Athearn car kits available

[Eriediamond]

Sparky, that is good news. I was a given a 4-6-2 Pacific in Atlantic Coast Line livery as a gift from one or our elderly handicapped members a couple of years ago. I made an 80 some mile trip to my hobby shop and picked out an Athearn 4 car consist of Pullman green passenger cars for it. I did it as much for him as myself, even though it did stretch the old budget a little. I would like to add a few more cars, but I can find only the ACL purple ones. Hopefully my Pullman green will be available again.

[simon1966]

This is great news. I was at the local GATS 2 weeks ago and several of the dealers were giving the impression that the "blue box" was on the way out. Of course this would be their impression, as most of them do not have a shop front, and presumably will not be able to get Athearn kits anymore. Athearn has a real PR nighmare on its hands right now as there are far too many voices at shows and on the internet indicating that these kits are on the way out. With internet dealers, ebay retailers and hobby show vendors being cut out of the foodchain, sales must surely go down significantly, simply because the market will not have access to the product. Anyway, Horizon must surely know more about the economics of the model industy than I do, so I guess they know what they are doing. All i can say is that this family has, and would continue to purchase blue box kits, but I just watched 80% of my buying opportunities dry up!

[CP5415]

http://www.athearn.com/aa/2004kits.htm
This is a link to a list that Athearn emailed to everyone that subscribes to their online newsletter.
Even though there are no "new" kits, it does show that Athearn is STILL meking the Bluebox's!

Gordon

[Anonymous]

That's good to hear, Sparky - I see where they've re-released their derrick flat cars, which have been out of production for ages.

I emailed the people at Athearn recently, and they assured me that the blue box kits, including the undecorated ones, will continue to be made, as long as we continue to buy them, i.e. as long as there is a demand. Of course, they could always be lying, who knows? But that's the word from the horse's mouth, as it were.

I've seen a lot of sellers on eBay and elsewhere trying to create a panic by saying that kits would discontinued and no longer available in the future, with the sale of Athearn to Horizon. Don't know where they're getting their information, from their distributors maybe?

Although I see on LBF's website that they'll be discontinuing some of their kits, and will only have RTR of some of their product lines.

[sparkingbolt]

Something I saw somewhere eluded to the idea that some new (rereleased) Athearn car kits might be available. Maybe it was on eBay. Anyway , long story short, I called my LHS and found that the Southern Pacific flatcars, 40 and 50 footers that I had been looking for are available. I ordered a slug of them. They arrived when promiced, along with a small but nice variety of other types and roadname cars for general stock on the shelves.

I'd like to think this is a step in the right direction for Horizon. Time will tell, but hey! go ask your LHS for these if they don't already have 'em on the way. They are made in the U.S. too. My Athearn cars now outnumber any other brand on my layout, as when I was in my young early model RR days. Kind of a neat feeling. [:)] Dan