http://www.athearn.com/Search/Default.aspx?SearchTerm=&OverallCatID=TN&CatID=TNRF&SortBy=FirstAppearance I was looking over their website and saw this long list of new stuff in N scale. Most of it looks like updated MDC products, but given that these now come with magnetic couplers and don't look too bad, I'm finding myself spending more time (and not just time) on Athearn and less on MT. I don't want to start the annual bash MT thing up again, the point I'm trying to make is products like the new flat car and some of the others from Athearn are more compelling than I thought they'd be. Agree? Disagree?
I myself, have always been impressed by the MDC line of modern freight cars. They were reasonably priced and the printing was quite nice. After converting them to MT trucks and couplers, you still had a nice looking and comparatively inexpensive modern freight car. If Athearn were to re-release the MDC line of equipment, which it appears they are doing, they will have a solid offering to get their foot in the door as far as N scale is concerned. With the recent offerings in the N scale locomotive market by Athearn, they could use a stalwart product offering in N scale.
It's good to see Athearn continue to roll out more N-scale equipment - even though some of it's reissued/updated MDC. However, I do miss the MDC/Roundhouse website clearance on some of these same items (like the St Lawrence 50' boxcar on the first page). $3 to $4 a pop for the same boxcar was a steal - even though you really needed to convert/replace the trucks & couplers. A far cry from the $13.00 MSRP today. I guess those clearance days are long gone.
It also looks like Athern has cleaned up the molds a bit as the stirups are a little finer and they have better brake wheels. Now only if they release the thrall high side gondolas.
I to always liked the MDC modern rolling stock and the wide variety of road names. My favorite was the waffle side box, and I am with tony on bringing out the thrall gondola's. If I had one new piece of N equipment to come out like the first Sieco boxcar which I think are totally new, it would be a N scale bay window caboose like the one available in HO. I am not sold on the loco's yet, plus the offerings are slim and nothing of use to my era of the 60's through the early 80's. Take Care, Mike
Yes, I would LOVE more Thrall Hi-sides in scrap service. These would look great alongside the Atlas Coalvayers that they recently ran in scrap service lease companies. I'm a big fan of the Athearn line. Probably because they are focusing on modern equiptment.
[edit] If Athern keeps releasing quality like the 53' flat cars, Athern will be a very major player in N scale. They will become the "Athern" of N scale. Many modelers used to lament that there was no such manufacturer in N scale as there was in HO scale. Well, maybe now there will be one. [ March 17, 2005, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: sapacif ]
Their web site used to smell like an HO manufacturer, but it's much better now. Diversity of manufacturers is always better. What's with the John Deer thing? I'm hoping they will get a John Deer bulldozer! How about a John Deer pin connected single track truss bridge? Well, at least they didn't make a series of all the Hershey's candy tractors! Tony Burzio San Diego, CA
I liked the MDC kits. Like Bruce said, change the trucks to MT and you got some nice box cars relatively cheaply. There is a hobby shop here that has many of the MDC kits still in stock. I plan on concentrating some of my future puchases there because I doubt many of them will ever be available at those prices again. I recently bought a collection of photos of AD&N box cars that had pictures of many different schemes than the standard green with white door rib side car that you commonly see. These were photos that were all in my era of the 70's & 80's. I went to another LHS and bought every undecorated MDC box car kit that they had so that for future projects I can replicate these different types of cars for some additional variety for my home road equipment. I figured if I didn't get them now, they might not ever be available again.
You got that right, now you know why MDC is no longer. </font>[/QUOTE]Uhhh... selling excess inventory at a price in which you still make a profit is not the reason MDC/Roundhouse was bought by Horizon.
Not to change the topic too much but still concerning Atheran N Scale: I'm glad to see the old time stuff available but I am disappointed that the 50' Overland passenger equipment have not been released either in sets or, preferably, individually. Also, I have been told that they have no intention of releasing these as undecorated models as MDC originally planned to do. Who knows, perhaps in time... SLAINTE!
Or perhaps if enough of us write asking for them. In the early 1990s, I wanted an SD40 model of a quality similar to what Kato/Atlas was putting out at the time. I wrote to Kato and suggested that they release an SD40 model. I guess they got enough requests, and we got the SD40. So, take the address down off the website and write them a letter (paper letters are usually taken more seriously than emails). If you want a manufacturer to make something, ask for it; you just might get it.
Athern has the MDC linre with older equipment but I am waiting to see if they come out with any vintage rolling stock or locos theat they have made themselves. I was dissapointed when all there offerings have been modern with the exception of the tractor.
While I model in HO most of my freight and passenger car fleets are Athearn and I never had a problem with putting the kits together either. If I switched over to N I would most likely use mostly Athearn's rolling stock, their locomotives are also some of the best I've seen in performance and looks.
I was given a pair of their Northern Pacific bulkhead flats. They look good to me! So am anxiously awaiting further developments, that will be useable for my 1960's time frame. Boxcab E50
