For those who were wondering what an F850 was... it is NOT a locomotive... but was fairly powerful...
Veranda turbines (or any/all of the turbines). Other than that, just re-run what they already have. MDC old timer ANYTHING. Overtons fill a very nice niche. More of the actual Athearn stuff is too modern for me but I would like to just see them starting running more N scale. I get it, when they first started in N, they went overboard and over-saturated the market. The HUGE cardboard boxes were a big mistake as well. In the end, I recall the billboards being dumped for pennies. Still, instead of trying to learn from this mistake, they instead seemed to just abandon N scale and only toss one or two items out to 'cum the water'. All I am saying is give N scale a chance...
If you were in charge of making a N-scale product, and also make the company money, after looking at all the different items that people here want, what would you produce?
Turbines and Overland coaches are the most mentioned items. Why does Athearn produce so little n scale? They have done some very nice locomotives and cars, with good quality. So they have the technical capabilities.
I would run the things that we already have molds for: MDC old timer box and reefers and Overland passenger cars (both pulling good prices on that auction site). Minimal investment to get a quick return. This is almost a 'no brainer'. Then start looking at the other items you already have and can easily run (but aren't duplicated by other mfrs): 53' GSC flat car, 40' wood chip hopper, gunderson well car, wood side caboose. Then take that money and come out with UP turbines and a Baldwin AS-616.
I would like to see the express and milk car trucks and some other "parts" made available. I also have several of the mill gons, but maybe I am the only person who really liked those. I'm also a potential customer for the PS 2 covered gon in the original ATSF paint. I've been happy with the several Athearn cars I have, they just don't make that much. Given the dominance of Bachmann for the train set crowd (and the "of course we have some N scale, its here somewhere" type hobby shop) and MT as the more serious hobby shop "standard" freight car, it may be difficult to crack the market in a lot of areas. The problem in their line, I think, is that they have a small group of offerings spread over 150 years in terms of time period, so they do not have the dedicated core group of modelers that IM has for its boxcars, or Bluford for their hoppers, or Kato for their passenger sets. I imagine most of us have a few Athearn cars, but very few have "fleets." I think they might do better (even if I don't get what I want) if they were to focus on one or two niche markets. Maybe the F59P and Bombardier cars are a move in that direction.
ANYTHING new in N scale! I am tired of seeing the Athearn news letters and see new HO products and the same old N scale stuff that is a re-run after re-run but in different roadnames.
Hey, I already suggested anything! Their newsletter has a bunch of HO scale and usually one or two 'charity' N scale items...and usually not very interesting charity items. They have so much N scale that they could do but they elect to not run them...
I just saw their HO version of the SP MT4 on woo woo woo site. Very nice looking. I would be in for a couple in N scale, hint, hint. Carl
Well, I'm not currently purchasing any n-scale items to speak of, as I've taken a little detour into Z-Scale for now. But, there are a few things Athearn could make that would garner my attention, and at least one that would be an instant purchase "from beyond": -Retooled Thrall Hi-Side gons with stand-alone ladders and body-mounted couplers in FPPX and LCRX. When I return to N, these cars will be numero uno on my list of wants, and I'll likely look at 3D-printed versions at that point and custom etched details and custom decals. But, it would be really nice if Athearn would step up. Other possibilities: -Containers. I know that Atlas and ScaleTrains.com have made big announcements, but there are still holes to be filled. -Acid Tank Cars. Based from the prototype of the HO version. -Other Tank Cars. Sky's the limit for N, dozens of very common cars still on the table. -Carbon Black covered hoppers. Probably not Athearn's cup of tea, but I had to toss that in there.