Athearn Blue Box kits

[Anonymous]

Is there any truth in statements I've heard about Athearn discontinuing the "Blue Box" kit line?

[nfmisso]

They are certainly cutting back, and no one knows for sure what will happen as the Horizon purchase of Athearn is consumated. MDC is also cutting back on kits, as have InterMountain and Red Caboose. Make sure you support the manufacturers of kits: Accurail and Branchline by purchasing thier products. IM and RC have stated that kits will continue to be available as long as there is a demand.

[dknelson]

In addition to wondering about the blue box kits, I wonder about the availability of parts.
Dave Nelson

[Anonymous]

You know, it's too bad...

Athearn always seemed to represent a great product to me. In my younger days, I had to produce a disproportionate amount of sweat in the acquisition of each car I owned... 8 to be exact... (alot of lawn mowing) And I loved putting them together!

Now that I've worked my but off for the last 22 years, and (with the support of my wife) have decided that now is a good time to get back to my hobby, I've looked to Athearn again. On Feb 1, I ordered 63 peices of rolling stock. I have yet to hear whether the order has shipped, and now wonder whether or not it will...[:(]

[nfmisso]

Sav;

Try an Accurail kit, I think that you will find them very enjoyable, and a nice step up from Athearn for very little cost increase. http://www.accurail.com/accurail/

[Anonymous]

I asked MDC, Walthers, Intermountain and Athearn about their kit production, back on the 29th of December, last year.

Here is what I asked:
Many of us whom are "MODELERS" are concerned that your company's direction of providing Ready to Run rolling stock is going to continue to grow and eventually obsolete the kit from the market. Presently on two forums at trains.com, this discussion is very active. I understand you would not be offering RTR if the market did not warrant it. However, I wonder if you would care to comment on your vision of what will be offered for kits, in the future?

Here is Athearn's Reply:
"Thank-you for taking the time to send in your inquiry regarding our regular "Blue Box" kit product line. Please note that we have no intentions to discontinue producing our regular line "Blue Box" items. We continue to produce these items on a daily basis here at our plant and will continue to do so as long there is a sufficient demand for those products.

Best regards,
Athearn, Inc."

Here is MDC's Reply:

"We have no intention of discontinuing kits in HO, UNLESS there is such small demand that it is not financially worthwhile. We have encountered this event in N' scale but hope that it doesn't spread to HO, however, you never know". MDC

Here is Walther's reply:
"Essentially, sir, our marketing research is showing an ever increasing demand for ready-to-run, pre-assembled model railroad equipment. As such, it appears as though Walthers HO freight and passenger equipment will follow this trend. As a distributor, we will still be carrying the kits offered by other vendors, and our CORNERSTONE SERIES line of structures will continue to be predominantly offered in kit form.

While we regret the shift away from offering our model equipment in kit form, it appears as though the current trend in model railroading seems to be moving toward the "ready-to-run" items, especially amongst newcomers to the hobby.

I hope this helps to clarify this matter for you.

Sincerely,
Tom Schmidt
Walthers Customer Service"

I never received a response from Intermountain!

[Bergie]

You know, I've been hearing about this concern for months and it never really hit me as being that bad of a thing... until last week. I want to custom paint some 40 foot hi-cube boxcars but Walthers doesn't have any of the undecorated versions in stock. In the past, I thought the disappearing blue boxes wasn't a big deal because there were so many great ready to run cars out there. Now I know better. [V]

Erik

[Anonymous]

I have a parts order in Athearn. I should get it this week or next. They had the items in inventory and answered the phone in a knowledgable and courteous manner.

For the time being seems to be business as usual.

I'm enjoying the blue box kits I'm building and I've had a similar experience with MDC. I'll be trying the P2K kits as soon as my order arrives.

I'll have to look into Accurail.

I've always enjoyed the building portion of the hobby as evidenced by the excessive number of Tyco/Pola kits on my childhood layout.

Maybe if I had found the blue box kits I might have stuck with it....Nah horomones took over so girls and cars became a priority.

DT

[orsonroy]

And don't forget Bowser! They're one of the few manufacturers left that ONLY offers kits, and one of two that's still producing steam kits. Bowser's plastic freight cars (mostly steam-era) feature absolutely beautiful tooling that blows Athearn or Roundhouse away (ony Accurail has tooling as nice in shake-the-box).

