Athearn kit modelers

[CP5415]

I actually prefer Athearn stuff over everything else.
They're durable, especially when my 3 year old is around.
Sure other manufacturers locomotives run quieter & you can accurately count the number of rivets on a boxcar, Athearn's offerings are tough to beat.

Do this test

Drop an Athearn boxcar & an Atlas Boxcar from say Layout top level.
See how many pieces break off the Athearn vs the Atlas!

Gordon

[BRVRR]

Most of my locomotive roster is Athearn Blue Box kits as are most of my freight cars and half of my passenger cars. I have a few Roundhouse kits as well. Once the locos are tuned, detailed and a proper decoder installed they run as well as my PK2s. I have Bachmann and BLI steamers too. If I had to buy nothing but high end Atlas, Kato, Rivirossi and PK2 locomotives, my railroad would be severely power poor!. As it is, I'm happy, the railroad operates and if I want or need a new BB loco, I don't break the bank purchasing it. I just hope the line continues into the future.

[aloco]

About 90 per cent of my rolling stock fleet consists of Athearn blue box cars. I like them because they are durable, and above all, cheap. As for locomotives, I have about a dozen blue box units and they all run reasonably well. The only Athearn blue box locos I didn't like were the switchers. They ran too fast and stalled on switch frogs, so I replaced all my Athearn SWs with Life-Like units.

[BRAKIE]

Paul said:Um, Brakie, IIRC, David Harrison said good things about the Kato's dependibility on the long distance torture tests he runs at that museum, didn't he?
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Sure did..He also stated that they used some newer Athearn SD40-2s with good results.

And while LL certainly copied the Athearn drive, they made it better...
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Sure did..Only by adding the weight that Athearn failed to add over the years except for the super powered F7.But we won't mention the gears,trucks,motors and drive shafts are interchangeable.Nor will we mention the crack gear issue of the P2Ks,the warped handrails that came with the SW9/1200 and other noted problems such as the locomotive side frames being to thick on the SD60 as well as some other minor detail flaws.
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And while Atlas may or may not have helped Kato, the fact remains that the Katos are still some of the best drives around while Atlas does have it's little bumps in the road from time to time (remember the new RS-1's?).
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Yup..I also recall the Kato complaints on the Atlas forum as well.Paint to thick,wrong details etc but,we won't recall those posts will we? Kato is far from the best of the best..
Paul,That is a little known fact that Atlas help design the proved Atlas/Kato drive.
Reading the complaints found on the Atlas forum about all brands I can't help but wonder if the high dollar locomotives is worth buying?

[dwRavenstar]

Hi guys and gals,

I was raised with the creedo that there's two ways to have the tallest building in the neighborhood; build yours up or tear all the others down. The difference is that when you set to tearing down you mark yourself as a target for the same and will soon certainly fail in your quest.

Were I modelling for the sake of ego gratification my pike would be in a glass walled room out near the sidewalk and every piece of rolling stock and motive power would have a gaudy price tag fluttering in a simulated breeze. I'm involved with this hobby for fun and personal satisfaction that comes from clean operation and accomplishment.

The folks that knock your collection are either just jazzing you or have weaknesses that they don't want you to see. They want you absorbed with self-doubt and on the defensive 'cause they don't want you looking for the cracks in their own plaster.

There are some in this world who would join a group of people who take long walks in their bare feet and they would hassle some of the other members because the thickness of their callousses (sp?) just doesn't display a "proper" dedication to the hobby.

I say smile, tell them that in the greater scheme of things they may well be right and then screw 'em all!! [}:)] When you've sorted and built seven trains, delivered and recovered one hundred cars from your variety of businesses and everything is back in the barn with your derailments and miscues able to be counted on one hand; the Mfg. of your equipment isn't a matter for consideration. HAVE FUN!!!!

BTW: Got the initial benchwork done on the KKWRR during this four day break and hope to start laying track after the 4X12's I start tomorrow night. Gotta get something done, the seven ATHEARN locos I've collected over the last couple months need a sand box to play in. [:D]

Dave (dwRavenstar)

[Anonymous]

Paul Cutler Wrote:

And while LL certainly copied the Athearn drive, they made it better...

