Blue box is OK, but Accurail kits have much better deail and aren't that much harder to assemble. I believe Accurail is still cranking out new kits. I'd be super happy if they'd add a little more variety to their lineup, to include PS covered hoppers, modern tank cars, centerbeam flats, etc.
Kit nostalgia aside, I can appreciate the value of a decently-detailed and reasonably-priced RTR model. I've got a backlog of a couple dozen kits that will probably take years to get to. My free time is at an extreme premium right now, and what little bit of hobby time I have is focused elsewhere. RTR is nice because I can run trains immediately and spend my limited modeling time on layout construction or loco detailing. If I had to scratchbuild or kit-assemble everything in this hobby, at this stage in my life I'd probably just give up and stick to railfanning.
Dan Stokes
My other car is a tunnel motor
Unfortunatly that is true i just loved putting them together passed the time and got lost in doing it
Probably won't see them again while they can spend 3 min. assembling them, add metal wheels & sell them for 3 times as much. Also Ready to Run is more popular than kits today. Gives you more time to play computer games!
I miss the athearn blue box kits i loved them most of my trains before i sold them where athearn blue box starting over again and finding some out there just wished they would come back