Once I started buying Accurail and Bowser kits, I knew I'd never go back to Athearn. Add Branchline's tardmaster series of shake-the-box boxcars, and there's no NEED to go the route of the Blue Box (which I suspect is mostly a traditional bias anyway)

www.bowser-trains.com

[Anonymous]

Orsonroy,

I don't know if it's necessarily a "traditional bias"... Dollar for dollar, Athearn has had a great product. Speaking from those of us in the hobby that don't really care if the grab irons are huge, the fact is that if I can get ALL the rolling stock I need for my layout for under 275.00 (63 cars), that leaves me with extra dollars for structures, scenery, etc...

People certainly are different. Some people like a very accurate representation of a true to life object (Purist seems to be the right description). I like purity, however, I also like the big picture.

Though Athearn Bule Box is certainly not "pure", it does fit into the big picture in an affordable, attractive way.

But who am I kidding! Okay, for me , a big part is nostalgia. I'm ready to go back 25 years a few evenings a week to a place and time where life was a whole lot less worrysome and stessed!

[jeep35]

Consider a kit from Accurail. They really do make a nice product. I've never been disapointed. Some of the kits are easier to assemble than Athearn. Good luck.

[orsonroy]

sav336,

If you've got 63 Athearn cars for $275, that means the cars cost around $4.37 apiece. Not bad considering MSRP on Athearn is around $7.50! Since we're talking discount price, I regularly see NIB Accurail cars for sale for the $4 range. So you'd be saving money by going with Accurail!

True, average MSRP for Blue Box is about $7.50, and Accurail MSRP is $10.98. But for a extra $3.50 you're getting a much nicer car overall. Better trucks, better tooling, better paint jobs, and better couplers. There's no way most modelers will be able to get rid of ALL their Athearn cars (I've still got over 60, mostly twin hoppers), but if you're starting from scratch, it's a wise hobbiest who looks into all their options, and decides what's more important: pocketbook or looks.

[Anonymous]

HOLY MACKERAL ORSONROY!!!!!

Now I need to go on a search for the Accurail kits! Frankly, though my thing says I'm in Olympia, WA, I'm actually in the sticks, and do the majority (vast) of my purchasing on-line...

Anyway, point taken, as well... Pocketbook or looks, sure sounds like you've got the best of both worlds!

[nfmisso]

FYI; here is a listing of the manufacturers of kits I presently have waiting to be done:

Accurail
Athearn
BevBel
Bowser
ConCor
Details West
E&C Shops
ECW
Front Range Products
Funaro & Camerlengo
Innovative Model Works
Intermountain
Kadee
Kato
Life Like Proto2000
McKean Models
MDC-Roundhouse
Red Caboose
Roundhouse
Stewart
Urlich
Walthers
Westerfield

[orsonroy]

Good luck interpreting the F&C instruction sheets, Nigel! They're possibly the WORST in the hobby! If you're not a member already, you might want to join the STMFC Yahoogroup, and search for specific car types, looking for posted assembly tips and proto references!

[Anonymous]

I have another reason for liking the Blue box kits....The more robust details or lack of details mean they can take punishment.

Last week I two 5 year old operators and two freelance pink sky hooks helping aged 3 and 2.

Ever watch two small boys run a train in a loop by starting and stopping it? You want equipment that you can live without because it's going to take some punishment.

Also hearing them argue over whether they should stop at this station or the other one when there are no buildings on the layout is good for a laugh.

DT

[Anonymous]

Okay,

So I decided another trip to Tacoma is in order... I'm going to pick up at least 2 Accurail kits and give them a shot. I'll also take a look at a few of the other kits this particular shop stocks.

I have a gut feeling though that I'll be back on this thread thanking all of you guys for your recommendations of other brands...

[Anonymous]

dknelson,

Parts such as coupler covers, 2-56 screws windows etc etc etc are in stock where I go and I have been stocking up on those little packets. Wife wonders why i spend 10 dollars on screws that may never be used for 10 years.

You should be able to get them. Also As long as your Hobby Shop Dealer is a "Horizion Dealer" as of 3/1/04 you should still get to the blue boxes without too much trouble.

Osonroy,

Not bad for your fleet on the outlay. I have managed to get a bunch at discount or during sales. Namely the buy one get one free etc. I keep a 100 dollar warchest just for those. And a small list of.. *Flips thru pages,... 40 more cars to add to my 60 cars fleet.

