Category:Graham Farish: Difference between revisions

1932: Graham Farish radio components [image info]

"Formo Electric 00-gauge 3-rail Trains", box artwork [image info]

Formoway Tunnel-mouth [image info]

Graham Farish was founded by Thomas Graham Farish in 1919, and originally made radio components for home constructors. When the enthusiasm for home-built radios subsided, Graham Farish moved into other manufacturing, and made electric fires, jar lids, fountains and plant food pellets.

Always looking for new markets, Graham Farish produced sixty-odd figures for the Coronation in 1953, and showed their Formo flexible model railway track in 1948, with their GP5 00-gauge train sets appearing in 1949. As one of the early adopters of two-rail 00-gauge, Graham Farish then briefly started producing three-rail sets, in 1953, under the Formo name.

The motors for their (two!) model locomotives were scheduled for migration from 3-pole to 5-pole operation in late 1969.

Farish were always a slightly odd model railway brand. While they had something of a cult reputation in some circles for the ability of their locomotives to run realistically at very slow scale speeds (after being suitably run-in), they didn't produce all that many locomotives, or all that many variations on rolling-stock, perhaps hesitant to commit to the necessary tooling-up costs without having the possibility of mass-market sales of their big competitors. A comparatively small operation without a massive toy or model range, or major toy distribution, the main product line that Farish advertised – quite strongly – was the more unglamorous market sector of model railway track and points (which Farish had apparently mastered and invested in, and could presumably churn out at reasonably low cost).

Formoway track and points

Where Farish had a special selling point was their flexible track - a product that sold to enthusiasts who would curve it to shape and cut it to size, and which was more suited to hobby shops than toyshops - because flexible track assumed more technical know how and tools than simple plug-together track, the main model railway companies tended not to produce it, leaving the market open for small specialist companies like Farish and Peco.

Once you have gained a little experience with your first train set, you will find yourself envying those enthusiasts who own a layout with universal track. Flexible track can be used to form curves or any length, and gives the builder complete freedom as far as track planning is concerned, as one is not restricted to one specific radius.

Graham Farish

The Graham Farish track system is one such universal system, and the track they produce is in three foot lengths which can, or course, be curved to any radius, and cut to any length. A little more skill is required to lay track of this sort, and I shall be dealing with this in greater detail next month. The same firm also produce a number of locomotives and beautiful Pullman coaches.

The range of points produced by Graham Farish is very comprehensive, and includes a double slip, single slip, three way point, diamond crossing, curved point, Y point, 2 ft. radius point, and 3 ft. radius point.

— , -, , Meccano Magazine, , October 1965

First-generation locos

The first-generation 00-gauge locos were a Black Five, a Bulleid Pacific, and a Prairie Tank.

1960s: Second-generation locos

The second-generation locos were a GWR Pannier Tank loco and a revised Prairie Tank loco.

1970: N gauge

Like fellow track manufacturer Peco, the fact that Farish hadn't invested massively strongly in a super-wide product range for 00-gauge meant that when the new N-gauge format appeared, they were able to throw themselves into it, launching their N-gauge range in 1970, and dropped the 00-gauge range in the early 1980's to concentrate exclusively on N-gauge. The brand became part of Bachmann Industries in 2000.

Advertising

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  December 1962

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  October 1965

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  December 1965

Addresses

• Graham Farish Group Sales Limited – Romany Works, Wareham Rd., Holton Heath, Poole, Dorset – (1970)

Patents

Thomas Graham Farish:

• GB563797A Improvements in and relating to glass-houses and the like, 1943-04-23 / 1944-08-30 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB571196A Improvements in electric switches, 1943-12-24 / 1945-08-10 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB576696A Improvements in electric plug and socket connectors, 1944-03-30 / 1946-04-16 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB583153A Improvements in electric clocks, 1944-10-11 / 1946-12-10 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB586345A Improvements in electric clocks, 1944-12-11 / 1947-03-14 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB588775A Improvements in and relating to tracks for miniature or toy railways, tramways and the like, 1945-03-05 / 1947-06-03 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB590068A Improvements in closures for jars and like containers, 1944-08-17 / 1947-07-08 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB592724A Improvements in electric fires, 1945-05-25 / 1947-09-26 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB598582A Improvements in the construction of electromagnets, 1945-08-17 / 1948-02-20 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB646246A Improvements in fastening devices, 1948-06-30 / 1950-11-15 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB674868A Improvements in or relating to direct current electric motors particularly for driving toys or small models, 1949-01-13 / 1952-07-02 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB680917A Improvements in vehicles, 1949-11-30 / 1952-10-15 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB693387A Toy, 1950-12-15 / 1953-07-01 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB714114A Improvements in or relating to guards for electric fires or like heating devices, 1952-06-09 / 1954-08-25 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB1021258A Improvements in or relating to a method of rendering boats or aircraft capable of reflecting radar waves, 1961-11-03 / 1966-03-02 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB1105751A Improvements in and relating to boat-shelter combinations, 1966-03-23 / 1968-03-13 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB1285507A Couplings for model vehicles, 1970-08-28 / 1972-08-16 (worldwide.espacenet.com)
• GB1376503A Model railways points, 1973-01-23 / 1974-12-04 (worldwide.espacenet.com)

External links

• Graham Farish, brand homepage (bachmann.co.uk)
• Graham Farish (wikipedia.org)