Horizon Buyouts

[bnsfkline]

Whats your opinoin on Horizon now that they bought out Athearn and MDC

[88gta350]

I'll reserve judgement until I see what they do with the lines.

[philnrunt]

I agree with Dave, still to early to pass judgment. It sounds like they are making it harder to locate items, but we'll see how that plays out.

[simon1966]

Did they buy IHC as well? Or do you mean MDC?

[vsmith]

News Flash! They also bought out MDC Roundhouse![:(]

This is getting much to close to the whole UP buying everything in sight debacle!

[cacole]

Yes, they bought Model Die Casting, not IHC.

The Model Die Casting Web site has a notice about the sale. MDC's Carson City, Nevada facilities are being closed down and they are being moved to California to become part and parcel of Athearn and under Athearn's management. MDC has also suspended on-line sales because of their impending move to CA. Whether the MDC Roundhouse name will even survive as a separate product line is questionable.

[Anonymous]

No comment as yet. I've heard the stories of price rises and supplies being restricted, but have as yet seen no concrete evidence of either - my LHS cut their Athearn Blue Box prices a couple of months ago - looks like they're planning to get out of BB kits as they now have a lot more Walthers and Lifelike Proto equipment in stock and I've not seen any new Athearn BB stock there for about a year now. When questioned as to whether new stock will be arriving, the usual response is "we get what we can" or similar - I should perhaps mention they are firm believers of the rumor that Athearn intend to end BB production, despite all the press releases to the contrary!

The rumors about supplies only being made available to certain types of store (not sure if I have this right, feel free to correct if I don't) are interesting. One online store I deal with occasionally has just begun to stock Bachmann equipment - according to the store Bachmann will not supply to internet-only stores, they want a normal storefront as well (the store has just opened such a thing). Not sure if this is the case in the US as well, but it sounds remarkably like some of the stories about Horizon's plans.

[StillGrande]

I'll be thrilled if it means the LHS gets some new stock in. They have had the same Blue Box and MDC kits on the shelves for the last 4 years (you can check the sticker for the dates at the store!). There is no variety and nothing over 40' left. If they can get some new products out to the LHS I favor it. Otherwise, what is the difference? Many of my freight purchases were impulse buys of things I didn't realise I needed. I despise the RTR versions of the kits (For $10 less, I am happy to spend some time assembling it myself).

[jsoderq]

We are already seeing much less availability. Several local shops can't get Athearn because they don't buy from Horizon. Also Wa;thers can no longer handle Athearn and they were the largest Athearn distributor. New product? doubtful as Athearn had very kittle tooling capacity and MDC toolmakers were not part of the deal. Most Athearn tooling was done some time ago or by outside people. Horizon has already cut off some of the deep discounters in order to protect the price level.
So let's see where we are. Harder to get, less discounting, less probability of new product, long term probability of increased sales -uuuhhh-no.

[willy6]

FYI........I got an e-mail from Walthers this morning, It states that they are currently working on a deal to keep Athearn products. MDC was not mentioned.

[Anonymous]

I will not say much about this issue yet. We were lucky to get the shipments of the BB and now the MDC/Roundhouse stuff.

I have a feeling alot of it is going to be turned into "RTR" and those that do no share Horizions accounts will not be selling Athearn or R/H once the stocks run down.

I would predict that IHC may be next on Horizon's hit list.

[Anonymous]

I said this before on the Atlas forum, but if I ever won the lottery (that $290 million jackpot would do fine) I'd buy out Atlas and Kato. I would rename the company "Katlas" and continue to produce high quality models at affordable prices. Those are really the only two manufacturers I care enough about, and only for the N scale locmotives (no offense to other scales, I think they are fine, I am just an avid N scaler).

While I would really love to see Athearn develop their N scale rolling stock inventory to match that of their HO inventory, I really just don't see this Horizon deal helping out much. Thats sad though, because Athearn really could have bolstered the N market had they put a bit more thought into their N scale line. But, I have to agree with a good majority of people here in that only time will tell what really is going to happen. Thank goodness for Alan Curtis Models.

Matt

[willy6]

I have never studied "Economics" in school, but I would think if Athearn / MDC products will be hard to get,model railroaders might go after "Easy to get stuff" and put Horizon in a bind.I just think this is a blow to "OUR GREAT HOBBY!!!!!!!!!!!"

[simon1966]

Let us assume for a moment that the management of Horizon have decided to invest significantly in the Model Railroad business for a reason. Perhaps they are train enthusiasts and just want to carry a line of trains? Much more likely, they see this as a market opportunity and a way to grow their business. Therefore, it is impossible to pass any real judgement until we see what they choose to do with their investment. For now, I prefer to take the positive stance that a company with considerable expertise and experience in the hobby field has chosen to invest in Model Railroading.

