Has anybody heard what is going on at Athearn and the FP-45s? They were announced last January, They have been pushed back twice. On their website last week it indicated they were available and now they are pushed back to April of 2009. With the strengthening dollar does that mean they will lower the price? Dave G Cache Valley & Northern RR
The sound versions are listed for April, but the non-sound models are expected (by whom?) in October.
Wow! Wonder what happened? Seems very last-second? Thankfully, the two Santa Fe I ordered are without sound.
@%$^%@, as we say here in Australia. Last time I looked at their website I'm sure it said mid September, now all of a sudden they are telling us it'll be another seven months, no explanation of why, or even an apology, just quietly change the date. Athearn is just one of many model railroad manufacturers that could attend a course in customer care. If you can't stick to an advertised release date at least tell us why. If the U.S. dollar keeps strengthening it means I'll pay more, oh well I guess I've got longer to save my money.
At the N Scale Convention the Athearn folks said the non-sound unitswould be out early fall, but the sound units would be after the first of the year.
I wish they had mentioned this somewhere else and sooner so I could have ordered non sound units and installed sound myself. I'm sure that last week the Athearn website said the sound units would be out mid September because I had, falsely, now it turns out, thought they would arrive in time for a train show in October. I hope they are worth the wait.
...and the 40' trailers that were supposed to come out this month have been pushed back to November. Sigh....
It's obviously problems with the sound decoder if the DC engines are on the way. An explanation from Athearn of why we have to wait would be nice, they might well have a valid reason for a sudden seven month delay. Something like, "When the sound decoders arrived from the Hoo Flung Dung Model Railroad and Agricultural Implement Works they were crap, so we sent them back and told them what to do with them." Who knows, maybe they're getting serious with quality control, stranger things have happened. I was looking forward to getting my FP & F45's in a few weeks, I'll be even more eager to get them by next April. No mention of an actual date, might be April 1st.:tb-biggrin:
This engine is not something I 'need', but something that 'would be nice'. Since I've run out of money, the delay is not that bad for me. But it is strange, the delay.
I guess I'm just a little bit annoyed, a quality RTR FP/F45 has been on my wish list for many years. I wonder how long we'll have to wait for some of the other paint schemes? BN, MRL, ATSF blue/yellow warbonnet, ATSF Super Fleet, etc.
The latest N scale supply newsletter says that the DC models should be in late September. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope that there are no delays. Cheers,
maybe they had to strip them all and repaint them with lead free paint!!!!! really i would rather have them pushed back a bit if it means they will be perfect looking and running units. unlike intermountain where they seem to throw units out with glue, out of scale details and misalligned parts.
You got that right! Word is, the Chinese shut down a bunch of factories in close proximity to where the olympic games were, for air quality reasons, this might account for some of the delays were seeing.
When the Chinese have not enough production capability, Athearn could produce both DC and DCC units in smaller quantities. But since they deliver the DC units in september 2008 and the DCC-sound units in april 2009, there could be a problem with the sound?
If you don't want to wait and can assemble a kit and then paint and decal it, you can get some from here Southern Alberta Rail (sar) - F45 built for Santa Fe, Great Northern - Model Kit These are very good quality - I have 5.:thumbs_up:
Good point 1. If they are like my SD45-2's I'll be very disappointed, the guys who ordered the DC versions should be able to tell us soon what they are like. I was hoping for the lead paint to add some weight.:tb-biggrin: Good point 2. But I think they're talking things like steel mills rather than somewhere assembling decoders for N scale locomotives, and thats assuming the factory is in the Beijing area, one city in a country the size of the U.S. I guess its possible though. Good point 3. I also believe the problem could be a last minute glitch with the decoders, up until a week or so ago all versions were apparently to be released at the same time. Come on Athearn, stop us guessing and tell us whats going on. I'm sure Athearn has very valid reasons for doing so and that we will end up with a better loco, but my point is that if something is listed as being available in a couple of weeks, then overnight pushed back seven months, there should be an explanation. Thats a standard courtesy taught at every customer service course I've ever atttended.
The Chinese shutdown is a very valid posibility for the primary delay. The shutdown for the Olympics was much more wide spread than many realize. Anybody that flys nitro powered RC planes or drives nitro RC cars has seen an almost 100% increase in the price of fuel since all this happened. Something like 11 of the 14 plants that make nitromethane are in China. All the Chinese facilities were shut down. The nitro shutdowns also affected the NHRA and fertilizer facilities. You figure about a month from completion of he product in China to the distributors. If a problem in the sound units was found after they were on the water, that adds another month return trip time to the factory for repair or replacement. However long that takes, plus another month back here. It could add up.