That right, that is why everybody is calling Life Like for new gears or substituting Athearns that don't break

Rick

[IRONROOSTER]

If you like the blue box kits, you'd better buy them now. If history is any guide, when a manufacturer is sold the line diminishes, then disappears. Anyone remember the Central Valley line of cars, the Ulrich metal cars, and many others.

I'd run blue box but Athearn doesn't make S scale. None-the-less I recently bought 4 of the blue box kits just to have a few a round. (I think I crossed a line here from modeler to collector [:)])
Enjoy
Paul

[Paul3]

Todd McWilliam wrote:

QUOTE: How many of you are just into the blue box stuff? All of my locomotives are detailed blue box locomotives as well as my rolling stock. The guys at my club say I am a want a be model railroader, because I don't run Katos and Atlas and Proto's. I want to, but I don't make a lot of money. I think I am a model railroader, just a blue box one.

While most of my rolling stock is Athearn blue box, I don't use any Athearn engines at all. Sure, I still own 3 Athearn PA's and a pair of SW7's (SW1200's), but these have all been replaced on my layout with Proto units. The P2K's are better in every way but price... And since Athearn doesn't make anything else for New Haven, I don't own anything else from them. However, I can't wait for the MDC RS-3's to be made by Athearn...

But cars...I don't really care if they are super accurate or not, as long as they run, that they fit my era, and that they are affordable. I don't like shorty passenger cars, but that's not a problem with freight.

BTW, tell those guys at your club that you'll run Atlas, Proto, Kato or brass...as long as they buy it for you. [:D]

ericsp wrote:

QUOTE: Let's see, they buy RTR stuff, open the box, and stick them on the layout. You buy kits, open the box, assemble them, detail them, then put them on the layout. And they call you a "wanna" be? Are modeling skills in getting the car out of the packaging?

Depends. Are you a model builder or a model railroader? [;)] IMHO, it doesn't matter if you build your own models or pay someone to build them for you. It's all in how you run them. If you are putting them in a circle and watch them zoom around, then you're playing trains (nothing wrong with that, but don't tell me you're modeling the real thing). If you try to accurately recreate actual operations of a prototype railroad, then you are a railroad modeler. What differance does it make if you build the models yourself?

NYC56 wrote:

QUOTE: I do agree that building a kit gives one more satisfaction then pulling it out of the box. But sometimes, age, ability, or physical handicap prevents folks from being the modeller or hobbiest that we want to be.

Some of us want to run trains first, and build them only by nesscessity. Believe me, if I could get everything I wanted pre-built for me, I would (at this point). But since I can't afford it, I build 'em.

QUOTE: I buy what I LIKE First, and can afford Second. If I wanted to be prototypical i would join the local Transportation Musuem and work there on real trains, but I can't dedicate every weekend of my life to that endevour.

You can be prototypical without working at a museum. My next door neighbor used to run very prototypically with American Flyer(!), with schedules, Train Orders, etc. Sure, his equipment was tinplate, but his operations were right on (and he would know, he's a former NH tower operator).

AntonioFP45 wrote:

QUOTE: I'm sure the guys at your club are teasing you. Ignore it! Remind them that years back there were no Katos or Protos! Also remind them that througout the 70s and 80s, Model Railroader Magazines were "PACKED" with articles on modelers that owned Athearns.

Well, there's teasing, and then there's teasing. At my club, we sort of have a unwritten rule that says something to the effect of, "If they are busting you, you're okay, but if they ignore you, that's when you should worry." What that means is that we tease each other all the time about stupid little things that don't matter. For example, I get grief from folks who know how I feel about Penn Central. I give grief to a guy who loves Amtrak. That guy busts on the club president who refuses to put the end handrails on his Atlas GP38's. But it's all in fun and is taken that way. However, if somoene goes out of their way to ignore you, that's when you know someone is ticked off at you for real.

BRAKIE wrot:

QUOTE: Now if it was me..My snappy come back would be: Your rice burning Kat TOES will be jn the junk box long before my Athearns and YOU DID notice that Life Like COPIED the Athearn drive instead of designing their own drive? Besides Atlas help design the Kato drive when Kato was team up with Atlas.And that friends is no ghost story!

Um, Brakie, IIRC, David Harrison said good things about the Kato's dependibility on the long distance torture tests he runs at that museum, didn't he?

