CurtMc wrote: This the cold war of model railroads going on Neither carry the other and force dealers to use them. THey are also buying up all the little guys into their companies as well.
This the cold war of model railroads going on
Neither carry the other and force dealers to use them. THey are also buying up all the little guys into their companies as well.
For years Walthers has been the big Gorilla in USA model train world.
Walthers has been buying up the little guys for years. When Walthers buys out a small company, most of their products seem to disappear fairly quickly.
While the discount hobby shops do buy from Walthers, they can only maintain the discounts because the have others sources for products that are not Walthers exclusives.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
G Paine wrote:When Athern disappared from Walthers a couple of years ago, I e-mailed Walthers and MR about it. They replied Walthers and Horizon had negotiated but could not come to an agreement on terms, so they went thir separate ways. Too bad, but I guess Horizon is not hurting for the loss of Walthers as a distributor.
And I suspect Horizon isn't hurting from the lost of Life Like either..
To bad corporate America had to raise its ugly head in the hobby..But,I suppose its a sign of the times in a shrinking hobby.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
CrazyDelmar wrote: Athearn is now owned by Horizon??? Thats news for me!!! At least Horizon is based up in Champaign,IL (if i remember right) so I won't have far to go!
Athearn is now owned by Horizon???
Thats news for me!!!
At least Horizon is based up in Champaign,IL (if i remember right) so I won't have far to go!
Where've you been? Horizon announced the acquisition of Athearn in January 2004 and became Athearn's exclusive distributor in March of that year. Walthers purchased Life-Like's Toy and Hobby Division on July 14, 2005.
You can take a trip up to Champaign, but you might be disappointed. Horizon Hobby doesn't have a retail store like Walther's Terminal Hobby Shop. They do offer online shopping.
SCL1923 wrote:Yes ,oh yes. Many of us here in the states model European roads. I wish Walthers carried more Loco's and cars. They do have plenty of the roadside structures and figures though. I did not know that Athearn had chosen someone else to be it's destributor.
European trains, Reynauld's-Euro Imports
http://www.reynaulds.com/
I may be wrong, but didn't walthers attempt a merger with athearn a long long time ago? Now that I think about it I'm probably wrong. Anyway, my hobby shop doesn't carry any products made by walthers. I hope they still carry life like stuff though!
Athearn does occasionally make a product sold exclusively by Walthers, like an Amtrak Acela AMD-103, which I think is being offered right now.
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Tom Curtin wrote: ...Businesses operate in a world of unusual alliances today, and the line between your ally and your competitor is often very gray indeed.
...Businesses operate in a world of unusual alliances today, and the line between your ally and your competitor is often very gray indeed.
Yeah, just look at trackage rights agreements between UP and BNSF as a great example. Strange bedfellows, indeed!
Dan Stokes
My other car is a tunnel motor
When Horizon Hobby acquired Athearn, they became the exclusive distributor, which locked Walthers out.
Walthers carries a number of European lines not only because a fair number of modelers in North America model European railroads but because a lot of what is in those lines is applicable to any country.
Incidentally, Walthers catalog has never been a definitive compendium of what's availble in model railroading. There are many product lines that have either been exclusive to other distributors or are not sold in distribution at all. In addition, Walthers often picks and chooses products from a manufacturer's line, meaning there are other products you would never see in their book.
Your best bet for learning about what's really out there is still your local hobby shop. Hobby shops buy from a number of distributors and from manufacturers who sell only to retailers.
SCL1923 wrote:WOW! I just went to Horizon Hobbies and quickly checked out the parts department. On first pass it seems wonderful. Go to the website, and save it in your favorites, it's a keeper. Thanks for putting up the topic and thanks for the Horizon Hobbies reply.Now, what can I order from them! lol
Why order from them when you can buy the same parts at discount?
http://www.1stplacehobbies.com/superdetail.asp?lid=0&cp=1&sp=1&sc=H&mfg=140&keys=&walthers=&pl=&ph=
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
Walthetrs did --- until Athearn was sold to Horizon Hobby. Horizon is another distributor that is essentially Walthers' competitor.
Speaking as one who teaches strategy for a living, I wouldn't be surprised to see Horizon resume selling Athearn products through Walthers at some point. Businesses operate in a world of unusual alliances today, and the line between your ally and your competitor is often very gray indeed.
Hope I'm not starting a controversial subject here, but I've always wondered why Walthers doesn't carry Athearn products. I really like to use the Walthers catalog as a reference to (most) everything that's available in the world of model railroading when I'm planning purchases of rolling stock, locomotives, structures, etc. But not carrying Athearn, who I think of as sort of the General Motors of model railroading, seems like a huge gap. Are there any other important manufacturers that I'm missing out on when I browse the Walthers catalog?
And while I'm on the subject, why oh why has Walthers always carried so much European merchandise? Are there really that many people in America modeling trains through the Black Forest?
No offense meant to Walthers, I think they're a great company, I've just always been bugged by these questions!