Bad news from Athearn

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by joncharlie

About two hours ago i read a post on another forum website which contained a copy of a reply from an Athearn spokesman. He stated that Athearn was NOT going to discontinue the BLUE BOX offerings. Maybe there is not a need to get our underwear in a wad just yet. Why not wait and see?

jon

Righto. My LHS owner had some questions and a week or so ago had some free time, so he locked up his shop and drove over to Champaign, Illinois to try and get some answers. He ended up getting tour of the place and then had a sit down in the Presidents office where they had a face to face.

From what I can remember, he was told they were NOT discontinuing kits. In fact, they were having all of the old molds redone since they were so old and were about worn out. That is being done in China, BUT he said the shells were being shipped back here where they will be molded and painted, and the RTR stuff assembled. Right here in the USA!

Athearn also sent out a newsletter email a week or so ago which said something along the lines of "We will still be making blue box kits, to put that another way, we have NOT stopped making blue box kits!" So anything you read to the contrary is untrue, misinformation, rumor or just plain lies.

Of course we'll have to still wait and see what they actually do, but until then there is no reason whatsoever to go off the deep end on all this.

[Anonymous]

hey CBQ_guy -- thanks for calming words of wisdom!

[brothaslide]

Is it just me or does the Athearn website look outdated? It just has this look when websites were first becoming popular back in the late 1990s.

They make great trains but how about a website re-do?!

(I know, I know - my website could use a facelift as well.)

[Fergmiester]

I bought an Old Time Caboose the other day and I gotta say it's better than the Athearn Cabooses and for the same price. I realize everyone is concerned with Athearn's stability but they're not the only kid on the block. I know one of my LHS's aren't overly enthused with Athearn as of late, but at least we do have alternatives. I also looked at a bottom end Life Like RTR. one word...... YUuCK!!!

[BRAKIE]

Instead of depending on what your dealer said or he said they say go to the horses mouth and ask Athearn..Sure there is a lack of blue boxes in some areas but stop and think of whats going on..You have panic buying,speculators and collectors all trying buy up the"last" of the blue boxes which is not the case.
Now,If you really want that CR SD40-2 then look no farther the e bay..There is tons of Athearn located there at very good prices..Check the Internet shops they still may have some in stock..Its not all gloom and doom if you know where to look.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BRAKIE

Instead of depending on what your dealer said or he said they say go to the horses mouth and ask Athearn..

I e-mailed Athearn with a link to this thread a few days ago and suggested to post a reply or something. So far nothing. Not even an acknowledgement they received my message.

[dharmon]

A bunch of years ago, when the Navy was teaching me how to fly, one of my instrcuctors told me that there are a few, but not many "emergencies" that will arise which require no kidding, immediate attention. Other than those, the best thing to do is to regain control of the aircraft, sit on your hands, assess the situation, then act once you got the picture together ........in order......aviate, navigate, communicate......I don't think that enough time has lapsed yet to make an honest or fair assessment of the Athearn/Horizon situation....

Athearn has said that they are continuing to do blue boxes in addition to the RTR stuff. They are apparently doing some retooling too and incorporating the Rail Power molds into their lines ..as they did with the CF7. I'm not sure that Horizon has had a fair chance to get their arms around the big herd of cats they got going, but one thing for sure is that the rumor mill is still going strong......and they are getting bombarded with emails and phone calls, at the same time they are getting ready to move locations in CA, and are dealing with a change in distributorship, back orders...etc......maybe we need to sit on our hands a little while, cut them some slack and let things develop....then complain. This ..I heard from, who got it from, on good authority from an un-named source who knows someone that went to a hobby shop once...just fuels the fire.......Sure prices will go up.....they aways do.....ain't nuthin new here..and it's not just Athearn...and if your LHS is raising prices on Athearn that's already in stock....then it's him you need to be talking about........there are plenty of blue box deals around....one of my LHSs still has plenty, and at every swap meet I've gone to, I've picked up a kit or two..$3 - $8 range. In fact just last weekend I got a dummy SD40-2 NIB, for $11. Stop bellyaching and hit the shows...