And while LL certainly copied the Athearn drive, they made it better...

And while Atlas may or may not have helped Kato, the fact remains that the Katos are still some of the best drives around while Atlas does have it's little bumps in the road from time to time (remember the new RS-1's?).

Paul A. Cutler III
*****************
Weather Or No Go New Haven
*****************

[BRAKIE]

Todd,I guess I am a wanna be model railroader as well even after 54 years in the hobby..[:(]
You see 75% of my cars are Athearn BB ,RTR and Genesis..10% are Bev/Bel Athearn and the remaining 15% is a mix of Atlas and Walthers cars.[8D][:D] I now own 28 Athearn locomotives..I sold some of my P2Ks and Atlas locomotives and I just *may* sell my 4 Kato GP35s since the new Athearn RTR GP35 looks far better and runs just as smooth.
Of course your DETAILED Athearn locomotives looks just as good as their high dollar locomotives and of course the Athearn bashers and haters really hate that when a detailed Athearn BB loco looks as good as a high dollar model.

Now,Pay no attention to those snobs..You see your Athearn BB locomotives will be around after the Katos,Atlas,P1Ks,P2K and other brands are in the scrap box.Heck,those high dollar locomotives needs fixin' 70% of the time or the detail is wrong! But they WON"T TELL YOU THAT!..
Now if it was me..My snappy come back would be: Your rice burning Kat TOES will be jn the junk box long before my Athearns and YOU DID notice that Life Like COPIED the Athearn drive instead of designing their own drive? Besides Atlas help design the Kato drive when Kato was team up with Atlas.And that friends is no ghost story!

[Anonymous]

I am inspired to start a new thread about people and clubs based on your last post train_geek but have no way of keeping it on the fun part of member's abilities in the clubhouse.

I recall one HO scale passenger steamer that flowed like water while moving. Once it arrived at the club's station and stopped for a bit. Apparently it came time for it to move again and you can hear the cursing in the engineer's booth as the Loco sparked and jerked the slack out of the cars and slammed into motion at 20 scale miles an hour. The teasing started about whose engines can make a nice slow start and probably still continues to this day.

By the way the passenger cars were athearn I think the loco was a kit built bowser. But time tends to cloud memory.

[Anonymous]

Todd keep up the good work, I have many blue box engines. Recently I have spent more on detailing and customizing blue boxes than buying new Kato's. Money isn't everything. Enjoyment is!

Find something to pick on them about, they probably have spent all their money on engines and have no-layout or no scenery or only a handful of cars.

Good luck, Rich

[Anonymous]

Don't you listen to them Todd - YOU'RE a model railroader, and anyone who turns up their nose because you're not spending as much money as them is a SNOB.

A similar thing happened to me when I was skeet shooting - the guys spending $5000 on their fancy over/under shotguns used to make fun of me for shooting a $300 Remington pump - right up until the time I starting whippin' thier butts silly on a regular basis!!

BLUE BOX ROCKS![8D]

[RRRerun]

I too am from the muscle car era and one thing most of us couldn't resist doing was making it faster and better looking than original. New set of rear end gears, headers, carburation, chrome engine parts, tires, mags, paint jobs----------------!!!!!! You get the idea. Maybe this is why a lot of us like the Blue Box stuff. We get to tinker with it and make it better. This gives them our own personal touch, which by the way is what this hobby is all about. If all of us had the same equipment, type of layout, methods, ect. What a boring hobby it would be!!!! Like everyone having to drive a Volkswagon!!!!! Have fun with the BB's, I sure do.

[davekelly]

Todd,

The way I see it if you love having stuff running on two parallel pieces of some material, you're a model railroader. Whether it be Kato, Proto, Athearn, Life-Like or Brio. 5000 square foot layout or armchair. G, O, S, HO, N or Z. DCC, DC or handpushed.

Now I believe that my way of modelilng is the best. For me that is. Of course I do judge model railroaders all the time. If the guy or gal is smiling - that person is a modelrailroader doing it the right way for them! After all that's why we're in this hobby right?

