Flash: They were made during the 'fifties and very early 'sixties. The kits were box, auto, reefer and tank cars. The auto cars were pretty unique in that Athearn offered both standard and 'round' roof cars in 40 and 50 foot lengths. All of them took quite a bit of time to build, and were largely press-and screwdriver fit, but the metal itself was 'scale' thickness (to a degree) and resulted in some pretty good looking cars. The only wood in the cars was in the floor. And the only glue needed was to attach the brakewheel to the stand, LOL! You needed a screwdriver, pliers and a little ball-peen hammer (really!) to build them. The tankers were an absolute BEAR to build, as I remember--unfortunately I don't have any of them. But I do have some box, reefer and auto cars. I'll dig them out and post some photos of them in the next few days. I still have most of mine and the only thing I've had to do over the years was replace the couplers with Kadees and install newer, more free-rolling trucks. When Athearn went to plastic BB kits, they evidently sold the metal kits and presses to a smaller craftsman company, which continued to produce them for about ten years. But I haven't seen them on the market since the late 1970's. Too bad, too, IMO, they offered a pretty handsome, well-detailed freight car for their era. Tom :tb-biggrin:
Flash: Here's a couple of photos of older 1950's Athearn Metal kits. Back in the 'fifties, kits were either metal (Athearn, Varney, Roundhouse, Ulrich) or wood (Silver Streak, Ambroid) and offered the hobbyist pretty much of a 'do-able' challenge, LOL! These date from about 1956 or so, though I've up-dated them with Kadee couplers and newer Athearn trucks with Proto metal wheelsets. The original Athearn trucks were sprung with brass wheels and were a little 'stiff' when running. Anyway, here they are: The detail was considered quite good for the 'fifties, and I'm still not embarrassed at running these cars in a consist today. I've got quite a few more of them, but the reefers should show you what was considered 'super-detailed' back when I was a teenager, LOL! Tom
Well, if you still need a challenge, there's Westerfield, Sunrise and LaBelle out there for kits as well. LaBelle still makes wood kits and the other two make resin car kits. Those are the kind of kits that will make you a better modeler after awhile, and kill alot of time!! Then again, there's always scratchbuilding.... Art
Art: Agreed. And Ye Olde Huff 'n' Puff, which makes some very good wood kits themselves, have just announced that they are re-releasing the old Silver Streak wooden freight car kits--box, auto, reefer and caboose. These were fairly 'basic' kits, but with care and some extra details, they could be made into quite nice rolling stock. Their cabooses were really exceptional, IMO. I've still got two of them, an SP C-30 and a fairly freelance 'drover's caboose' that I still use on my layout. Somewhere between basic and 'craftsman'. But all of the Silver Streak kits are fun to build and very well detailed for their era. Myself, I'm glad they're back. Think I'll get me a few. Tom :tb-biggrin:
It's already affecting ebay auctions. The day this notice came out I got lucky and got a BB powered SSW SD40-T2 for $16 +S&H. Last weekend I was watching some and anything in good shape went for at least ~2x that price...
It is sad that they want to discontinue. I have both RTR and BB as well as other manufacturers kits. Sad to see them go. They make for a nice afternoon of building. But I do believe that the RTR crowd has made them disappear. Since you don't need to put decals on anything or change numbers for they all come in one big box with many cars in it already to go. Still a sad day.
I wish I could say I would never buy another new Athearn because of this, but That just doesn't make a lot of sense either. I will miss the blue box quite a bit, but I have to say that from a car perspective, they were already mostly dead to me. I mean, I think the most modern cars I've gotten from the blue box line are some Santa Fe spine TOFC cars. You know I think they were called foils or something. Some of those are still used. And MDC's Tank Train cars are still useable, but really for the modern railroader, BB was dead. Now for engines, they still had their uses. GP38/40/50 series and the SD40-2 series were mainstays. You could have a believable shortline or regional using nothing but BB. Plus the had the Dash 9, so you could get fairly modern, but honestly, the price on those has gone up so much, they lose some of their value. 20 years ago when I was on a buying frenzy, they were $30-$50, now, they're much more. I can also only assume that this is related to the economy. One can't expect our industry to come through unscathed. Sad as it is. Who knows, in a year or two, maybe things may look up. Or maybe another manufacturer will take their place.
Hey Tom I think those Reefers look great even by today's standards. The Ladders, Steps; all good. The roofwalk but easily fixed. Nice cars thanks for sharing. Glen:thumbs_up:
I've got one of these in a US postal getup or something along those lines, wood floor, sprung metal trucks, and tin body. It's pretty nice for it's age. RE: Yoho's post, it's all about the tooling. If they mothball it and hang onto it it's easy enough to toss the molds back in the machine and start cranking them out again. Some of the BB kits were outdated, like many boxcars still having roofwalks on them, but it's all the more to tinker with removing them. filling the holes, and weathering.... California's cost of living and therefore overhead costs must have made it doubly hard for them. Placed in a more rural setting maybe it would have worked. They say they are still supporting all the parts and replacement pieces, so I guess if you want someting really bad.......
I don't know that Compton was all that high cost a production facility. The new place maybe cost more, but I thought a lot of the RTR work was being done in the US anyway. Like the final work.
