I know that Horizon Hobby indicated that as long as there was a demand for the BB kits they would still offer them. However, yesterday I went into my LHS which is a major retailer located in downtown Baltimore, and while they had hundreds of Athearn RTR products available there were hardly any (less than a dozen) BB kits available. I don’t believe they are going to carry them anymore. So we have a fairly large retailer that isn’t ordering BB kits from Horizon. Has anyone else noticed this happening?
There is a hobby shop inside an Ace Hardware store in Tucson, Arizona, that still has 50 or 60 Athearn BB kits along with RTR stuff.
From my experiences with the new RTR, I prefer the older kits and/or Accurail. Athearn RTR leaves a lot to be desired, especially when you consider the prices they’re asking for it.
Well, I don’t mean to take a shot at Athearn, because I own a lot of RTR as well as BB. But while I used to pay less than $5 for a kit and at least got the satisfaction of putting it together, now I’m paying twice that and there isn’t as much “play value” in just opening a box.
My LHS still has more BB kits than RTR. I have yet to buy a RTR since I’m probably going to change the car in some way anyhow. Besides, if the RTR stuff is twice as much as BB kits than it’s definetly worth it to me to spens an extra 10-15 minutes (if that!) putting it together.
Other people just want to run trains and that’s okay too. We have both the builders and runners in my local club and I don’t think it would exist if we didn’t have all kinds.
I’m not sure that the jury is in as of yet on Horizon’s buying out of Athearn or Roundhouse. However, I do still see plenty of Blue Box kits in most of the hobby shops in the Detroit area.
I haven’t asked any of the owners or managers about the availability of BB kits but I will ask the next few I visit.
Roundhouse does seem to be getting scarce in the LHSs but not in the train shows/flea markets.
All of the Blue Box kits that my LHS has are the new “old” Roundhouse cars in Athearn boxes and different paint schemes. Still as unprototypical as before.
I wonder if some of the stores are waiting for the new BB releases to come out in the next couple months before restocking. That would make sence to me.
It’s a mixed bag here in NE Ohio. One of the LHSs is closing out their Athearn BB and Roundhouse kits. She says she won’t be getting any more. The other two stores I frequent still stock them, but not in the quantities as in the past. Probably just using up the warehouse stocks. One good thing, the prices are better than ever, $4-$6 dollars for most car kits. One bad thing, most of the store don’t have any of the BB locos anymore. Bad new for me. I’ll have to go to more train shows now.
I like the basic lines of the Blue Box kits and use a lot of them for kitbashing and custom painting. Mixed feelings about RTR and Genesis–good looking, but no fun to build (or mutate), too expensive to tear apart. Lean toward 'bashing a NYC non-dynamic GP-35 frpm BB shells instead of buying an RTR.
Athearn Blue Box: It’s just something that I’ve been doing for 40 years.
I’ve bought some of the recent Blue Box (P42’s, three of 'em), and an RTR (F59) of Athearn’s. The Blue Box are still good runners right out of the box, and adding the details, I think, puts the “modelling” in model railroading. If I hadn’t bought it through Ebay, I’d also have to agree with the price thing, I just don’t think the RTR’s are worth the money.
Not being as “detail oriented” as some, I like the BB kits. My problem is no LHS very close to me, so I have to go more than 50 miles, and that’s a long ways with today’s gas costs. I may be doing more of my shopping on the Internet and hopefully I will find kits, not RTRs.
I like the shake-the-box Roundhouse/MDC and Bowser kits. I have a lot of BB freight car kits but except for cabooses, will no longer buy BBs. Seems like I’m among the “few” modelers that has had to fix annoying problems with BB freight cars: Coupler box ears that are too small to hold the covers, and 54 ft. Centerflow and Covered Hoppers with body tabs that won’t hold the body in place. I am, however, keeping the BB frieght cars that I have.
Locomotives: Except for a couple of U-Boats, Athearn cowls, and one SD9, I’ve sold or traded the BB locomotives that I bought back in the 70s and 80s. With Ebay and train shows, I’ve been able to buy P2K locomotives for Athearn BB prices.
Anyone here a distributor? The reason I’m asking is that I believe ATHEARN has temporarily stopped producing their blue box kits and is now just all RTR. But they received so many complaints that they may be going back to the kits. Most blue box kits that you are able to find I believe are just the remains of what your LHS distributor has left… Im not for sure but Im just adding my 2 cents into the rumor mill.
About the only place recently that I’ve seen the BB’s in appreciable numbers has been at the train shows. My guess is that if ATHEARN resumes marketing the “new” BB’s, they’ll only resemble what you once were accustomed to only in color of the box - certainly not price.
Why bother with the rumor mill? Athearn makes its Blue Box production schedule public. Horizon’s website shows what they currently have in stock. There is no reason to be spreading wild rumors when a little research will show what is really going on. As a matter of a fact, there was a thread on this forum within the past couple of months that listed Athearn’s latest release of its Blue Box production schedule.
Peter, I think Totally Trains in Ross on Wye may well have an account with Horizon - last time I was in there I enquired as to whether the sale of Athearn would cause supplies to be cut off, they replied that they had managed to persuade Horizon to supply them. This may have changed - I’ve not been there for nearly a year now. Hope this is of use!