Graham Farish Class 90
◆ GAUGE ‘N’ ◆ MODEL Graham Farish by Bachmann 371-781 BR Class 90, 90037 Railfreight Distribution ◆ PRICE £194.95
◆ AVAILABILITY Bachmann stockists Web: www.bachmann.co.uk
After a fairly quiet few years, it’s great to see an all-new locomotive model appearing under the Graham Farish brand. Announced late last year, to tie in with The International N Gauge Show, the Class 90 replaces a previous version of the AC electric dating from the early 2000s. While the old ‘90’ wasn’t a bad model – indeed, it boasted an excellent drive unit – the detail specification was modest by today’s standards, with no DCC provision or working lights, which are seen as minimum requirements these days. Having excelled itself with a superb ‘OO’ gauge Class 90 in recent years, the folks at Bachmann Europe clearly had built up plenty of expertise in relation to the prototype, and this has now been transferred to a 2mm scale version.
Redesigned from the wheels up, the new ‘90’ presents a refined, faithful appearance, with the distinctive raked back ends looking spot on. Several livery options are available in this first production run, with BR InterCity ‘Swallow’, Rail Express Systems red/grey, Virgin Trains red, and Freightliner’s latest orange/black confection. Received for review is 90037 in the stylish triple-grey Railfreight Distribution sector livery, depicting the prototype from new until repainting into EWS colours in the early 2000s.