Check it out here (follow links at the bottom of the page ....... 8=) ===== http://www.athearn.com/nscale/pressrelease.html ===== eNjoy
I think the locomotive and passenger cars that Athearn announced is an excellent choice. They picked a prototype that has never been modeled before and is sure to be popular with the modern era N scalers. I'm sure that F units and Geeps are not that far away but if Athearn announced an F unit first they would have been flooded with the typical "Why another F unit? Thats been done before" calls and e-mails. You can't please everyone but looking at the first lineup from Athearn it sure looks to me like they gave it a lot of thought.
Exciting stuff! We have been calling for "an Athearn" in N scale, now we have "THE Athearn" I wonder how their prices will compare to other manufacturers?
I wonder if the choice of trains is also letting them experiment a little in their new marketplace, for example they do not offer the "traditional" N coupler at all, but as these can be used as stand-alone commuter train sets then coupler compatibility isn't an issue...interesting. A couple of thoughts on the future... If I was a betting man (fortunately i'm not! )I'd say SD70/M/I series will be their next target, it seems to be the biggest hole in the N loco market at the moment and it has been a recent release from Athearn, my guess is they will flatly ignore doing F units as there are already decent F's out there in N and there is less chance of producing a significantly better product than the competition in N (like the Genesis F's arguably have done in HO.) On the other hand if they are doing the F59 then they have an EMD blomberg based truck/power assembly already... Is there an N scale GP60 yet? I reckon there will be one "ready to roll" line, with no "blue box kits" or "genesis" items in N, but I wouldn't be surprised to see items that have been blue box or Genesis in HO appearing as RTR in N. With the more recent releases more likely to be released in N (up to date research etc) then I would not be surprised to see equivalents of the recent HO Genesis cars turn up in the N range, a variety of 60' hi-cubes, 50' Seico boxcars, Trinity covered hopper (a BNSF Earthworm in N would look so cool), Automax etc... Anyone else with any other predictions? Can I come back in a year and see how well I did?
Don't get me wrong- I don't disagree with Athearn's decision to come out with commuter stuff first at all. I just model a shortline that long, long ago forsook passenger trains, and operates on a streak-of-rust line. If the F59PHI model turns out to be a winner, I expect to see freight EMDs not long afterwards. I'm sure the commuter cars will find homes on quite a few layouts. I'm not disappointed with the choices, and I'll only be disappointed if Athearn's releases in N scale thru out to be a bust. I'll be rooting for the boys from Compton to do good iN the proper scale.
Other than Kato please direct me to one. I've tried them all and found them all lacking. I would love to have several Kato F3s and F7s, but they sell quickly on eBay for high prices. I recently saw an undecorated F7 go for $135. So much for ready availability! Mike Kmetz
The only available F units in N scale are from Bachmann. Not my idea of decent. On ebay, I've been outbid on every Southern Pacific F unit I've bid on . The only one available recently is the current ABA "Bloody Nose" set that's already at $171 dollars and it still has over 4 days left! There won't be any FT's in SP because SP never owned any! I hope Athearn 's next release IS F's. I'll buy a whole fleet of them if they paint any in SP colors (preferably "Black Widow")!
This is excellent news... Finally someone to challenge the ridiculous short run/collector practices that other companies participate in. If I was Kato, I would be sweating it right now. Good job Athearn... You may well have just turned N Scale back into what it should be... The enjoyable hobby of running trains... Not the high pressure activity of spending huge amounts of money, to buy limited amounts of stuff that barely makes it to store shelves... The former is the hobby the HOer's have enjoyed for decades, and it shouldn't be any different for N Scale. Dave D. Los Angeles, CA -Rail Radio Online-Home of the "TrainTenna" RR Monitoring Antenna- http://eje.railfan.net/railradioonline ------------------------------------------------- -The Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Photo Archive & E-Mail List- http://eje.railfan.net ------------------------------------------------- -The Ashley, Drew & Northern Railfan Page- http://eje.railfan.net/adn ------------------------------------------------- -Southern California Trains- http://eje.railfan.net/socal -------------------------------------------------
