Athearn News-6-8-04

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Greetings and salutations.

We have a lot going on here in our new world headquarters in Carson, CA.
First, although the “move” is completed and we have vacated our old building
in Compton, we still have a lot of unpacking to do and we need to get the
production lines completely set up before we can start making kits here.
Crews are plumbing the fire suppressant system for the paint booths today.

The printing machines are set up with air and electricity, so as soon as the
water piping is done on the spray booths we’ll be painting and printing
here. The packing lines and the test tracks are set up, so we’ll be rolling
soon.

We expect to see rolling stock and locomotive kits starting to leave here by
the end of this month.

SD70MAC

The first SD70MACs are “on the water” and will arrive here before the end of
June. They should be in stores (at least the first few road names) in early
July. The samples that we have gotten look real good.

N Scale AUTOMAX and COAL PORTERS
These should be arriving in stores right now. Check them out!

NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Here are our new products announced in early June.

If you want quick, low resolution images, use the .jpg.
If you want slow, high resolution images, use the .pdf. BUT please NOTE that
when you use the ,pdf the images will first download to your computer, then
you have to open Adobe Acrobat to view the images.

N Scale

N Scale Ford C Tractor with 28’ Trailer
http://www.athearn.com/ac/N_Ford28trlr0604.jpg
http://www.athearn.com/ac/N_Ford28trlr0604.pdf

Genesis
Genesis F3’s Great Northern
http://www.athearn.com/ac/GenF3_GN0604.jpg
http://www.athearn.com/ac/GenF3_GN0604.pdf

Genesis PC&F Box Car 8’ + 6’ Door 12 packs
http://www.athearn.com/ac/GenPCF12pk0604.jpg
http://www.athear

2

So…we ever gonna see these as kits?

3

I assume everything you sell is assembled in some third world country. Joe G.

4

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Sorry, I was sleeping so soundly I didn’t realize it was spam!

5

It all comes from China these days. [tdn]

Bob Boudreau
Canada

6

When (he asked) will Athearn wake up and offer a bay window caboose in genuine Chicago & North Western RED. Red, not that phoney boxcar brown that never graced a real CNW caboose. The yellow cabooses are fine for those in the modern era but with all these Atlas and P2K HO engines in early C&NW paint schemes, Athearn could have cleaned up and made a mind by offering the Bay Window Caboose in the pre 1970s red.
Dave Nelson

7

If you want one that badly, pick up a kit for the cheapest price you can find. (I hope its a UP one) strip the shell and paint one. Your a model railroader are you not? That Red scheme is a dip job, you should have it through your workbench and out rolling on the railroad in a weekend.

James.

8

[quote]
Originally posted by joseph2

I assume everything you sell is assembled in some third world country. Joe G.

Yes,Joe just like Atlas,Life Like,Kato,and other brands…Nothing is hardly made in the USA these days.[:(]

9

Gee, you all seem pretty harsh on the Athearn people. I think it was nice to get an update. Some one from an actual company took the time to write a progress report and all we can do is sit here and critcize? I see some on this forum have a lot of muscles behind the keyboard. I bet none of you are that brave in person.

Let me ask all of you this. If Athearn did do all of its manufacturing here in the states, would we all be willing to spend $30.00 or more on an unassembled kit? Lets not be that silly and think Athearn is the only company doing manufacturing business overseas. This type of manufacturing trend has been going on like this since the mid 1960’s. Don’t beat up on somebody today, we should all have voted for other people a long time ago and put an end to this strategy.

And since when does politics mix with trains and our hobby? Join a CNN or Fox forum and complain there. This forum is for those of us that have an interest outside of the real world for a few hours. If you want to female dog about the sad state of American business practices, do it somewhere else!

Thank you Athearn rep for the update. Keep them coming. You make fine products and I wish you and your company nothing but success.

Dave Goodlander
Buffalo New York.