At a swap meet yesterday and a dealer had an Athearn freight car where the lettering and herald were switched from the left to the right hand side of the car. Does this car have any value because of the production error?
Hi!
There are a number of folks who are Athearn collectors - mainly the BB variety kits or built. While variations can bring some added value, it is not that big of a deal - as compared to the likes of Lionel post war cars.
If you want more info, I suggest checking out the “Standard Guide to Athearn Models” and / or “Greenberg’s Guide to Athearn Trains”.
Ha, what I have learned the hard way is that - like everything else - a model train piece is worth only what someone is willing to pay.
In any case, I have a soft spot for Athearn, for their quality/cost/availability got me into HO back in the very early 1960s.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
I only paid $4.00 each, kadee equipped, for two “collector type” so it is no big deal. I am just curious. Will check the sites. I have a lot of 40 - 50 year old Athearns so probably have a lot of collector items. Thanks for the info.
That lettering reversal is not necessarily a mistake, as some roads placed the lettering thusly because of the car type, with double door boxcars being a common example:
While the reporting marks and dimensional data are in their usual place on this car, there wasn’t room to the right of the door for the herald:
Wayne
Yes, if you can lick it and stick it on an envelope.
As was noted earlier, the lettering is not always a mistake. Check out the prototype. Sometimes they actually do match. For instance one of the most mistaken comments are on CN rolling stock. The spelling of Canadian is different on the 2 sides. Many think they found an error only to hear that it’s correct and with a reason.
Several years ago when Athearn was putting out their Special Edition car sets, they did a Nickel Plate Road set with a prototypically correct (but wrong) flat car which read, “Nickel Road Plate.” This was based on a photo that I had sent them.
dlm