Is there anyone else besides me that misses the inexpensive old Athearn type locomotive kits? I for one am saddened to see this wonderful facet of the hobby wane.
Those old kits were relatively dirt cheap and when detailed provided many hours of modeling satisfaction, not to mention sustaining the modeling economy. (What has happened to all of those parts mfrs?)
Now, I don’t blame Athearn and the other mfrs for going the RTR route. It is simply a matter of economics and they do have to pay attention to their bottom line. That is reality.
But, could there be any way those mechanisms could still be produced and offered on the market and allow other mfrs to offer the blank undecorated shells and detail parts? Since several locomotives have the same wheel base only a relatively few mechanisms would need to be available. (For example: GP-7’s, GP-9’s have the same wheel base.)
The shells could be devoid of precast grabs, etc…, with maybe little dimples in their place for drill guides.
I suspect if engines and cars were made like the oldies they would not sell a whole lot of them , seems like most folks want high details right out of the box. And I have some old N scale stuff that runs like it used to but is not near as smooth as the new stuff. BUT I too miss the older way of doing things, I have a DC N scale and a DCC HO , run both and get lots of enjoyment form both , so I guess at least fot me i am torn.
I don’t see Athearn bringing them back, or selling the tooling to another company.
Another start-up company would have to invest is new tooling for a model that would be more basic than the competition. That means they will have to sell a lower priced item, but at much higher volumes. I think its unlikely that it would be a profitable venture.
I know what you mean, but today’s “modellers” want instant kharma or something. I still have a set of old Athearn “superpower” F7’s that I am slowly detailing and converting to DCC (no sound); a GP 7 (listed as a GP 9 because back in the day some “expert” in the model press said if it had dynamic brakes it was a GP 9) be be repainted and detailed; an SD9 that I once sold, but have recovered and a caboose to be redone. To say nothing of a half-dozen mechanical refers to renumber.
All of the above are fun to own, re-detail, change wheel sets and add Kadee couplers to. The new stuff is nice too. It seems to be a matter of time-management and/or basement temperatures.
It was not a profitable business for Athearn. Why in the world would anyone else spend tens of thousands of dollars tooling up for old products that could be made obsolete instantly by Athearn dropping the mechanisms?
Better return setting stacks of money on fire. At least you would be warm for a while.
Can you really blame today’s modelers for preferring RTR over the kit?
Isn’t it just part of the evolution of the hobby?
Like so many other developments in every aspect of modern life, technological developments render prior methodologies antiquated.
At one time, the tooling and the technologies may not have been developed to a point that they are today, so kits were probably the way to go to construct a highly detailed loco. Not so today.
As for me, having entered the hobby just 10 years ago, I don’t miss what I never had.
Inflation - a $32 model in 1970 now would sell for $100 2014 dollars. You can buy lots of Atlas Trainman or Athearn RTR engines for that price or less…
Unless you are into ‘Barn Finds’ at estate sales/flea markets/train shows, and want to do the work to get them running again - The above option makes more sense.
I had a good sized fleet of Athearn GP9’s, SD7’s and F units. All were upgraded with n/s wheels, re-wired, detailed, painted/decaled/weathered. When the P2K Geeps and SD’s came out in the 90’s, I bought heavy and started over. All of my old ‘BB’ engines have been sold off at local train meets or on eBay. The new stuff runs so much better and has correct width hoods as well.
Is there anyone else besides me that misses the inexpensive old Athearn type locomotive kits? I for one am saddened to see this wonderful facet of the hobby wane.
Those old kits were relatively dirt cheap and when detailed provided many hours of modeling satisfaction, not to mention sustaining the modeling economy. (What has happened to all of those parts mfrs?)
Now, I don’t blame Athearn and the other mfrs for going the RTR route. It is simply a matter of economics and they do have to pay attention to their bottom line. That is reality.
But, could there be any way those mechanisms could still be produced and offered on the market and allow other mfrs to offer the blank undecorated shells and detail parts? Since several locomotives have the same wheel base only a relatively few mechanisms would need to be available. (For example: GP-7’s, GP-9’s have the same wheel base.)
The shells could be devoid of precast grabs, etc…, with maybe little dimples in their place for drill guides.
Unfortunately InterMountain seems to have discontinued their powered chassis, or at least the last time I looked on their web site I couldn’t find them. Walthers doesn’t list them anymore either. Too bad. I have an FP7 shell that needs one and eBay prices for complete locomotives are a bit high.
To answer your question Hobbytown Of Boston did that with their locomotive kits you bought the body,frame etc came in the body kit and of course you bought the drive kit later.
up831 wrote: “Is there anyone else besides me that misses the inexpensive old Athearn type locomotive kits?”
Nope, not me. I don’t miss those at all. I’ve been in the hobby seriously since 1990, and before that as a kid with trains in the basement, so I remember those days well.