.......Ebay.....Ebay sellers are feeding from the sky is falling panic...some of the stuff in the ads....."get these now before they're gone", "not many left", "soon to be collectors items", etc.....

[Fergmiester]

I asked one of the owners at my LHS today about Blue Boxes and he basically said blu boxes are harder to get at this time, but there is ample Athearn RTR. He didn't know what the future held.

[DTomajko]

My LHS has told me that he has dealt with Horizon on a regular basis for R/C cars and planes and has never exprienced a problem dealing with them. The one thing he said would be different is that instead of multiple distributors of Athearn, like Bowser & Walthers, there will only be Horizon. There have to be the usual takeover gliches and hiccups,but I agree with my LHS that Athearn is far too valuble a company too completely change everything. Also keep in mind that Bowser is its own exclusive distributor and their product availabilty doesn't seem to suffer.Also keep in mind that there are so many model railroad items available today, it is almost impossible to insure that everything will be in stock everywhere at once. I have had to wait as long as three years to get an item on order,(and my LHS was checking with at least 3 suppliers every month).Items will always go in & out of stock in this hobby, just like the R/C and plastic modeling hobbies,and Sears, Best Buy, Lowes, et al. To mutilate a quote;"Nothing is constant but change". Lets just wait and see how things work out before the cries of falling sky and greivous injury overwhelm us all.

I also must be in the minority in that I now do most of my hobby purchases at two hobby shops 20 & 30 miles from home.I have always been treated with nothing but respect & courtesy every time,even at the very first visit. I used to buy a few things at train shows not always handled by the shops,(books, videos,used or rare pieces, etc.),but working on Saturday & Sunday has eliminated that option, but frankly I don't really miss it that much.I have never bought anything from EBay or the web but have used mail-order for books & videos or things from Micro-Mark or DigiKey.

How about everyone relaxing instead spreading rumors until we see how everything shakes out.Good luck and good modeling.

[cwclark]

dougal....i just found you an undecorated emd sd 40 t2 athttp://store.yahoo.com/internettrains/atpowunfansc.html for $48.03

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Crewdog

I thought this was bad news a couple days ago, but upon further reflection, there may be a silver lining in this cloud.
If it is true that Horizon only sells to honest-to-goodness, retail-storefront hobby shops, then the guys working out of their garage or basement with a lap top and a phone line will not be getting Athearn products anymore.

My legitimate hobby shop, who has a clean store with good parking, who doesn't sell at swap meets or train shows and who proudly pushed Athearn products for 20 years would love to be an authorized dealer, but can't afford Horizon's extortion fees. A couple years before the Atheran sale, Horizon cancelled his account because they never had anything in stock worth selling to his customers.

So much for loyalty and small hobby shops.

[Anonymous]

Also being an R/C car guy, I have some insight into this debate which few other would have. About two years ago, Horizon Hobby Inc. purchsed Team Losi, one of the major American R/C car manufacturers. To this date, I have never heard of any problems related to this take-over. Some people in the R/C car hobby had misgivings about the merger, just like people here do, but Team Losi has not changed noticeably. Horizon said the same things about Losi that they have been saying about Athearn, that their management will still be up to them, and their headquaters would stay in the same location. In other words, I wouldn't worry to much about it. The only problem that might arrise would be less production of the "Blue Box" kit and more of the RTRs, but that would be purely Athearn's decision. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cwclark

dougal....i just found you an undecorated emd sd 40 t2 athttp://store.yahoo.com/internettrains/atpowunfansc.html for $48.03

Thanks! I did get a two pack (one power and one dummy) a few months ago but now I might get another.

[Anonymous]

Hi!
That's too bad. SD40's are my favorite. You can get a big party of freinds on one of those.
I'm sure you can still find some Athearn SD's on Ebay for years to come.
Rivarossi is also having some troubles and may be bought out.
Motorpurrr