Athearn Amtrak Surfliner passenger cars

[quote user=“richhotrain”]

ATLANTIC CENTRAL

But I don’t think there is much greed or scheming on the part of the manufacturers, they are just trying to make a living in an industry that is still in a big transition compared to the old days of my youth when I managed a hobby shop train department.

OK, I’ll give you that. Maybe not much greed or scheming, but consider this. The manufacturer could stop with a well detailed passenger car. But, the add-ons like lighting and sound are likely where they make their money. Common sense tells me that.

Take Douglas’ automobile extras as an example. My wife just bought a new car and wanted a moon roof. To get it, she had to accept a “package” which included a 22-way massaging front seat. I tried it once and it was like going to a chiropractor. The moon roof cost $1,200 and the 22-way seat cost $900. What is that all about?

ATLANTIC CENTRAL

So I have a question for all of those who are saying the manufacturers can and should do better/different.

How many of you have created a product, built a preproduction prototype, set up a manufacturing process, and brought a product to market? Successfully or not?

C’mon, Sheldon, you know that is irrelevant. You don’t have to create a product, build a prototype, set up a manufacturing process, and bring a product to market to sense whether the pricing of an MR passenger car is outrageous or not.

Rich

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Hey, where is the OP?

This is his thread, his beef, not mine. [(-D]

Rich

Addressing this only because I’m using it as a metaphor for our train issue.

Sheldon is right when he says its about streamlining production costs, resulting in all of those options being a lower sticker than buying them ala carte.

They group popular options into packages that have a connecting theme. My 2000 Camaro could have had the “convenience package”, PW, PB, and Cruise (which added $1,100 to a car that was only $13,000). My 2006 mitsubishi eclipse GT had the “sun and sound package” Sunroof and a rockford fosgate stereo with a big 12 inch subwoofer in the back…that was a fun car…especially when the rearview mirror vibrated from the subwoofer cranking out Floyd’s The WALL. Pickup trucks might come with a heavy duty radiator, block heater, and heavy duty suspension because like minded people might want all three for the conditions they will use the truck.

The groupings tend to make sense.

What the manufacturer sees that would lead them to think a critical mass of customers who want a sunroof also would want a 22 function massaging seat, I have no idea.

Probably just trying to find a reason to justify charging your wife $2,100 for a $1,200 sunroof…and make her feel like she’s getting value.

Not saying that train companies would do anything like that.

No matter, my point remains the same. Why do I have to buy what I don’t want to get what I do want? [8o|]

I thought that my Lamborghini vs. Maybach analogy was quite elegant! [8D]

Rich

I would have prefered built in navigaton and power retracting mirrors when I bought my 2015 FORD F250, but to get that I would have had to move up from an XLT to a Lariat, an extra $5500 and stuff I did not want.

But this is loaded, including the twin turbo Eccoboost engine, 360 hp. It is a 4800 lb Station Wagon that goes 0-60 in 5 secs.

Back in the day, I drove several of these, and they had an amazing list of custom options:

Sheldon

How is this really any different than high end brass passenger car sets? How much do boxed brass sets go for? Having seen the ad, it looks like these are more accurate, more detailed and much more completely finished than comparable sets.

Different in well detailed plastic can often look better than high end brass, and cost less as well. I’d guess this is, at least, partially responsible for brass production dropping off.

Anyway, I expect the Surfliner models will be nice and considering the crazy prices the Surfliner decorated Walthers cars are listed on fleabay, these should be attractive to fans of these trains. I think they post-dated when I lived in California and I never saw them personally.

I got a deal on these for $3500.

PRR_1952-Congressional by Edmund, on Flickr

No lights, no interiors, heck, they didn’t even include couplers.

I’m thrilled to have them. There aren’t any Surfliners on my radar but Walthers just announced a bunch of Pennsy cars coming up that I’ll probably pick up a few of. And I’ve gladly plunked down some cash on Rapido’s New Haven cars and many of their Budd offerings.

Diner_patrons7 by Edmund, on Flickr

Lots and lots of Walthers stuff, too.

IMG_0068_fix by Edmund, on Flickr

This is my one-and-only sound-equipped passenger car:

C_NW_PS-bilevels by Edmund, on Flickr

$35 bucks for a Soundtraxx decoder. Horn and bell, of course. Lighting effects which also allows me to have the strobe beacon, directional markers and headlight, too. I can turn the interior lights on or off. There’s an air conditioner compressor sound that randomly comes on, too. Sure, these things are nothing but frills but if I’m going to

Maybe a deal at $3500 but my wife would probably get very upset if I dropped that much money at once on a set of train cars in one go, good deal or not. But it’s all relative to what our finances may be; to some, that’s chump change. And what I can afford maybe to too much for others.

In a vacuum increasing my enjoyment of the hobby sounds good; but it isn’t that simple for many of us. I’m not sure all wives can take the argument you made there Ed. Even supportive wives. But then again, there are bachelors out there who may have more freedom to do as they wish.

Yes, it is all relative and subjective to each individuals personal values, resources and situation.

Many simply can’t invest that much in their hobby, others won’t, even if they have it to spend.

Personal example, my wife and I have always had nice cars, bought new cars, bought practical cars that suit our life style needs. Not the most expensive, but not economy cars in price or operating costs by any measure.

But the first time we needed a car and the desirable choice was over $30,000 , she had a hard time with that. Peoples emotional sense of value often does not keep up with inflation or social/market changes, especially as we get older.

We bought the car. She loved it. It spoiled her. The next two cars have cost nearly $50,000 a piece. The $30,000 car was in 2008.

Sheldon

We all have to do that up to a point. Stats might prove me wrong, but it feels to me like I am being pulled up passed that point too often these days. Maybe its normal to fell that way as i get older.

Athearn is a big company and can float product test balloons every once in a while to see if something sticks. I think they have that onboard sound refrigeration car. Not too many sound equipped cars out there.

They took the trouble to make a model of a loco that only had a total of three (or was it four) produced, the EMD GP40P-2. They made it both in SP paint and UP paint, spanning different owners.

I’m glad they did. I think its a cool looking diesel. Didn’t cost more than a normal GP40-2 though.

Athearn Genesis Union Pacific (former Southern Pacific) GP40P-2. - YouTube

HO GP40P-2, SP #3199 (ATHG40760): Athearn Trains