“I for one am saddened to see this wonderful facet of the hobby wane.”
Wonderful? Yeah, if you like the same old generic, toy-like models in the same old semi-opaque paint schemes with the same old road numbers for decade after decade. In yon olden days, one could go into any hobby shop in the entire country and find all the same models. It didn’t matter if you were in Boston, Chicago, or Los Angeles, they all had the same stock…because that’s all there was. I guess it was great if you modeled the ATSF, SP, or UP, but it pretty much stunk if you were a fan of smaller RR’s.
As for the economic factor, at the time they killed off the BB kits, Athearn stated that the cost of making them would end up making them just as expensive as the RTR versions.
For the part about drives… This happened for years and years with undec.'s.
I’m a kit builder. I like a lot of the RTR models from today, especially since they have a level of razor sharp detail, paint and lettering that I could never even hope to do so well on my own. But, I’ll rarely pass up the chance to build a good kit, or even piece a model together and go so far as to make major parts from scratch. Those kits often cost as much or even more than the RTR models though, so I can’t always justify it. I’d love to get my hands on an unbuilt Arbour Models steam engine kit.
Keep a sharp eye on the “bay”, you can still pick up some deals on these. I still enjoy working on these the way you talk about. Still, I like my Atlas and P2k engines, and am willing to pay the extra for them. You can see why the market wouldn’t support the old school ways. I think the new stuff out there is fantastic, by the way.
One deal I got recently was an Athearn GP 35. The seller knew nothing about it, described it as “Southern Pacific 6539”, One blurry picture. Same seller was selling other locos this way, some were dummys, some runners, but no indication thereof, or brand. I chanced it, the wheels looked kinda gray, meaning it should be a runner. Road number 6539 means Athearn. Good runner after a cleanup and lube.
Ok, that’s an exception, but watch long enough and you’ll find deals. And enjoy the hobby at whatever level pleases you. Dan
Paul,O Scale Car kits and basic locomotive kits been around since Moses…I will agree one had to be highly skilled in order to build the locomotive kits.
The first model trains was RTR–Lionel not HO.HO is a johnny come lately since HO popularity didn’t take hold until the early 50s even though HO been around since the 20s…It was considered to small by “serious” modelers.
As far as the early scratch builders I consider them true rivet counters since they counted the rivets before making the rivet indentions.
As for basic how about Bachman? They are now a serious player when it comes to functyion but still are pretty generic and plain in terms of details. No they’re not kits
Buy one and detial it to yor hearts content, RTR versions can be picked up for not much more than the old BB kits.
You said “continues to go south”. That is in error from all the news reports I have been listening to in the past 12 months or so. What the economy “continues to do” is slowly recover although there have been recent signs of softening - being blamed on various things. It would have been more correct for you to say “if the economy reverses and starts to go south” I was listening to the national news yesterday and they said the US economy bottomed out around in 2009 and had been recovering since, especially in the past year or 18 months.
Anyway, as long as there is a market, Athearn Genesis, ExactRail, Tangent and Intermountain will continue to turn out nice detailed models. In the mean time cheaper options still exist on Ebay and at train shows. As for in shops, again, it’s been pointed out that the stuff the OP was nostalgic for would not be on the market at such cheap prices - with inflation and higher factory costs, those items will be more modestly priced than the highest detailed models but still not cheap either. If cheap is the goal, visit the next train show that comes to your area … lots of cheap kits in the $5-10 range. LOTS.
It is easy to forget the growing chorus of bellyaching about how Athearn and others were simply putting paint schemes on one basic shell with no regard for prototype accuracy – one headlight casing vs. two on the nose of the F, ignoring the “phases” of their various EMD and GE offering, and so on. There was also grousing about Athearn never improving their somewhat iffy electrical contact system with that metal strip running the length of the interior and an L shaped piece of metal from the truck rubbing on it. A variety of firms made money selling after-market improvements that Athearn itself could have introduced had it wanted to.
At the time guys said that the hobby would pay for quality as regards prototype specific details and paint schemes and I think they have been proven correct. Knowing what we know now, it is astounding what the hobby has proven itself willing to pay for.
But it is true that Athearn offered medium to entry level trains well above mere trainset quality and today’s market has something of a missing niche in that regard, unless you include the Walthers Trainline GP9M and similar models. Jim Kelly once wrote that N scale was stunted for years for lack of an equivalent to Athearn.
Old Jim was sadly mistaken or forgot about Atlas as the “Athearn” of N Scale.Even today Atlas remains the biggest supplier of N Scale and much like Athearn its not hard to find Atlas N Scale…
Dave, many other drives will fit that shell and most w/o any mods of very minor. The Regal drive is as good as the Stewart/ Bowser and is an easy fit. You still may be able to find the early Stewart/ Kato drive. Not sure of the Genesis drive being a drop on fit.