Athearn to end sales on HorizonHobbyTrains.com, Amazon, and eBay..

[The Beer Baron]

For those of you who have not heard, this was posted to Athearns' Facebook page yesterday.

As you probably know, Athearn is owned by Horizon Hobby and we've sold model railroad related products directly via HorizonHobbyTrains.com. As of today, the HorizonHobbyTrains.com website and social media sites are no longer active.

Here's the announcement.
"For over two years, Horizon Hobby has offered our complete assortment of model railroad and related products on HorizonHobbyTrains.com. Beginning Wednesday January 15, we will no longer be offering model railroad product lines via HorizonHobbyTrains.com, Amazon, and eBay. Horizon Hobby will continue to provide distribution of Athearn plus all of our non-exclusive model railroad brands to retailers as we have for several years. Our interest and support of the model railroading community continues as well.

Additionally, HorizonHobbyTrains.com will be redirected to Athearn.com. Athearn models may now be purchased directly from the Athearn website. If you're a HorizonHobbyTrains.com e-mail subscriber, you'll continue to receive special promotions for Athearn products.

Finally, if you have placed a preorder using HorizonHobbyTrains.com, we will maintain the backorder and ship once it becomes available. If you would like to check the status of your backorders or have any questions, please contact our Consumer Sales Department at
888 959-2307.

We appreciate your business and look forward to providing you with Athearn locomotives, rolling stock, and vehicles for many years to come."

Some of the comments posted by other FaceBook users speculate that it will become more difficult to buy Athearns' product.

<https://www.facebook.com/AthearnModelTrains/posts/10152157500395041>

[bbussey]

They just want consumers to buy through their dealer network, which in turn buys through their distributor network.

It seems you still can purchase directly from the Athearn website at full MSRP if a particular model cannot be acquired elsewhere.

[Rossford Yard]

That's the way I took it, which most would think is a good thing.

My only question is why they continue the direct purchase at all?  It would seem they wouldn't want to intentionally keep any of that stuff in the warehouse for months or years for the occasional hobbyist in need.  Great that they do it, back like the old blue box days....just unusual in this day and age.  Maybe not all that much - you can still get some old stuff from Atlas, and at least parts from Kato. 

I guess no matter how hard they try, they can't make exactly 100% of what will sell, and still get a few leftovers in odd road names.

[C855B]

I look at it as a net positive, too.

And... hoping beyond hope... maybe their firsthand taste of running an online model trains retail site opened their eyes to the fact that it is a lot of hard work. The end result might be more sympathy for the online retailer network, and some relaxing of the rules about "brick and mortar only". One can wish.

[jnevis]

How much of it is because of Horizon being bought by the CEO and capital investment firms?

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=31472.msg349273#msg349273

Shut down all "non-essential" sites and compartmentalize the company to make selling off or shuttering divisions easier...

[Rich_S]

How much of it is because of Horizon being bought by the CEO and capital investment firms?

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=31472.msg349273#msg349273

Shut down all "non-essential" sites and compartmentalize the company to make selling off or shuttering divisions easier...

I'm not seeing it that way. In my way of thinking and maybe the CEO's as well, why have two companies with two separate websites where the one company produces the product and the only thing the second company does is sell the product. Simplify by producing and selling on the Athearn web site. The HorizonHobbyTrains.com website is redundant. Some companies become uncontrollable monsters because of reasons like the above. The new CEO might just be pulling in the reins before the company starts spiraling out of control.  Since I'm not the CEO the above is just my 2 cents.

[kalbert]

I can totally see why they're doing this, and it makes good sense. I don't think it has anything to do with new share holders or falling skies, I think they probably just looked in the mirror and said "wait a minute.. WTH do we have all these websites for?". I've always wondered why Horizon split off the train stuff to a separate site anyway, considering they still had all the Athearn stuff on the Athearn site too. They're choosing to not distribute competitors products which totally makes sense.

[JMaurer1]

Kind of makes sense to me. At the same time, is it really possible to make it more difficult to purchase Athearn products? LHS tries to carry their stuff but has said it's very hard to get so the net is the only way to really go (at least locally here).

[kalbert]

I don't see how it would be more difficult to buy Athearn products... Raise your hand if you've ever paid MSRP for an Athearn or any other brand model railroad product (aside from parts department stuff) on horizonhobbytrains.com or athearn.com. Yea, I didn't think so. As their comments on facespace read, they are going to continue to sell Athearn products on Amazon and eBay, as well as through their normal distribution chain. What they are not going to sell on horizonhobbytrains.com, Amazon, or eBay would be other model railroad products that they have in the past sold through the horizonhobby.com, horizonhobbytrains.com, Amazon, and fleabay. At least that's how I read it. It is not communicated very well in the initial post, you have to read between the lines and wade through the chaff in the comments to find the wheat. Your dealer will order Athearn as he always did, through his Horizon portal.

Athearn: You can can continue to purchase Athearn models from your favorite retailer. If you prefer to buy direct from the manufacturer, you can order via our website. We will continue to sell Athearn on eBay and Amazon as well.

[Bob Bufkin]

I don't even remember the last time I bought anything Athearn. 

[Kisatchie]

I don't even remember the last time I bought anything Athearn.

I bought a bunch of Athearn 40' trailers and a couple flat cars on eBay last year. Oh yeah, and five 50' NACC box cars. I'd like to buy some of Athearn's trucks, but they're so darn expensive.


Hmm... try paying for 'em
with termites...

[towl1996]

I don't even remember the last time I bought anything Athearn.

Do they even do N scale anymore?

[peteski]

Do they even do N scale anymore?

The released bunch of the Mack tractors not too long ago.
Problem with Athearn is that they only distribute to brick-and-mortar hobby shops. That is why BLW doesn't carry Athearn models any more. At least that is how it was explained to me.

[basementcalling]

I remember when we used to complain around a club I used to be in that we wished Athearn would get into N scale. Then they did, and I don't think I have yet to buy one of their products. I would love to have been able to afford a Big Boy or Challenger though.

[Baronjutter]

I'll keep buying them on ebay because they're just too expensive new.  2nd hand all the way.