I'm beginning to think Athearn is clueless ...

[amato1969]

But who wants to buy factory-painted gondolas that look like junk cause they appear to have been dipped in cans of Krylon enamel before they were pad-printed? Nobody wants to spend their hard-earned and limited hobby dollars on stuff that has been half-assed.

Indeed.  I would snatch up a bunch of undecs if Big A offered them.  As is the paint looks like it was done at Willy Wonka's factory.

  Frank

[TiVoPrince]

MDC Roundhouse
had a lot of legitimate tooling and some that is filler/stand in quality by todays standards.  Very much like the Athearn HO 'Blue Box' products.  The Genesis line has displaced many of the older models but while those are now relegated to other roles they are still legitimate models.  

Having a 'Cadilac' and 'Chevrolet' line is not a bad thing but occasionally dabbling in Nscale (even with excellent products) will do more harm in the long term.  If this were Kato we would be seeing repeated runs of PFE reefers to fill out trains with four actual road numbers.  If this were MT we could expect to see every one off paint scheme ever applied as a tribute to fallen flag railcar builders series...

[2-8-8-0]

Im kinda happy....3 bay B&O OS hoppers, with the correct lettering and herald for my era. Thanks Athearn!
Now....gimme OS quads!

Tim

[Walkercolt]

Sean, their "crap" sells as it is. Athearn is trying to find a balance of cost/quality/fidelity to scale/sales numbers, like every other manufactorer. You can't spend millions of dollars on making products if you have no idea of what the market is. They stuck their necks way-out to build the Challenger and Big Boy. That gamble payed off. With the weak economy right now, and other things, I'm surprised by any new model train announcements right now. There's alot less disposible income for most people right now. High dollar items will continue to sell to the people who have the money, but lower priced items may be "put-off". BMW 8 Series cars are having a record sales year at $100,000 each, but GM is 180 days from bankruptcy. Middle class homes are in foreclosure, but multi-million dollar houses sell as soon as they hit the market. Things are a bit strange.

[Nato]

 I know we all like to knock companies like A Hum (Athearn) and Backperson (Bachmann) my self included,but we do also have to recognize them for their pioneering efforts in the hobby industry, even if Bachmann is now Kader Industries and Athearn got into N in a big way by purchasing another maker of N Scale. They are trying even if they ain't perfect, one can only hope they will do a Union Pacific FEF 2 & 3 steam locomotive to make it a trilogy of UP power and have all the electronic bugs fully worked out.        Nate Goodman (Nato).

[brokemoto]

I am surprised that there has not been more nineteenth century equipment from them.  The box type cars, the caboose and the passenger cars that they do look nice.  They do not seem to slather the paint onto the nineteenth century rolling stock.

There were tank cars and hopper-bottom gondolas in the nineteenth century.  In fact, I was surprised to learn that the tank car had taken its modern shape by the 1860s.  They were built from iron, and, in some cases, wood but they were out there.

The two locomotives that Athearn offers are also nicely done.  In fact, the colorful paint schemes that it initially offered on the 2-8-0 were more attractive than the colorful paint schemes that MDC had offered.  The MDC colorful schemes were good, as it was.  Athearn did not slather on the paint onto any of the power, either.  Two common nineteenth century locomotives that it is missing are the eight and ten wheeler.

No one else has offered any nineteenth century equipment on the scale that the Athearn has.  B-mann has its few pieces, the eight-wheeler recently had some improvements, but it does have a way to go.  Atlas did offer the
Micro-Ace 2-6-0, but nothing to run with it.  The MP eight-wheeler and mogul are useful only for the very late nineteenth century; certainly no earlier than 1896.

When the Bachpersonn open sided excursion cars appear, the Athearn 2-8-0s with the colorful schemes will be even better power for an excursion train to operate on a modern-era pike.  Athearn may have to revive them.  Or...................>>****Cue up dark clouds, lightning bolts and thunder****<<.............offer them in unlettered with various colorful paint schemes (much as did Atlas with the Micro-Ace mogul)  .....................   

[3rdrail]

I am surprised that there has not been more nineteenth century equipment from them.  The box type cars, the caboose and the passenger cars that they do look nice.  They do not seem to slather the paint onto the nineteenth century rolling stock.

There were tank cars and hopper-bottom gondolas in the nineteenth century.  In fact, I was surprised to learn that the tank car had taken its modern shape by the 1860s.  They were built from iron, and, in some cases, wood but they were out there.

The two locomotives that Athearn offers are also nicely done.  In fact, the colorful paint schemes that it initially offered on the 2-8-0 were more attractive than the colorful paint schemes that MDC had offered.  The MDC colorful schemes were good, as it was.  Athearn did not slather on the paint onto any of the power, either.  Two common nineteenth century locomotives that it is missing are the eight and ten wheeler.

No one else has offered any nineteenth century equipment on the scale that the Athearn has.  B-mann has its few pieces, the eight-wheeler recently had some improvements, but it does have a way to go.  Atlas did offer the
Micro-Ace 2-6-0, but nothing to run with it.  The MP eight-wheeler and mogul are useful only for the very late nineteenth century; certainly no earlier than 1896.

When the Bachpersonn open sided excursion cars appear, the Athearn 2-8-0s with the colorful schemes will be even better power for an excursion train to operate on a modern-era pike.  Athearn may have to revive them.  Or...................>>****Cue up dark clouds, lightning bolts and thunder****<<.............offer them in unlettered with various colorful paint schemes (much as did Atlas with the Micro-Ace mogul)  .....................   

Alas, I asked Athearn about further "turn of the last century" N scale at the N Scale Convention in Louisville and was told that they will continue to reissue the existing models periodically in new color schemes, but were quite firm in stating that there would definitely be no new tooling done for that era.  :'(

[Walkercolt]

Yeah, you're again asking to "slice a slice of a slice of the market". Maybe some resin guys could make 19th Century equiptment. Really small steam engines, tiny rolling stock,limited appeal, short trains(only good thing in the equation), not a place N-scale's likely to shine, unless you can pay $700 for Aspen Models to build your engines.  Sorry

[GonzoCRFan]

High dollar items will continue to sell to the people who have the money, but lower priced items may be "put-off". BMW 8 Series cars are having a record sales year at $100,000 each, but GM is 180 days from bankruptcy. Middle class homes are in foreclosure, but multi-million dollar houses sell as soon as they hit the market. Things are a bit strange.

It's because the people who have a lot of money tend to have a lot of money regardless of how the economy is performing, unless they take a bath when the stock market tanks. If you're pulling down six figures a year, a 50-cent per gallon increase in fuel costs doesn't mean a thing. However, that same thing really hurts if you're making minimum wage.

[John]

It's because the people who have a lot of money tend to have a lot of money regardless of how the economy is performing, unless they take a bath when the stock market tanks. If you're pulling down six figures a year, a 50-cent per gallon increase in fuel costs doesn't mean a thing. However, that same thing really hurts if you're making minimum wage.

You are correct that people with lower incomes can least afford it .. however, the housing problem was caused by banks lending to people who should never have gotten a loan. Six figure salaries in this area are pretty common, mainly because of the large number of federal workers and contractors to the government. Even there I see changes in habits.

Model Railroading is a discretionary income hobby. It is expensive, even for small layout owners.

[Mark5]

I am still a bit, how can I say this politely, "peeved" that they have done nothing with the tooling I mentioned in the opening post of this thread. N scale is a wasteland when it comes to open hoppers. (it's getting better though!)