Have a new Challenger with a coal tender. Wanted to convert it to oil, but it was unclear to me from the insert exactly what parts would be needed. Sent an email to Athearn asking exactly pwhat parts and would be needed and for prices for the parts.... Imagine my suprise today when I got a small package from Athearn in the mail with the one part needed... NO CHARGE! Nice!
I have been very happy with Athearn too and what they are doing in N Scale. I look forward to future releases from this fine company.
Look how they supplied replacement C55 friendly wheelsets for the original run to all who wanted them, that must have cost them a few $$$.
Coal to oil for free? Think they might help me convert to solar? Nice to hear about responsive manufacturers!
I'll echo what everyone has said, Athearn is a great company and I hope to have a few more of their products down the road.
It has not always been that way though. I still have old HO kits (many un-assembled) that don't really fit or have wrong/missing parts. Apparently, there was a time when the founder still lived but did not pay his employees well. They got back at him by purposely cranking out defective products. One example is a HO GP-38 in BN livery with the white diagonal striping on the low hood going in the wrong direction. So all this positive image has come about after Mr. Athearn had died. Unfortunately, a bad reputation takes quite some time to get rid off. That is why I did not buy Athearn for many years. But I'm now very happy with the new stuff too.
My sound equipped FP45's might not be far away, I ordered a few things from N scale Supply the other day and he asked if I minded if he held them until the FP45's arrived.
Not just disgruntled employees, their HO EMD Blomberg trucks were incorrect for many years because they used plans from Model Railroader that were incorrect.
That's one of the many rumors..There are many including employees trying to organized,all Mexican employees etc,etc.. There has always been positive image except for those that bash Athearn at every turn-even back then.. Every drive( including N Scale drives) today is BASED on Athearn's concept-centralized motor with flywheels,drive shafts-that simple drive revolutionized the hobby..Athearn was the first manufacturer to use the RP25 wheels..His simple car kits also revolutionized the hobby by replacing the crude cars of that day from Varney,Mantua,Tyco,Walthers and the light wooden car kits.. Athearn was first at several things..Including supplying RTR cars for Atlas,Lionel,Bev-Bell, and others..
