ModelRailroader.com Reader Poll – February 12, 2003

[Anonymous]

i usually pick up handfulls of the classic athearn "bluebox" kits when i can. i was only dissapointed with a few of the kits, like the 86' boxcars.(the coupler pocket never stayed in gauge, and kept sagging,and were not heavy enough). but, i had great times just popping on the weight, shell, couplers, and, you have another piece of good rolling stock! great for the price, too! i also had trouble with the husky stack sets, they just needed more weight, simple. you can't beat the selection, variety, roads, etc, for about 5 to 7 dollars in some shops!! i love the ready to run rolling stock, especially the genesis berwick, sieco, and gunderson boxcars. they are more expensive indeed, but, they ride smooth. i hate to see what lurks over the HORIZON. seems dark to me!

[Anonymous]

I put together a Blue Box kit yesterday, and have several more on the workbench to do this weekend. I love 'em! Can't beat the value, even at today's higher prices.

You also might be interested to know I emailed Athearn this week about the future of the Blue Box kits, especially the undecorated ones. They wrote back the next day and told me they have every intention to keep producing them, as long as demand warranted it. So for what ever it's worth, that's the word straight from the horse's mouth - maybe that will quiet a few a rumors about the kits going away. I'm including the actual exchange below:



At 05:49 AM 2/9/04 -0800, you wrote:
>Greetings to all in Athearn-land!
>
>I hope you will be able to answer my question. As you're no doubt aware,
>with the purchase of Athearn by Horizon Hobby, there is a lot of concern
>(panic?) about future product availability. One of the most persistent
>rumors in the modeling community is that undecorated kits will no longer
>be offered.
>
>Rather than listen to rumors, I would like to hear (if you can tell me)
>what "THE WORD" is on this from the folks in the company.
>
>Thank you very much for your time!
>
>A compulsive painter,
>
>Paul Carpenter


Paul,

We are do not have any plans to discontinue the production of undecorated
kits. In regards to our regular "Blue Box" product line (including
undecorated kits) please note that we have no intentions to discontinue
producing these items. We continue to produce these items on a daily basis
here at our plant and will continue to do so as long there is a sufficient
demand for those products.




Best regards,

Athearn, Inc.
www.athearn.com

[sparkingbolt]

Of my 72 freight cars total (45 running, 27 kits to go) 22 are Athearn. 9 of those are among the unbuilt kits.

My Athearn kits outnumber any other mfgr's kits, but at 18, P2K is second. Counting RTR, P2K does outnumber Athearn. I didn't realize this till I counted for this post. I thought (and hoped) the ratio of Athearn would be much higher.

This goes to prove Nigels (nfmisso) point in his post "Athearn Kits, time to move on" There are many other great kit mfgrs out there. I dont know how to post an active link, so where you see on your screen above, the address to this site, type in:

www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=10256 Maybe there's an easier way, but this worked for me.

He posted it on Dec 29, 2003. Dan

[Anonymous]

I have always had a lot of respect for Athearn products. I voted for the 2 years because of my present disability. For a long time I was unable to do much of anything on my model railroad, but as of late I have been slowly getting back into it.
That said I have always respected Athearn. Some of my first stuff was made by Athearn, and back in those days there was no such thing as RTR. I am hoping in the future to purchase more of the Athearn and hopefully they will still be the blue box

[sparkingbolt]

OK, so that website (see previous post above) went active when I posted! All the better. Dan

[connrail]

I find that Athearn blue box kits are great and have been building them for many years, in fact since they were priced at 29 or 39 cents in the 1950's. Add a little weight, Kadee couplers & metal wheels and you have a really nice affordable piece of rolling stock. There are still a goodly number of blue boxes including ones from custom painting companies like Bev-Bel under my layout to build and hope they will continue way into the future. Having problems with Osteoarthritis in my fingers, the kits are still easy enough to assemble but I do buy a few of the Genisis line- with the extra details, I think they are OK for the price right now. If the price goes up on any of Athearn's line, I will take a look at other manufacturers as my primary kit source. A point to think about is that many custom painting companies use undec Athearn kits as their primary source and both Horizon & Athearn had better watch their pricing- they may price themselves out of the market (my son is ready to boycott them right now).
tommy

[Anonymous]

I just built some yesterday that I had bought a couple years ago. They are very nice kits and it would be a real shame to lose them in the HO market.
Steve.
Cincinnati.

[Anonymous]

Blue box kits are easy to build or kitbash, and with some prudent weathering, look as good as kits that cost much more. For those new modelers, it's an inexpensive way to build a large fleet of rolling stock.

[Anonymous]

I built an Athearn auto carrier car a couple of years ago. It was cheap, easy to make (I didn't need any tools), and yet good quality. It is still just like new.

[Anonymous]

It's probably been 15 years since I built an Athearn kit. I switched scales from HO to N about that long ago. Still have some blue box stuff kicking around though. Al in SC

[Anonymous]

Greeting from Odessa, Texas! I answered over 2 years ago because currently I am in "G" 1:24 scale having graduated up from "HO" to"O" many years ago. I still have a few Blue Box kits in storage for a long overdue show train I planned on doing. It's unfortunate that the current market is for R-T-R out of the box stuff. I'm a modeler myself and cross-kit and kit bash even in "G" scale. No one seems to have the time and "models" today even in "G" it seems. Everyone thinks they are too busy to take the time to sit and relax and enjoy the feeling of pride that "I built this" that comes with a kit, even if it only took 30 minutes to assemble.

[Anonymous]

I like putting the Athearn Blue Box kits together, mostly the painting and decaling the Undec's for paint schemes not currently available. I recently did a fleet of 34' hoppers for a friends layout, private roadname, for his coal mines. There is still value in having kits like these on the market, yes in combination with the higher quality and fidelity of detail found on the Genesis models.

