ModelRailroader.com Reader Poll – January 15, 2004

[Anonymous]

I agree with johncolley[:(]. Its not rocket science folks. It always ends with people losing work after the corporate shakeup and rationalising occurs. Take a look at all the fallen flags and how their demise affected towns across the US. Soon we will be buying......LifeHorizMann kits!!!![xx(]

[Anonymous]

I just don't know. A person never knows what's going to happen in the future. This might turn out to be the best thing to happen to Athearn or it could be the worst, I guess we will just have to wait a see. As you can tell, I am scared. I got my start using Athearn ptoducts in the 60s. Does anybody remember the old rubber band drives?

[Anonymous]

I'am very worried about this merger! We in South Africa are already paying lots of money to get any Athearn stuff here! I'am wonder whats going to happen now! I hope they are not going to kill the hobby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

there is also a rumor, and i hear it's true, that horizon has sent disposable cameras to all the customers that sell athearn products as a proof that these retailers sell athearn products. i heard this from a hobby store not too far from me. you see, this is what kills a good thing, GREED!! we all have to suffer maybe in the future to higher prices of athearn products?! first of all, horizon deals mostly in the R/C CAR BUSINESS!! they have no right or experience to infiltrate our model railroad hobby or it's dealers. i think less and less "mom and pop" stores will deal with the athearn line due to a distribution price increase. this will hurt business, and modelers' pockets, leading to poor sales. athearn has started many of us off in this hobby, and irv athearn is probably rolling in his grave now! he would never do this. i also think the current owner of athearn is a little "hungry" too. this would not have happened without his "OK"! !! same thing happened with david levan and what was conrail. money talks, and greedmongers listen. this will hurt BEV-BEL too. everyone should email (like i did), and voice your disgust with these "outsiders". we are the only ones who help make athearn who they are, so let's raise hell !!!!!!

[rplyler]

This is not going to be good for any of us. I had a couple pieces of Athearn backordered and I was just told by my dealer that I will not be getting them as Horizon will not sell any Athearn to him. rplyler

[Anonymous]

The problems will come not from the purchase of the Athearn company, but from the closing of the doors to the vast majority of the distribution channels. If your hobby shop needs 25 new locos to fill its orders, including YOURS, but it only gets 15, to whom does it go to get the remainder? Shops could, and regularly did, order mostly from a single distributor, but if an order was shorted, they could go to others, who might have extras. That day is over.

Also, a great many sellers, on the Internet or at train shows, will no longer qualify to buy Athearn products from this distributor, so those sellers will be restricted to other brands. The sales of Athearn products overall, will decline, of that there is no doubt. And when you sell less of something, the price will go up.

If Horizon had made the purchase and left the distribution channels intact, it would be a good thing. Restraint of trade is never a good thing. They'll have to run fast and hard to keep from losing a major chunk of market share.

2004 is going to be a VERY interesting year.

[Anonymous]

Mergers in most corporate sectors happen because there are big guys and some medium size guys to join together. But who else will join with who, a Walther's Atlas venture - I doubt it. About the only merger that makes any sense to me is that MR buys out one of the N scale mags to get into the N scale mag business, that way it would be an easier in. But seriously, who's out there to go with whom.

What I would like to see is more creations like hobby craft canada that does a lot of specialized stuff for Canadians that Americans don't see on in the market. I could see something like that happening in the States.

[Anonymous]

The problem today is the delays in overseas manufacture after an announce ment of a new item. Elimination of one leg in the distribution channel(distributor owning manufacturer) will not eliminate this problem, but probably exacerbate it!

[Anonymous]

This arrangment could be a blessing to the industry if the manufactures product lines are not streamlined loosing many of the the older designs. These designs are the main stay of model roading. Lets hope these designs will be added too

[Anonymous]

This is a bit different, this is not one manufacture buying the competition,
This is a "distributor" who is buying successful manufactures
of a variety of hobby products.
If a distributor controls the, distribution of a popular product.
They can manipulate the prices of such. The popular Athearn
line is everywhere, and sometimes deeply discounted.
It was the way many folks got into this hobby, at a reasonable
cost, and with a very good product. With the distribution of
this product now changing, my only worry is how it will effect
just that, the availability of this good, and reasonably cost product.
And I am particularly referring to what is know as their "Blue Box Line"
That is the American made car and engine kits.

[johncolley]

Well, DUH! Look at the railroads in this country and Canada for the answer to your question. It ain't "Rocket Surgery", folks!

[Anonymous]

Just like we resisted manufacturers from the Asian continent, we as a group are suspicious of cchange in the industry we support. Those old mistrusted Asian engines are now the ones we've got to own. The Athearn family built a legendary dynasty that more or less ended. If another manufacturer is up to the challenge of maintaing forward progress with Athearn products, I can only say, "Good luck."

[Anonymous]

I hope it doesn't cause a flurry of consolidations in the future. Also, I hope the product doesn't suffer down the road as they might hurry to put new items on the market. As I'm in N gague, I hope the products don't suffer. Was looking forward to the Athearn line to be duplicated in "n" down the road as they would give us a lot more choices that we have now.
Al South Carolina

[IRONROOSTER]

Seems to me over time a number of the manufacturers get bought - I seem to remember that Walthers bought a few over the years. I don't recall any major buying frenzies. The bigger worry seems to be that the company eventually disappears altogether. I'm thinking of Silver Streak, Ulrich and others.
Enjoy
Paul

[Anonymous]

All industries tend to consolidate over time. There are efficiencies associated with being bigger--particularly as manufacturing moves overseas. The smaller businesses will not be able to compete.

QUOTE: While it is true that Corporate America is always looking for business to buy, they do not always look for a good fit. In fact some corporations go on a buying spree only to run succesful businesses into the ground. Think about Lionel during the General Mills era or what happened to Burma-Shave when they sold out.

The acquisitions of today are more synergistic than when General Mills bought out Lionel. In the 1960s & 1970's the Wall Street darlings were conglomerates who owned a lot of different companies in multiple industries. The idea was that over the long term there wouold be more balanced growth--less vulnerability to economic cycles. These companies were taken apart in the 1980's because they lacked commercial synergy. The acquisitions of today are made by people who undersdtand the business and can wring out duplicative costs.

[Anonymous]

Unlike most categories of business, there are not a lot of large, cash-rich or otherwise financially attractive companies involved in model railroading. At some point somebody may want to buy, say, Walthers, or the parent of Model Railroader, but beyond that you are dealing with a lot of very small to at best mid-sized companies that don't even show on the radar of larger companies out there looking for acquisitions.

John

[detting]

While it is true that Corporate America is always looking for business to buy, they do not always look for a good fit. In fact some corporations go on a buying spree only to run succesful businesses into the ground. Think about Lionel during the General Mills era or what happened to Burma-Shave when they sold out.

As for buying all your model RR supplies from the same place - as long as there are people who are willing to work out of their basements to make resin kits because of their love of trains and this hobby, there is hope this will never happen.

Later...

[Anonymous]

If a successfull business owner desires to sell, he will sell. Corporate America is constantly looking for profitable businesses to purchase. I worry that eventually we might all be buying everything we need or want from a single corporate entity!!

[2c]

[Bergie]

Do you think Horizon Hobby’s purchase of Athearn will prompt other consolidations within the model railroading industry? Please vote then share your comments below.

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