Will Athearn announce a new loco this year?

[Mark5]

yeah, ok I'm bored at work ...

Let's see, the F45/FP45 was announced/came in what? 2008?

Nothing new on the loco front since then.

Since the Athearn F45/FP45 was the first N scale diesel that I think Athearn did well on, I started to look with some anticipation for the next one. But nothing. <crickets chirping> Maybe they were leaning on Sanda Kan for the N scale stuff ...

Plenty of good rolling stock though.

[sizemore]

Aren't they supposed to be hashing out the FEF4 for N scale?

The S.

[Mark5]

Aren't they supposed to be hashing out the FEF4 for N scale?

The S.

Pure rumor AFAIK.

[Bob Bufkin]

They have done an update on their F59PHI's.  New motor, etc.  What what I gather they will no longer run like a rice rocket.

[Mark5]

They have done an update on their F59PHI's.  New motor, etc.  What what I gather they will no longer run like a rice rocket.

One can only hope.



But not a new loco.

[H Lee]

Nothing new on the loco front since then.
 Maybe they were leaning on Sanda Kan for the N scale stuff ...

According to the info I have seen/been told ---
Athearn was not a customer of SK. Athearn's stuff is made Creative Master Bermuda Ltd - in spite of the name they are in Hong Kong. (Creative Master partly owned by Tamiya?) (Athearn one of their top 5 customers?).

[Mark5]

maybe Athearn just got some stuff from SK:

Chinese contract manufacturer Sanda Kan has sent letters in June to a number of its customers worldwide, telling them it will no longer be able to make products for them.

According to industry sources, among the model-railroad customers receiving letters from Sanda Kan are Weaver, S Helper Service, American Models, Bowser, Micro-Trains, Athearn and Märklin/Trix.


http://www.trains.com/grw/default.aspx?c=a&id=1830

******
But whatever the reason, no new locos from Athearn in quite a while.

Mark

[lock4244]

I thought MTL was made in the USA?

[ljudice]

All they announced this month were three Bombardier coach/cab cars (Utah, Metrolink and  Coaster).

A little pissed no announcement of the Herzog Thralls...

[Mark5]

I thought MTL was made in the USA?

Mostly.

[SkipGear]

MT - Loco frames and Z track were made by SK I believe.
Athearn - some of their vehichles and maybe the HO structures I think were from SK.

[kiwi_al]

I think you can count Athearn out for the count in 2010, maybe 2011 will be better. It's now nearly September  and there's 3 months until Christmas. I'd look to ESM, FVM, BLMA and Bluford for new stuff, the other manufacturers have been caught with their pants down. ;D

[Packer]

Maybe some of Walther's people has gotten into Athearn's corperation...

The only thing new recently in HO was a GP15, and a GP7 is following.

Perhaps the N-scale crowd should bug them for SW1000s, SW1500s, and SD40-2s. All models available in HO.

I think you can count Athearn out for the count in 2010, maybe 2011 will be better. It's now nearly September  and there's 3 months until Christmas.

If they announce it anything this year, it won't be out till the end of next years. SO if they announce anything in 2011, it'll probably be available in 2012.

Speaking from experience, I had to wait 2 years for my F45, one from the time the first run was announced, the other from the time the BN was announced and it showed up at my doorstep (and I pre-ordered too)

[lashedup]

I had a chance to talk to John from Athearn at the National Train Show and asked about the UP FEF 4-8-4 and he said not to hold your breath. He said the main reason is that things in China have become very unstable and costs are going up. He also said production scheduling is also an issue.

So with so many things being unstable for them right now, he said they aren't ready to commit to anything new (at least publicly).

We'll certainly ask again at Trainfest in November and see what's new.

- jamie

[sirenwerks]

Athearn - some of their vehichles and maybe the HO structures I think were from SK.

Damn, and here I was hoping they do the Ford F850 in N.