News from Athearn!

[espeefoamer]

A great boost to all Jedi and everyone connected to the" light side" of the force[:p]!

[dknelson]

Yellow box? Heck, anyone remember the very handsome and classly looking black box?
I have my share of P2k and intermountain and Tichy and red caboose kits and I do find some of the Athearn tooling just outdated and not accurate enough for me anymore but I do have to say .... there are nights when I am in a lousy mood, it's late, I just want to sit at the work bench, and I reach to my stack of unbuilt blue box kits and build one. I don't feel like king of the hill when I'm done, it's not like building a craftsman kit from Ambroid, but it is nice to be totally done by bedtime and know the car will run just fine and look ok.
Dave Nelson

[ClinchValleySD40]

They should have gone back to the yellow box.

[mondotrains]

The news about Athearn blue box kits is great!

How many of us recall the thrill of going to a hobby shop and reading the end of an Athearn blue box kit describing the contents and then opening that little treasure to see what the actual item looks like. It was always a great surprise. Heck, I still go into my closet with all my toys and get a thrill out of opening those blue box kits to reacquant myself with what I've bought over the years. There are several dozen kits just waiting to be built, but who wants to rush.

Now, I'm waiting for one of the rivet counters to chime in with "who cares about blue box kits because they don't have see-through roof walks, the stirrups are too thick and the ladders and grab irons are molded on". A note to rivet counters....please resist trying to discourage us folks who still can enjoy life's simple and inexpensive pleasures without getting anal retentive.

Mondo

[AntonioFP45]

QUOTE: Originally posted by davekelly

[tup][tup][tup][tup][tup][tup]

Wonder if the folks from Athearn read these forums?

Yes, they sure do! I've communicated with Athearn personnel before.

If you look along the bottom of these thread pages, you can often see the "anonymous guests" that are reading our posts.

Chances are pretty good that some of those "guests" work for companies like Athearn, Atlas, MTH, LIfe Like, etc..

After doing a little reseach I've found that this forum is rated more highly than I first realized!

[RedLeader]

I hope they use the same quality as their Ready-to-roll, but in a kit version. I also hope they did something about that horrible grinding noise too. I hope they start production with those gorgeous FP45s the Nichole Kidman of diesels.

[Anonymous]

Is this new news? The box is the same box my Caboose kit came in when I bought it back in January[%-)]

Trevor[:)]

[Anonymous]

Dittos to the comments made. My first BB kit was a 50' CB&Q "Chinese Red" box car--and 45 years later (!) I still have a soft spot for CB&Q cars, even though I model a switching road in the Northeast! I remember the "Hustler" and my first F-7, both with "Hi-F" drive--i.e., rubber band drive! I remember the 0-4-2, "Li'l Monster" and Athearn's first Pacific, a pretty good looking 4-6-2. Much of my car fleet of 200+ is BB Athearn, detailed and weathered--and rugged! I, too, now buy more "high end" cars and love the Kato and Stewart switchers but also get a warm feeling seeing the old BB Athearn that took me from my first HO "train set," a Marx F-3 (?) and a few cars. It was like going into a whole new world! I still miss that CB&Q 50' box car!

[Anonymous]

Hopefully this will put all the rumours about the BBs to rest once and for all.

And I plan to forward that email to every eBay seller I see who keeps telling people the BBs are going away.

BLUE BOX ROCKS![8D]

[Vampire]

When I was a kid, Athearn stuff was my bread and butter. Their loco's ran well, noisy or not, and their kits were great practice for a novice modeller. They were also a step up from some of the real toy-like stuff I had (Tyco, Model Power, AHM, etc).

When I got back into the hobby 7 or 8 years ago after about a 10 year absence, I remember stepping into the hobby shop and seeing the old familiar blue boxes on the shelves. It made me feel very comfortable, like seeing old friends again. I'm happy they aren't dropping this line in favor of all-Genesis or RTR. True, I do enjoy the advances made by other manufacturers whose kits have superior detailing and better prototype fidelity, but I'll always have a little soft spot for Athearn.

[davekelly]

[tup][tup][tup][tup][tup][tup]

Don't need to say much more than that!!

Wonder if the folks from Athearn read these forums?

[Anonymous]

That is great news.

There is stability in the universe!

As with many products in this world, while there are top-of-the-line what's-it's of every kind, the average consumer is still extremely important.

I'm very happy to hear this staple of our hobby is here to stay, and that many parents & children will still be standing in hobby shops staring at walls of affordable boxcars & locomotives.

Getting back into the hobby for the first time as an adult, I'm glad to hear the blue boxes will still be available. You could practice weathering, kitbashing, etc. without the fear of damaging something you paid an arm & a leg for.

Excellent!!!

[AntonioFP45]

Roger that on Simon1966!

So many of us got the "jump" into the hobby by graduating from Tycos and Life Like "toy trains" and buying our first Athearn BB.

No doubt, Athearn has made a great contribution to this hobby that should never be overlooked.

[simon1966]

Thanks for posting this. I don't think you are opening a can of worms. While we have had many discussions on this forum about the value of the BB and how it has been surpassed by other offerings, I don't think that anyone would disagree that there is a valuable place for this product line in the market. I hope that they upgrade some of the molds and details to keep pace with other vendors.

[CP5415]

I received this today from Athearn

Athearn News

Almost 60 years ago in his mother's kitchen, Irv Athearn founded Athearn trains to meet what he saw was the need of the model railroad enthusiast; quality products at value pricing. His belief was that for the model railroad hobby to flourish, high value products were paramount. The cornerstone for Athearn over the last 60 years has been the Athearn regular line, or commonly referred to as the 'Blue Box', of rolling stock and locomotive kits. The Blue Box has become so ubiquitous with quality and value over the last 60 years that virtually all new products are compared to these high value models to determine their true worth.

Athearn has gone thru many changes over the last 60 years, but one truth has always held; provide model railroad hobbyist high quality at the best price. Today, Athearn still produces all Blue Box products in our facility in California and although many rumors fly about regarding its imminent cancellation we have no such intention. The Blue Box is too important to this hobby. As a matter of fact, we are providing a face lift to the Blue Box; we are rolling back the calendar and will now be using the classic Athearn packaging featuring the Warbonnet passenger train. This packaging was first utilized in the late 1950's, but we felt it was time to reacquaint customers with the legacy Irv Athearn created.

To see the new box go to your local hobby shop or for an immediate fix see this link:

http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/newbox/Box2005.jpg

That's it for today!


The Folks at Athearn

I guess Athearn still has no plans of dropping the BB line

Gordon

P.S.

I hope I haven't opened a new can of whatever with this.
I just thought I'd let people know! [:D]