Graham Farish ‘Castle’ 4‑6‑0

John mills’ classic delivery of the line “worth waiting for” in Ice Cold in Alex was aimed at an ice-cold lager. But I’m sure if someone had waved one of Graham Farish’s new ‘N’ gauge ‘Castles’ under Captain Anson’s nose, the response would have been the same! Graham Farish steam locomotives just seem to get better and better, and each one is a contender for ‘best ever’. Its first attempt at an ‘N’ gauge steam locomotive, the Gresley ‘V2’ in 2005, is a very distant memory. The ‘Castle’ is another miniature marvel, and a somewhat rare beast today. Bachmann usually offers a locomotive first in ‘OO’ and then shrinks it down to ‘N’, but as Hornby produces a ‘OO’ gauge version, we’ve had no larger cousin to study first. However, engineering prototypes have shown much promise, and it’s pleasing to report that the production ‘Castle’ is every bit as good. Received for review is No. 5070 Sir Daniel Gooch in lined BR green with the later BR emblem and 84A Wolverhampton Stafford Road shedplate. This dates the model to a short period, from 1956, when the ‘ferret and dartboard’ emblem was introduced, to early 1960, when the real No. 5070 was transferred to Shrewsbury. That timescale is reduced further as the model has the post-1958 steampipes and revised steamchest cover, with raised centre section.

FACE VALUE

‘Sir Daniel’ looks good from every angle. The face is truly superb, with that bulky boiler and dished smokebox door beautifully captured. The taper of the boiler is excellent, too, but the firebox is perhaps a tad too angular, particularly the ‘elephant ears’ on the forward corners (this is to clear the motor and mechanism). The gap on the base of the chimney also detracts slightly. The delicate spoked wheels give the model the grace of the original. The only visual niggle is that the splashers are of equal depth. In reality, the centre splasher extends further towards the running plate edge. However, the thickness of the plastic for the splasher probably dictates that they’re all aligned.

CAB DETAIL

The cab is lovely, both inside and out, with fine rivets on the side sheets and a really detailed firebox backhead on the inside; arguably, however, the regulator and reverser should be painted red. The detail work here is complemented by ah inged metal fallplate that really hides the gap between locomotive and tender. The Collett 4,000gal tender is just as good and looks like the real thing. It’s got fine wire handrails (as does the locomotive), with fine rivets and beautifully spoked wheels. The bulky look is spot on. The tender houses the Next18 decoder socket (more about that later) and access couldn’t be easier: the top just pulls away from the chassis to reveal the socket. The paint and finish is exemplary. The green has real lustre and the lining is wonderfully fine. Number and nameplates are printed, but such

is the quality that it doesn’t detract at all. The tender plate, smokebox plate and the ‘Castle Class’ plate under the nameplate are all legible under a magnifier.

PULLING POWER

The good work continues on the track. The locomotive was smooth and silent straight from the box. As with most new Bachmann and Farish products, the wheels on the rail made more noise than the motor. Even with less than the recommended running-in time, Sir Daniel Gooch romped away with nine Dapol and Farish bogie coaches on our test. We added four more to increase the trailing load to 13 bogies and the train moved, but with some slipping. It managed a credible four bogies over our 1-in-60 gradient and two over the 1-in-30. We’ve covered Next18 before (MR225 and MR226), but just to reiterate: this is a much smaller decoder socket than a six-pin, but it offers greater opportunity for lights and sound to be fitted. Farish is to offer just one sound-fitted ‘Castle’ (372‑033DS as No. 5029 Nunney Castle, in GWR green) in the first batch and it’s really worth tracking one down to have a listen. We heard one on Bachmann’s Railmaster demonstration, and it is very impressive. Sound is correctly matched to movement, with the right four-cylinder beat and lack of ‘chuffs’ as it coasts when the controller is turned down. Even though it has one or two minor issues, the ‘Castle’ is af abulous little model and a world away from the Poole-era offering. It retails at £139.95 (sound will set you back £219.95), which places it in the mid-range 4‑6‑0 price bracket of LMS ‘Jubilees’ and Thompson ‘B1s’. For an express passenger design, that’s pretty good value when you consider that other Farish locomotives in the Class 7 and Class 8 power bracket won’t give you much change from £170.