Dave

[Anonymous]

The blue box stuff is the true back-bone of this hobby! Tell them where they can stick their high-falooting-miss-informed ideas and go to your workshop and do what you like doing! Don't give this type of dumb thinking one more thought! Find a club that has less of an A-HOLE content, or forget clubs all together, if this is the type of idiots clubs attract!

Or, are the really just pulling your leg?!?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by enduringexp

Remember, too, that this is the kind of thinking that took muscle cars away from the masses and made them collectors items. Some people just think that the more you spend on something, the better it is, and anything else is junk. If you are in the hobby for the right reasons, which should be personal enjoyment and satisfaction, then model what you want and how you want. If you let others dictate to you what a "real" modeller is, you need to find a different hobby, or at least a different group of friends.

Actually the muscle cars were killed by emissions, costly parts and overall insurance problems. I have owned two of them in my life and they were daily drivers. I would be glared at by the BMW or Lexus driver and looked down upon as a no lifer who drove a heap of junk. They did not carry those feelings after I was able to use the power and good tires (headers, sway bars etc et c etc) to cut holes in the traffic and make my way rather easily to work during the cutthroat commute where horsepower is king and brakes is the enforcers.

I think the cost of muscle cars took off because alot of people reached middle age and went GEE... I shore miss my old Judge or Charger and had the financial ability to bring some of these cars back to life in the full glory and ability as they were first built.

I think bringing a old Varney or Brass engine back to life and running it in today's modern world of DCC and such is a wonderful thing to do. Keeping history alive in living form is a tribute. Nothing to be shamed of.

So I say run em if you got em. As long as others with you in the club or LHS are doing the same and possibly bringing new people in to see what the fun was about; it's all good.

[Anonymous]

I just bought a 'leftover' BlueBox GP40-2 from my LHS, I'll gladly run it alongside my Katoes and Altases. As for those model buyers who call you a 'wannabe', they are only betraying their own insecurity. Ignore them and enjoy your trains!

[Anonymous]

Remember, too, that this is the kind of thinking that took muscle cars away from the masses and made them collectors items. Some people just think that the more you spend on something, the better it is, and anything else is junk. If you are in the hobby for the right reasons, which should be personal enjoyment and satisfaction, then model what you want and how you want. If you let others dictate to you what a "real" modeller is, you need to find a different hobby, or at least a different group of friends.

[AntonioFP45]

Todd,

I'm sure the guys at your club are teasing you. Ignore it! Remind them that years back there were no Katos or Protos! Also remind them that througout the 70s and 80s, Model Railroader Magazines were "PACKED" with articles on modelers that owned Athearns.

You are a modeler. Relax and enjoy the hobby!

Todd, I'm sure you can do this: E-mail your club or club members this topic!
Here's my message to them:

FELLOW MODELERS: PLEASE,

(A) DON'T BE SO DISCOURAGING OR ARROGANT! [|(]
(B) GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSES!
(C) ENCOURAGE YOUR FELLOW MODELER!
(D) GET A SERIOUS GRIP ON REALITY!

Peace! [;)]

[simon1966]

The Athearn's were the first of my Loco's that I switched to DCC. The SD9 and GP9 are great candidates for learning to install DCC, as you have the small challenge of isolating the motor, but not the problem of finding the room to fit the decoder. Athearns, are a wonderful blank canvas. They are in effect the model RR "tuners choice". You can upgrade the motor/drive train, improve the wiring, add details, or just leave them as they are and they will perform reliably for years.

[Anonymous]

Dont worry about the price tag on the stuff or the income you make. Athearn I considered a part of the hobby like the old Varney, Trainmaster and Cox used to be. The roster on my table (next to, under, around and nearby) includes probably half are Athearns. You will find a cow and calf on my link below that is almost 20 years old athearn and still running.

I am just finishing up about 30 Athearn boxcars with the weights and metal wheels. Some are mantuas and roundhouse as well. Once calibrated at the couplers I would have no problems putting the Athearns on anyone's layout and they will perform as they should.

I buy and sell on ebay and when I see athearn cars come in using metal wheels, bolster shims, kaydee couplers and perhaps even trucks and weighted from other modelers who evidently took as much pride as I do in thier models. I say let them blue box trains roll.

Now. Ready to Run rolling stock has gone up in price and I do own a percentage of them only because I am a coward and too wussy to pay retail for them. I am willing to hunt for sales on RTR.