Cheers!
Dean

[Anonymous]

I have built 39 Athearn Kits in the last 30 to 40 days. I have an operating layout and also operate on a club layout. With operators with a varity of expertise the durability of Athearn products is outstanding. For more detail I buy other manufacturers kits for all around use and handling Athearn is the way to go.

[Anonymous]

I have been working with steam for the past two years. I have about 35 Athearns, mostly blue box kits, however. That comment applies to engines.
I have built rolling stock within the past 6 months. Denis [:)]

[Anonymous]

I find it very interesting to watch the industry going from the building model railroad kits to buying them off the shelf. If the hobby wants to stay viable, it should continue to offer kits that are detailed, but have to be put together and are priced much less than the current offerings of RTR offerings, which are too pricey. The young modeler, that the industry wants to attact to model railroading and continue to attact over the years, is not able (in most cases) to afford the RTR kits.

I would hope that Athearn and the other manufacturers continue to offer put together kits at reasonable prices.

[Anonymous]

i for one love the blue box kits .it keeps your skill level up to par. why build a model rail road if every thing is allready put togeather for you i love athern they need to stay on track as they have for 30* years .ps . keep the blue box on the market .boydtex in purdon texas

[Anonymous]

Completed a "Blue Box" last month and have many more on the shelf. Am very disappointed that "good old made-in-the-USA" Athearn has joined the China parade. I do my best to avoid China products and will go to Accurail or MDC before I'll buy a "Ready-to-Roll" or Genesis model from Athearn. If there are no model railroad manufacturers in the US, who will have a job to buy the products. Pick your industry; when the jobs leave, so do the salaries. I can put on my own details thank you.

[Anonymous]

I have been building Athearn car kits for more than 30 yrs. Putting a car kit together is more fun than just opening a box and putting a car on the track. I am a retired person and can not afford $30-$40.00 for a RTR car. Athearn car kits have provided an inexpensive way for beginners to get a start in the hobby, especially young modelers who have limited resources to spend. It would be a sad day for me and for the hobby if car kits are replaced by RTR's.

[Anonymous]

Probably two or more years ago. I've been mostly concentrating in my "layout-phase II" right now, so since I already have two locos and about a dozen or so mixed frieght and passenger, I'm sticking to plan, build , change mind, destroy, rebuild, change mind, etc...(vicious cycle, isn't it?)

[d4fal]

Hmmm. Judging from this, maybe I should try one out, even though HO is not my scale. I could still do a small diorama or even a modular layout if I get into it. Need all the practice I can, and I'd do anything just to see if I like it. When people find out you are into trains, all sorts of people offer you all sorts of things, and right now space is what is limiting me (at home, anyway).

[Anonymous]

Why Athearn? Well in my area Athearn and Roundhouse seem to dominate the shelves. Besides, with the exception of weight, the models fit my layout. I would like to see more of the older sizes - 35 and 40 foots cars. I'm happy.

[Anonymous]

I can't afford to chop up $30.00 kits

[orsonroy]

I voted last year, but...

I'm not sure of the motivation behind this poll question. Are you asking to gauge the popularity of Blue Box kits, or kits in general? Is this a pro-RTR poll, or an affirmation that Blue Boxes are still the backbone of most HO fleets?

Personally, I don't use BB kits any more, beause I like the challenge of assembling moe detailed kits. I also like the advances in accuracy and prototype fidelity in newer kits. Heck, I even build resin! But I do not think the BB's should go away, nor should they be limited runs. Most modelers either can't afford better detail or don't care. For that MAJORITY of the hobby, Athearn BB's are the perfect kits.

Please keep these things in mind when thinking about the meanings of any of these poll results.

[Anonymous]

I voted last year and realized after, it had really only been about 2 months. I still have Athearn kits I will build. If the question was when did you last buy an Athearn kit, I just bought an Athearn 4 park of Northern Pacific Hoppers last month.

[Anonymous]

I put togeather about 40 a year over the last 5 years we can not get readily available supplys hear in New Zealand as local shop closed ( owner died). I now have to buy over the online from the USA. I Was told when I visted ATHEARN in 1987 we sell the product at a good price. there are superior products around BUT at A price! Our ones are a lower price, where you can buy and make A SUPERIOR MODEL for a small cost! Now you have a choice its geting better year by year. I also re sell them made ready to roll well be for Athearn did (1990like) .
Have A Good Day, See You Down Trackside oOneday Soon?

[Anonymous]

When I was little, I liked Gerber food[:0]
Now that I'm older, I cant stand it![xx(]
Kinda like Athearn cars[(-D][(-D][(-D]

[AggroJones]

Last time I built one was a few days ago. There is nothing wrong with Athearn kits. They just need some enhancing and weathering to bring them up to level.

[Anonymous]

I had to vote for 2 years or more, not because I don't like the kits they're great. I moved last year and knew about it well before that. The old layout became scrap save for some of the basic benchwork, and a new one is rising from the ashes. I look forward to when new kits will be purchased and some of the older ones (unassembled) find their spot.

[ngfred]

Do you remember Varney? Great plastic kits. Had to eat ?????? and then send in the box? tops and get a car for 25cents. Yes, I am older than some of you. And I have blue blue boxs, and lots of cars. How about Binkely, Kemton, in HO n3. Varnwy made so very good kits. Also some I do not remember. Silver Streak?? and??? Does any one have the Main Driver Gear set for the Varney Birk. 2-8-4. Mine took a nose dive ane , Well!!![:(]
BLUE BOXES YES. $30.)) kits RTRS NO. Can not aford the $ on SS.
Fred in NC.

[Anonymous]

FYI


I voted Never, I'm not in HO scale, because I've never built one not because im not in HO.