The e-mail from Horizon was titled - 'Athearn 2012 National Train Show Announcements' Here's the link to the contents - http://publications.horizonhobby.com/read/archive?id=4891 Reach your own conclusions - I have reached mine!!!! Since it has been several months since Horizon has had any N scale announcements and no longer has any MENTION of N scale (or even the Athearn N logos) on the announcement e-mail. I think Horizon is done with N. I would love to see Atlas buy the tooling. Second choice would be for B'Mann/Kader to buy it. Kader maybe the only ones with enough money to do it.
Another way to look at it is that with Athearn out of the way there is more market share for the others. Athearn never impressed me. I viewed them as another western road biased manufacturer like Kato and Intermountain. So if they are gone then they are gone and life goes on?
really? I guess I don't come to the same conclusion based on athearn just releasing HO info and not mentioning n scale. We've had others in n scale forums be pissed when retailers do mixed scale announcements. I don't have a shred of evidence to support my stance except that they just re-released the challenger and big boy this year as well as rolling stock. And I've heard a lot of folks compliment those models (Ie, nothing but glee when the announcement came out). I hope you are wrong as I can't see why athearn would leave n scale but just not do a ton of new models a year based on a smaller market opportunity in n scale. I don't want to argue......
OMG! The sky is falling!......again Don't you folks have anything better to do like, oh I don't know, build a model or work on a layout? Maybe, just maybe they are pushing other stuff off to the side so that they can focus on something that will sell and is hot right now! IE: The NS Heritage units Bottom line, They are looking for something to sell so as to make some capital to keep their doors open and have something leftover for research into something else. Why would they just say. "Gee, today I think we will just stop producing N scale and give all the income to some other company". I think Athearn has too much invested in N scale to just GIVE IT UP! Now, start you bashing, I'm off to work on my layout.
But they are re-releasing the Challenger and the Big Boy models, so it's not like they've left N completely. Athearn's bread and butter is HO. I don't see much problem with that. We have Wheels of Time and the HO guys do not, and WoT makes some great stuff. We also get way more attention from Kato than the HO guys. I just don't see getting angry over any of this. Athearn picks and chooses what they want to do and we can choose to buy or not buy it. Where's the harm?
Lol! Guys.... Athearn makes HO models. Always has. They dabbled in N, and bought some old tooling that included some N stuff, but only because it was bundled with the HO stuff they wanted. All that stuff is borderline now anyway compared to the stuff available now. We'll likely never see the stuff Athearn is sitting on again, and that's just fine. There is plenty of opportunity for companies that do make N scale items to make their own version of the 3-5 things Athearn made in N that were worth having. If you want to see ethanol tank cars, etc. again give one of the other companies that makes N scale a call and let them know.
I personally think several of the great things athearn brought to N scale was their vehicles. I was hoping to get some of the Mack trucks as well. They would be a great Addition for the Late 60's to Modern layouts. Hope they come back with them Larry
Let Athearn do what Athearn want to do, there are other manufactuers like Atlas, Intermountain, BMLA, Exactrail, Kato and ,of late, even Bachmann that do more for N scale in one year than Athearn have done since they started in N scale (or perhaps were dragged into it after taking over MDC). To Athearn's credit they did bring us the FP45/F45 and the Big Boy and Challenger but I don't have any hope of seeing even a small fraction of the rest of their extensive HO range transferred to N scale.
Does that mean they are done with Roundhouse, Die Cast and Ready-to-Roll too? Here is what happened. Athearn used two different factories for their models. N, RTR, Roundhouse and Die-Cast were located in one while Genesis was located at another company. The company that supplied the bulk of Athearn products either stopped production, droped the contract or had some other problem that resulted in no shipments to Athearn with little to no warning. This is why the Genesis products have been the only one anounced in the last 8-10 months. Athearn has recovered to tooling for said company and is restarting the line - not an easy task. Tooling may need to be modified to fir the new machines. Hell, for all we know the Chinese company may have damaged to tooling and now it is major need of repair. This takes lots of time and it will be a while before we see new product in RTR, Die-Cast and N. N is now a major part of their business, and has been profitable for them. They also deserve a LOT of credit for the sheer amount of models they put out, and the quality of those cars. The NACC, SEICO, and PS boxes are really nice. Their ACF centerflow is the best model of the car - better than the IM or MTL version. Their vehicle line changed the face of N scale, and I suspect over 80% of N scale modelers have at least one Athearn truck on their layout. Its sad to see a company struggle, but I think Athearn is in N for the long haul.
That's right guys............let's keep bashing the manufacturers until we PISS THEM ALL OFF, and they ALL make the decision to leave "N" scale. Wouldn't blame them if they did!!!................
They can't stop now; I was too stupid to buy any of their commuter cars in the Northstar livery, and now I can't find the dang things anywhere.
http://www.athearn.com/Products/N/Default.aspx Well... I doubt they are 'out' of the N Scale market with the number of items they've either acquired (MDC/Roundhouse) or developed themselves. They are one of the manufacturers which have been most adversely affected by the closing of some Chinese factories and they are still regrouping from that event. They have pushed back production of several items... and I wouldn't be surprised if the Challenger and Big Boys are not delivered as expected. Given the fact they are a far more well recognized HO model provider... I can't blame them for giving HO modelers new stuff before N scale. Eventually they will come back to us with some models we want. I am hoping that they don't bail-out on us... they did provide some very nice models. Certainly the vehicles are some of the best in N scale... I personally like their Pflauder milk cars... and of course the Big Boy and Challenger.
Well I don't know. I mean it has been done before. Look at Bowser. They bought the Delaware Valley line and then retired it. That made no sense to me. They did the PRR cabin cars and the H21 and Gla hoppers and then.....................nothing. Pfft, just like that they stopped but their HO line continues. So we shall see what transpires.
Whoa....let's not get too crazy here. I have five of these beauties on order and their delivery this winter is my driving force to get my layout completed. Remember, Friends don't let friends to allow manufacturers to delay shipping. Otherwise I might think like inkaneer and think athearn is going to shut down n scale (which could happen right after the Mayan apocalypse this December):wink:
They had some new boxcars on display: http://www.model160.com/n-scale-news-blog/nmra-2012-show-report/ I love their SP caboose and bought 4 FP45s. With the Alco coming from Atlas, the Silver Streak from Kato, and all the other items that are destined to arrive all at the same time, I'm kinda glad they didn't offer up something that I want!
I don't know, from that announcement I might conclude that they're getting out of HO as well. No new tooling, and most of the models have an ETA of mid-2013. I think it's well documented that they're re-jiggering their supply chain, and they're concentrating on HO (and big N scale steam) in the transition. Time will tell.
Bowser just bought 3 new injection molding machines to do production in house. They have said the N models will be back soon and I think it hinged on getting these machines up and running. They, like others have been shaken up by the mess in China and N being the smaller portion of their market, HO took precedent when production time was being scheduled.