I consider the Athearns a good way to bolster your rolling stock. Otherwise the money will get misspent in Alcohol and who knows what else. Also the one thing that I like about the Athearns is that they can take the big drop to the floor during a really bad wreck (OUCH!!) and with a few moments of workbench time be back in service. Some of th finely detailed RTR probably will not survive such a catastrophic event.

If you like it, run it. Dont worry about anyone who says different. Heck I had a tyco trainset that was just plain junk as a child but I had the attitude of running it with others who may be running the finest brass. Just never did get to run WITH the brass he he... but different can of worms.

[Anonymous]

Nothing wrong with Athearn at all. Over 50% of my loco collection is Athearn, and I'll be fitting DCC and directional lighting to these over the next few months. Top of the list are the SD9 that I started out with and the GP60 that's one of the best Athearn locos I have, the SD9 will be easy to convert due to the high hoods which will hide fairly simple lighting arrangements (basically an LED eash end and a couple of resistors). I'm intrigued by the idea of loco snobs, I guess we sort of have them over here - people who believe the only way to a good model is a brass/whitemetal kit assembled by soldering. The latest RTR models have given them something of a shock though - Hornby now offer RTR steamers that are as detailed as the best kits, run as well as a kit built by a professional, and cost about half the price. The kit manufacturers are now moving into more unusual prototypes to fill gaps in the RTR ranges.

[Anonymous]

This is one of the things that bother me about any Hobby or Forum for that matter. There is always someone that thinks they know better.

It's a Hobby! Enjoy it for what it brings to you, and hopefully your family. There are reasons to buy Blue Box stuff, reasons to buy RTR, and even a good Reason to buy a Thomas the Tank Engine in HO Scale.

I do agree that building a kit gives one more satisfaction then pulling it out of the box. But sometimes, age, ability, or physical handicap prevents folks from being the modeller or hobbiest that we want to be.

I buy what I LIKE First, and can afford Second. If I wanted to be prototypical i would join the local Transportation Musuem and work there on real trains, but I can't dedicate every weekend of my life to that endevour.

Chris

[ericsp]

Let's see, they buy RTR stuff, open the box, and stick them on the layout. You buy kits, open the box, assemble them, detail them, then put them on the layout. And they call you a "wanna" be? Are modeling skills in getting the car out of the packaging?

[Jetrock]

The folks I know who work in the shops at the Railroad Museum, laying 1:1 scale track and operating 1:1 scale classic diesel and steam equipment, indeed consider all of us "wannabees", even though quite a few have model railroads at home too!

Nothing wrong with the moderately-priced stuff--it runs fine, it looks good, and if it's operating on your layout instead of sitting on a hobbyshop shelf, you have no fear of being a "wannabe"--because unless they mean that you are being what YOU want to be, rather than what THEY want you to be...

[sparkingbolt]

Unless we're running REAL locomotives, we're all Wanna-bes! Whatever level we settle for short of that makes us model railroaders. People running strictly brass could say anyone running plastic are wanna-be modelers. Just enjoy yourself and make sure these snobs know you are!

I have a number of brands, and Athearn is definately on the roster, and I enjoy watching them run. Dan.

[bpickering]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Todd McWilliam

How many of you are just into the blue box stuff? ... I think I am a model railroader, just a blue box one.

Nothing wrong, as far as I'm concerned. I've got about 60 rolling stock right now; 25 or so are old Tyco and similar quality to which Kadee couplers have been added, while the rest are Athearn and Roundhouse kits. I'm weighting them slowly, and will weather them as well.

Why? Money is one. A not-quite-four-year-old is another.

If you're enjoying it, it's not wrong. Heck, if nothing else, you're adding to your modelling skills. I didn't spend a lot of time on it, but there was a thread recently about whether the hobby is becomming too easy or something. Not as long as there are people who like making their own details!

Brian Pickering

[Todd McWilliam]

How many of you are just into the blue box stuff? All of my locomotives are detailed blue box locomotives as well as my rolling stock. The guys at my club say I am a want a be model railroader, because I don't run Katos and Atlas and Proto's. I want to, but I don't make a lot of money. I think I am a model railroader, just a blue box one.[:D][:D]