[Anonymous]

There is always a reason a business is for sale. If the return on invested capital was not there for Athearn and MDC they may just have disappeared on their own over a few years. All the doomsaying about what the future holds is a bit premature IMHO. If some product is discontinued and there is a demand for that item, I would venture a guess that someone else will fill in the void. If a demand for kits prevails and Horizon only wants to supply RTR, I believe someone else will step in to fill the market void. The comings and goings among suppliers has gone on for years, but we have always been able to purchase the items we desire. Maybe we have to wait for things to settle down, but so what? I felt abandoned when Varney, Red Ball, Globe, Central Valley and Silver Streak kits ceased to be available. Big deal. Better stuff is now available. If we wait for the dust to settle, I think we will all be pleasantly surprized.

There is only steam, everything else is just a hologram.

Tom

[BRAKIE]

I am taking a wait and see attitude as its to early to tell..I can still get Athearn products(except the blue box line kits) from 6 out of 8 hobby shops I routinely visit are already Horizon dealers.
1 Said no,he was not going to join Horizon and was thinking about dropping model railroad items anyway as 80% of his sales is in R/C ..The other shop is closing..The owner retires next week..

[Anonymous]

I work for a train shop, we have an account with Walters. Recently, I inquired about availability for items from Athearn and was told by the Sales Rep that they cannot supply items and Horizons was the place to go.

BTW, I also was told that they could not supply Rivarossi, they told me to try Hornby....

I guess Walters now will primarily be supplying Atlas and Woodland Scenics.

Personally I don't see that this will be an improvement.

[Anonymous]

I dislike POLLS, they really accomplish nothing (IMHO) as generally I have a different view that is not included in the poll. No bad aimed at the pollster!

Business changes seem to be a daily occurrence now days. What the change accomplishes/destroys takes quite a while to show up in the market place. I think Horizon is one of those large conglomerates that is gobbling up small companies. I believe Horizon is well established in the R/C hobby and wanting to become involved in MRRing. As the saying goes; Only time will tell! However, if I was younger I might have a more positive outlook. Given that I ain't, my position is influenced by experience, which leads me to the opinion there is always something lost with change.

[fuzzybroken]

Hmmm... I was surprised to see that Roundhouse was bought, although I shouldn't be. While always a strong company with a decent product line, they have always been an "also-ran" to Athearn, at least in the last 20 or so years that I've been modeling, in my opinion. If the RTR lines weren't so "popular", I would say that I hope that more standardization would occur between the Athearn and Roundhouse product lines, but I really can't say much more than that. And I, too, would prefer to build my own kits.

I'm sure Walthers will work out a deal to handle the lines, but it won't be as advantageous for hobby shops, since the markups will be cut. Horizon wants their corner of the market, and they'll take as much as they can get.

[2c],
-Mark Hintz
http://www.geocities.com/fuzzybroken

[Fergmiester]

I have mixed feelings with regards to buyouts. I believe in a strong market that can sustain its self at the same time I don't like to see the little guy bought out as individualism is sacrificed. Both LHS's in my area are not too happy with Horizon as there so called credit checks seem to exceed "The Right to Privacy" and want more than required info. And yes from what I'm told they exceed the governments level of intrusion. Again this is one side of the story and I am curious as to Horizon's side. As far as I'm concerned the IRS or Revenue Canada or what ever country you're from is the only body who should be allowed to see a corporate identity's books.

Privacy, providing it is done responsibly is a Right of Freedom.

Regards
Fergie

[fuzzybroken]

You know, come to think of it Walthers itself was building its own "empire" of sorts some years back. They bought Train Miniature, Silver Streak, Ulrich, and Magnuson just to name a few. (That's all I can think of offhand.) Of course, most of those companies were failing or owed Walthers money at the time, while Athearn and MDC seemed to be doing fairly well before being bought by Horizon.

Is history repeating itself?

Will the Athearn and Roundhouse names eventually disappear under the Horizon banner, not to mention Rail Power Products? Or are they strong enough brands to stand on their own?

What else will Horizon buy?

Time will tell. The hobby is changing.

-Mark
http://www.geocities.com/fuzzybroken

[BRAKIE]

I can understand why Horizon is careful who they extend credit to...I know of 3 hobby shops that has to pay cash up front for their orders because their credit is shot with their regular distributors..Of course the hobby shop owners had no kind words for their former distributors usually blaming them for not filling their orders so they had to switch distributors. Now these hobby shops require a deposit on the items their customers order...Sorry I don't play that game as you never know when the order will be in or if your order was all of a sudden "Backed Ordered"...

[darth9x9]

I talked to a LHS owner a couple of days ago and she reported that Horizon has relaxed their standards. Horizon was more willing to work with her than what has been previously reported. I guess Horizon realizes it won't be "there way or the highway."