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

[Mark5]

Athearn is doing a 2nd run of N&W offset 3bay 70 ton hoppers ...  : : :



I guess I should be excited, N&W did actually own some very similar cars but they were "inherited" from NKP in the 1964 merger, and represented a tiny fraction of N&W's hopper fleet.

I won't be buying any as I bought from the 1st run, and now they are already over represented in my N&W hopper fleet.

They seem to be ignoring my repeated emails to them about this tooling, which they seem to be sitting on with all their might:



While not correct for N&W, it at least looks like an N&W hopper! (all N&W hoppers from the 1930s up until the early 1960s had "peaked" ends*).

(guess I better get that those decals completed!)

* except for the war time H4 composite hoppers

[Dave V]

Economics...  Athearn is betting on enough non N&W modelers (or N&W "dabblers") to purchase this 5-pack to make it worthwhile so they can get the most out of the mold.

It's the same reason we see those AT&SF-style cabooses in Conrail and Pennsy all the time.  By the time a modeler who bought one realizes it's wrong, it's either too late or he doesn't care.

Athearn has the potential to be a bigger player in N, but it seems only half-committed.  I figured after the Big Boy and Challenger, the flood gates would open...  instead it's been real hit-or-miss.

I'm taking a wait-and-see attitude w/ Athearn.  I have a few Athearn cars and I like them (although paint's a little thick).

[Mark5]

Well, the tooling I posted above isn't earning it's keep ...

[ljudice]

You're BEGINNING to think this????   ;D  ;D

[FrankCampagna]

Athearn has the potential to be a bigger player in N, but it seems only half-committed.

Probably because they sell less than half the N that they do HO. While N scale is important to us, it is less so for them. They could do better, but don't have to. The insults from N scalers might not help, either.

Frank

[up1950s]

I don't think they give a flying rats a$$ about what is said . It's a business , and it's all about return for investment . If the part of their business thats N scale makes more money than if that same part was invested elsewhere , then they will reinvest . If they can invest in ANYTHING ELSE including Barbie doll eyelashes and turn a better profit , then they would be foolish not to . It is cheaper to stay in one field for reasons of shared advertising , tools , raw materials , knowledge , and scale , so all that is thrown into the mix . Money talks much louder than words IMO .

[Mark5]

You're BEGINNING to think this????   ;D  ;D

Not really. It's a pattern. After all my emails to them about certain N&W schemes, they still managed to screw them up. I still don't own any Athearn locos.

Athearn still has potential though, and I'm curious about the McHenrys ...

[Mark5]

The insults from N scalers might not help, either.

Frank

I don't think they read this forum.

And they don't seem to pay attention to my emails volunteering all sorts of assistance with paint schemes either (I've supplied them with lots of info).

Mark

[Dave V]

At least Athearn makes stuff...

They could be Precision Craft Fail.

[ljudice]

I've bought a bunch of Athearn stuff - and I'm happy with most of it. In particular their Ethanol cars are fantastic.

I did email them about the AR boxcar - no reply yet, but they almost always reply to suggestions.

One suggestion I had made to them a long time ago was to do the BROWN HERZOG thrall cars - which are seen in unit trains on every railroad (they need ballast doors on the bottom, but Kel Cruise made these - and someone else could do this too). But no they did the tie carrying Black/orange cars which I only see one or twos of.

They could sell tons of the old MDC gon - they did a nice job on it! But no - run after run of the 65' mill gon which they dip in sugary paint before stamping the lettering on.

As far as the forums - who cares if they read them!!!  I used to run product support for an operating system at a major computer company. We'd meet with customers who would tell us to our face how much they love us. But then on the (old usenet) forums we would read how much they loathed us. Taking that feedback to management helped fix our resource problem.

Lou

[Mark5]

I've sent them dozens of supgestions - sometimes I get a reply. Some of the staff do "get it", but I suspect they are not the decision makers.

The UP centric steam makes me hopeful, they seem to be pretty good (as well as backing up the lemons in the bunch?).

On the other hand, if they botch up the coming 2600 hopper in N&W, and any of the other N&W releases in a similar manner, I think I'll quit sending them emails, and quit buying their stuff.

[pfs]

.................

They could sell tons of the old MDC gon - they did a nice job on it! But no - run after run of the 65' mill gon which they dip in sugary paint before stamping the lettering on.

.....

Agree, that gon would sell.

[Walkercolt]

Guys, Athearn got lots of "ok" dies from Model Die Casting. Die tooling(even in China) is obsenely exspensive, and "state of the art slide-dies"(like MT used to make the triple dome tankcars) are worse. Athearn hit two bases-loaded home runs with the Challenger and Big-boys. They may be considering how much is "enough" for their freight cars. The ethanol tankcars are great...right up there with Atlas and Micro-Trains, but do they want to spend the money to make all their cars that quality? Atlas has their "Trainman" line...existing tooling, decent looking, great value, big profit makers. Is N-scale ready for another company to make $20+ freight cars? MT,Kato, Red Caboose, Atlas, InterMountain, Trainworks are already there. The bean counters are looking long and hard at the market and the economy, and don't like what they see right now. Re-running MDC tooling looks a lot cheaper and safer, I'll bet.

[GonzoCRFan]

Athearn has the potential to be a bigger player in N, but it seems only half-committed.

Probably because they sell less than half the N that they do HO. While N scale is important to us, it is less so for them. They could do better, but don't have to. The insults from N scalers might not help, either.

If they made the crap right, they would sell more of it. If they made it right, they wouldn't get insulted. I think over the past several years in the hobby, the "make quality products and people will buy them" school of thought has definitely paid off. 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.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I didn't get my monthly e-mail. Can someone post links to this months PDF files?