Existing N gauge loco designs that deserve a second chance with retooling

[Trainlog]

Since starting N gauge a couple of years ago now, I have enjoyed the scale and prefer it to OO gauge for the reason of how much less space it takes up. However, when considering locos, I have felt it's a case of do your homework with some of the classes of locos as to how well they run, especially in the case of steam ones. Most Graham Farish locos have run well in my experience, though I have avoided Dapol due to how bad some of the steam locos run from watching reviews, with the exception of the A1X Terrier.

Its unfortunate as some locos such as the SR V 'Schools' class, Q1 Spam cams, and GWR 28xx look good cosmetically in N gauge but fall apart due to the way Dapol's tender drive mechanism is set out.

My question is, what existing N gauge loco designs do you think deserve a second chance at retooling?

 

[Cowley]

Since starting N gauge a couple of years ago now, I have enjoyed the scale and prefer it to OO gauge for the reason of how much less space it takes up. However, when considering locos, I have felt it's a case of do your homework with some of the classes of locos as to how well they run, especially in the case of steam ones. Most Graham Farish locos have run well in my experience, though I have avoided Dapol due to how bad some of the steam locos run from watching reviews, with the exception of the A1X Terrier.

Its unfortunate as some locos such as the SR V 'Schools' class, Q1 Spam cams, and GWR 28xx look good cosmetically in N gauge but fall apart due to the way Dapol's tender drive mechanism is set out.

My question is, what existing N gauge loco designs do you think deserve a second chance at retooling?

I think definitely the ones you’ve mentioned, along with the GWR 14xx and in diesel terms, an updated class 25 would be really nice.

 

[devon_belle]

I think a lot of the old Farish toolings could do with a major update. In particular, the King, Crab, Princess would be my first choices.

I have not experienced problems with my 3 SR Schools, nor my SR Q1 (provided I keep it on large-radius curves) or GWR 28xx. The GWR 14xx runs fine but can't cope with curved points in my case. The one most in need of attention by Dapol is the GWR Hall in my case; both examples I own suffer lurching and hunting due to the tender drive. By comparison, my 5 A4s work nearly flawlessly using similar technology. With Dapol, it seems that quality control is not their strong suit and whether or not a given engine works well is wholly down to which one you happen to pick off the shelf!

I agree that tender drive leads to inferior running compared to Farish, so I am glad they're finally moving away from it.

 

[GatwickDepress]

Not strictly speaking locomotives, but I would like to see retoolings of a lot of the old Graham Farish units and fixed formation sets.

Believe the Turbostar tooling dates from 2005 and it has painted headlights and destination boards, together with no DCC compatibility, which was already fairly outdated for the time. Even more cheeky when they released a few variations between 2016-2018 for full price with no changes to the tooling.

Would love to see an updated 225 set too. Almost bought a GNER example before I remembered it didn't have headlights.