It is pricey, and the sound is a little strange.
.
But Dang! That is one beautiful model of a caboose. I am very impressed.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Well Tom, different strokes for different folks. The horn/whistle might be useful to some. The moos and oinks, maybe less so.
Remember, Athearn did the mechanical reefers with the sound of the engine running the refrigeration unit - they did sell and some liked it. They probably thought it was cool to see the reefers roll by with the refrigeration sound, just like the real thing when railfanning.
I get-it, not everyone is into sound, even engine prime mover or horns for that matter. As some say, vote with your wallet. There isn't much point in 50 choruses in "my wallet is safe", but we will have to endure some anyway.
For caboose era fans, probably mainly of the 60's thru 80's, these will be very welcome, depending on RR modeled. I'm hoping for some ICC D&RGW to be among the offerings in a later run. D&RGW did pool some trains with the UP so one of them might be useful to me.
Cabooses that match real cabooses, at least to me, are a signature look for the railroads they served. So much so that even when funds were tight, I managed to hunt down and buy a few D&RGW shop built cabooses as the Athearn Santa Fe cabooses painted in D&RGW livery just loolked wrong to me. But everyone has their level of what they are willing to accept.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
And they excluded the flushing toilet??? I liken it to the BLI stock car that moos & oinks. No thanks...
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Ah, finally someone here noticed the Athearn Genesis announcement.
The lighted cabooses are more my style, sound probably not and for the extra cost...
But since you asked, its all on the website:
http://www.athearn.com/Search/Default.aspx?SearchTerm=gencaboose+ATHG&CatID=THRF&PageSize=72
http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATHG78318
There have already been discussion going on elsewhere regarding the new line of Genesis cabooses, with a lot of complaints about the price. The "light only" version is MSRP $109.98 and the lights + sound version are MRSP $149.98.
And for a little perspective, back in 2011/12 when Athearn announced the Genesis Bay Window (mostly SP and some WP) cabooses, they were MRSP $99.98, which is only ten dollrrs different than the new lights only equivelent.
Some suggest, and may be right, that cabooses are one of the major untapped models and Athearn states they plan to do a large project to cover quite a few prototypical versions. This run is the tip of the iceberg.
For people the period that International Car Company (ICC) cabooses were manufactured and ran, these should be very popular. Cabooses IMO can be signature rolling stock in giving the right look for trains of certain railroads and periods. There are probably some who don't care and may be satisfied with the Athearn and Atlas cabooses that have been made for many years. The Genesis cabooses may not be aimed some kinds of customers.
This caboose is under genisess line but what soundd can a caboose have?