The LNER Encyclopedia

I've just been looking to purchase my wife's Christmas present (I mean her present for me) and I've seen a great variation in prices on-line for Farish A4s. I don't mean just between different retailers, but with the same retailer. For instance one is selling Union of South Africa for £82, Merlin for £88, Seagull for £66 and Silver Fox for £65. Are these last 2 Poole locos whilst the former are Chinese produced? Is there a difference in quality between the expensive and less expensive?

Alan

I'm not sure of the ages, but I would have thought the old Poole produced locomotive stock would have been sold out long ago (I note that Hattons still had a small number of old coaches when Chinese production was coming back).

Some retailers (and Hattons is best known for this), adjust their prices according to how well items sell. So an A4 livery that sells well will have a higher price than a poor selling one. They will also discount accordingly - I hear they had certain Class 66 variants below GBP50 this week, and past discounting has included M7s and 14xxs.
In contrast, the Q1s are all going at full price, and the pre-order Hymek price also looks 'high'.

Richard

Union and Merlin are older, and the later is still in stock, where as the rest are over the last 2 years.

BTW, the NRM sells them around £90!

Hi Smudger
All the A4s that Hattons are stocking are Bachman/Farish locos made in China, the differences in price reflect older models that are not so popular. I have bought Union of South Africa and it goes well but as with all recent Farish models does not have tender pick ups. If you feel the need for these they are still available from Bob Russel at BRLines.com, he holds all the old Farish spares.
TonyM