Horizon Hobbies: Exclusive Athearn Distributor as of 3/1/04

[Anonymous]

Both of my local Hobby Shops have assured me that they will continue to carry Athearn past the cutoff date. I depend on Athearn cars as a less expensive alternative to some ready to run.

I think Walthers will be allowed to carry Athearn, not a word anywhere has been until now, suggested that they will cease to carry Athearn.

My rolling stock is pretty much finished out, all I am doing now is stocking up on nuts, bolts, coupler plates and covers for these cars. So I can continue maintaining these Athearn cars into the forseeable future.

[Anonymous]

Dealer, Thanks for the update!

I have to admit that over the years, I have sorta lost interest in Athearn. I have not bought much of their rolling stock since Accurail came out. I am a big fan of Accurail products. I also think Branchline Yardmaster Series are nice products.

Athearn, Walthers, Intermountain and other company's turning towards RTR stuff does not interest me either. In fact, I am steadily selling my Athearn rolling stock on Ebay and replacing it with Accurail, Branchline, Red Caboose, Proto 2K and other. I have all the diesels I need.

It just appears Athearn is heading in a direction that I am not. I am sorry to see these changes, however as Athearn has been a benchmark and industry leader in HO for so long!

[Anonymous]

Horizon has stated that as of March 1st they will be the exculsive supplier of Athearn products. Walthers and other distributors have told their dealers the same thing.

As a dealer, I have not made up my mind about dropping Athearn. As of late, Athearn has had very little to offer my entry level customers. My high-end customers tend to buy from mail order houses or ebay, for obvious reasons.

I am leaning toward Walthers Trainline, Rivarrosi, Stewart, and a few others for locomotives. When Athearn drops the blue boxes, we will probably invest our money in more Accurail kits.

The RTR rolling stock is kind of up for grabs. The Athearn RTR rolling stock has been selling well. Walthers could make a deal with an OEM and produce a new line of RTR rolling stock to fill the Athearn void. We will have to wait and see how this goes.

As you well know, Brick & Mortar Dealers feel that they have been facing unfair competition from garage and swap meet dealers. The Horizon restictions with respect to non-Brick & Mortar Dealers will very likely help your local Brick & Mortar hobby stores. These restrictions are commonplace in the hobby industry. I have been required to send photos of my store front and industry references to a number of distributors. I see the Horizon dealer requirements as simply leveling the playing field for robust competition. Horizon encourages Brick & Mortar dealers to participate in ecommerce so that you can buy your modelrailroading supplies over the internet. You should still see pricing competition of the internet.

[Hawks05]

i'm glad this weekend that i'm going to the hobby shop and i'm hopefully going to come home with 10-15 kits. depending on price. i also plan on buying some Accurail and Roundhouse kits depending on what they have.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the draw down in Athearn's inventory at hobby dealers isn't because of the sale of the company. This may be in an effort to lower the purchase value of the company, making it easier for Horizon to come up with the money.

Lou1963, have you had bad dealings with Horizon? Why would this change force you to stop buying Athearn products? Who's to say that Walthers will not carry Athearn products? I certainly haven't heard that they will not.

[Anonymous]

i saw in the most recent issue of model railroader that as of March 1, 2004, Horizon Hobbies becomes the exclusive distributor of Athearn products to hobby shops. the days of ordering Athearn products from Walthers are coming to an end in a few weeks folks. so the only way one will be order to Athearn locomotives and rolling stock is if through the local hobby shop(provided they want to do business with Horizon. As for me i will be switching over to MDC , Walthers, and Accurail for my rolling stock needs. Athearn stock is getting to expensive and hard to locate at hobby shops in michigan.