted to a higher quality finish and mated to a new improved performance motor chassis.

The class 31 is one of the few Farish diesels with moulded quarter light cab-side glazing bars and the inserted glazing seems clearer and sharper than the original as well as giving a fairly convincing flush glazed look. Also there is an excellent rendition of the roof mounted fan grill with impression of the fan below. Although the overall plastic body is possibly crisper than the Poole produced models due to the higher moulding pressures used in China, many details just still don’t seem correct.

The roof panel lines are rather weak and the body-side panel seams including the prominent horizontal one that runs completely around the locomotive at sole bar level are missing. The four corners of the roof appear to be far too angular and not sufficiently softly rounded. And the locomotive is fitted with crude plastic buffers with moulding lines across the front faces. It would have been better for Bachmann to have replaced these with finer metal ones although I understand there is somewhat of a shortage of N gauge brass oval buffers

However, the new chassis has twin flywheels providing an enhanced performance over the old Farish chassis although no provision is made for DCC chip fitting and conversion. The bogie side-frames are particularly good representations of the class 31 and, unusually for Farish, include cab steps. The locomotive is fitted with the now standard blackened low profile wheels which helps give a general overall attractive impression.