I do buy a little ready to run and was able to acquire some Intermountain RTR and even though the costs set me back 6 months you cannot find these cars anywhere anymore and I am happy I got them when I did.

Good Luck everyone!

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by nfmisso

Sav;

Try an Accurail kit, I think that you will find them very enjoyable, and a nice step up from Athearn for very little cost increase. http://www.accurail.com/accurail/

I agree with Nigel, the Accurail kits are a nice, easy to built "step up" from Athearn.

As far as their continuing kits, at this point I think no one can say for sure...it's up to Horizon. But they'll be around for many years sitting on hobby shop shelves and the gazillion I always see at train meets.

[Anonymous]

I for one don't want to see the kits go away. I love being able to kitbash locomotives. Kits make it affordable to do so. I just can't bring myself to put a razor saw to a Kato. But an inexpensive Athearn, oh yea I'll cut it up. I'm currently on making a SD40T-2W, a tunnel motor with a wide cab. This would not be possible without kits. Although I prefer Kato even though I can hardly afford them, I love Athearn and hope to see the blue boxes for years to come. Knock on wood!!

Thanks,
Jeremy

[BRAKIE]

I prefer the Athearn and Accurail kits.I never cared much for the MDC lits even though I have around 20 of their cars.Of late I been preferring the Athearn RTR,Genesis,Atlas and Intermountain RTR cars over any kits.I simply hate the Branch line kits due to the million and one iddy biddy pieces.I wish BL would inter the RTR market..

[nfmisso]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BRAKIE

...simply hate the Branch line kits due to the million and one iddy biddy pieces....

You must be referring to the Branchline Blueprint series, try the YardMaster series, they are less expensive, and are more like an Accurail.

[CP5415]

Who has been saying that Athearn is discontinuing the kits?
The hobby shops?
Athearn has been saying all along that they are not discontinuing the kits?
I tend to believe them.
Is it just the hobby shops way of saying we're only going to carry RTR so the kits GET discontinued? There's probably better mark up on the RTR then the kits.
Things to make you wonder? HMMMM?
My local hobby shop has heard nothing about the kits being discontinued.
He also has at least 100 blue-box kits in stock right now & is always replenishing his stock
So until Athearn announces the discontinuance of the kits, it's only hear-say.

Just my [2c]

Gordon

[Anonymous]

My local hobby shop's shelves are full of old Athearn kits that have already been picked over. Everything that is left are kits that no one wants, in roadnames I have never heard. Unfortunately, there is too much space/money tied up in these leftover kits that they can't get anymore (I'm assuming).

[Anonymous]

The reason I started this thread was that, while shopping around, I came across a couple of sites that stated Athearn was dropping the Blue Box Kit line, stocks were very limited, and that they (the sites I'm speaking of) would be depleted in short order...

I wrote to Athearn the day before I started this thread, and recieved a reply today. I think this is a boiler-plated reply, understandably, that states the same as what I saw in another thread, that as long as there's a demand, they'll continue manufacturing the kits, yada yada...

Also, as I stated before, it's very difficult for me to get to an LHS. I refer to my LHS more as a DHS (DISTANT hobby shop), I am therefore, forced to buy on-line, for the most part. When I read about the discontinuance of the line, I was very disappointed. However, in retropect, I wonder if perhaps what was meant to be stated by these on-line retailers was that THEY were discontinuing the line... Perhaps they have not signed on/qualify for the Horizon Hobby programme.

There is, to a degree, an amount of uncertainty in the whole affair... RTR seems to be more and more popular these days. Most of the RTR stuff, although excellent, pushes many a budget to the extreme. I know that my plan provides specific allotments to rolling stock, motive power, trackage, etc., which rules out a lot of the higher end/RTR products. I can only assume, that with the news of China's currency exchange policy of basing it currency solely against the dollar ending, and shifting to the world currency market, prices on ANY items imported from China will increase substantially. The dollar is low these days, and will remain so for a time. If Chinas currency enters the world market, it will climb, overnight, by a staggering 10 -12%. I can see RTR products, as a result, climbing 15 -25% quite rapidly...

Maybe I'm full of bean soup. I'd hate to see the product gone. It's not the best, but certainly has served a purpose over the years, And I'd rather not add to the trade deficit... We're in enough trouble as it is!!!![;)]

If anyone out there feels like going shopping for me, let me know!