Athearn rumor

[Anonymous]

I was at my local train shop yesterday and the guys there were telling me that Athearn is going to stop making dummy engines and that they were going to have its products manufactured in China. Can anyone confirm or deny this. I also heard the packaging was going to be changing to a box with a clear plastic on top for viewing. If is is true about the enigines what kind of quality are we going to get?

[nfmisso]

All of the diesel Genesis SD70/70M are made in China, as are the recent steam locomotive models in the line.

Atlas, LifeLike Proto2000, Bachmann Spectrum are all made in China.

Athearn long ago published that they were going to stop making dummies. The business case doesn't work. They are one of the few still offering dummies.

Athearn has previously stated that some of thier products will be assembled or made in China.

InterMountain's ready to run cars are assembled in China. IM sends over undec kits, for finishing in China. The IM RTR cars are comparable to the Kadee box cars.

Take sometime to read the boxes, anything coming from outside the USA has a "Made in ..." or "Assembled in ...."

Nigel

[dknelson]

Over the years Athearn has had many problems meeting OSHA and other requirements when they paint their stuff. So in a sense the business is almost forced overseas by regulation

I imagine most hobby shops are tired of guys opening the boxes to see what is in side and losing some parts in the process. The cardboard boxes are OK by me but I can imagine a market desire for clear plastic. Many hobby shops open the boxes and use shrinkwrap to show what is inside.
dave nelson

[Anonymous]

I think that virtually all of Athearn's production will be moved to China. As the previous post noted, California is not user friendly to companies that use paint. The only major manufacturer still producing in the US is Model Die Casting. I have heard that they will be moving production to China as well.

As to your issue with quality, I would expect that the new Athearn locomotives will be of better quality than in the past. Their new RTR locos will be DCC ready. The details on rolling stock and locos is much better. Note the new handrails on locos and cabooses.

With the recent acquisitions that Athearn has made, I think that we will see a greater variety of locos. Also, I suspect that the classic blue box models will become smaller part of their product line.

[Anonymous]

I would like to know. I was at the great american train show in Sacramento. At one big booth selling Athearn blue box kits and ready to run products. He had raised the prices on these two to three times, and was telling everyone that the prices were raised, because Athearn was no longer selling or manufacturing the blue box kits. Tony

[Anonymous]

The problem goes deeper than just paint regulations. If that were the only problem they could just move to another state Most do'nt have those excessive regs. It's about the money.Cheap overseas labor.That sound you hear when you pry open that new clear plastic box is not just tearing plastic,it's the sound of more jobs leaving the U.S.A. Wiggs.

[douginut]

Have you actually SEEN the new Athern boxes and products?
They are truly beautiful, exquisitely made and the boxes allow a true shopping of the product without opening the box and possibly dropping the product into the hobby shop carpet.

As for lost jobs, yes it has happened to ME twice in the last ten years.
Once when the hobby products we made (sorry different hobby) were undersold by a foreign supplier that paid their folks 3.60 per hour to the 9.52 we paid here and again when the tech support job went to India and some very nice ( I have met several of them and they are) folks that made 250 dollars a MONTH instead of my 2200.
I still have good work but that is the way of the world.

[jsanchez]

Athearn is still cranking out a lot of product in the USA, the blue box kits are still the best selling line of Ho trains period, who ever the dealer is that said they stopped making them in Sacremento is plain out lying and trying to take advantage of unsuspecting model railroader's They are stll releasing about 30 different ho items a month from the California plant. Other USA manufacture's of HO are Bowser, LBF MDC, Accurail, Kadee, Stewart Products, Red Caboose, etc there are many more. Most of the ready to run products are done in China due to the low labor costs, no EPA and high quality control, also tooling cost are much lower.

[Anonymous]

Based on various posts at the atlasrr.com site, I get the impression that Atlas is moving their Bluebox production overseas as well since they use the same molds for their RTR products.