For those of you who tried the link that we sent in the last Athearn News, we apologize. Come see us there - we’ll have a BUNCH of new samples for you to check out!
We DO have some more good news! The Santa Fe Bicentennial SD45-2 (without
sound) have been shipped to our distributor, and should be in stores right after Thanksgiving. They are beautiful. If you want one, we strongly suggest that you get it when you see it, as they are SOLD OUT AT THE FACTORY. Oh, we know that there were five total units painted like this. And we’ll make all five, over time. But for the foreseeable future, there aren’t going to be any more non-sound units available. The sound units are due in before Christmas.
I was wondering if this is a new stategy for Athearn to sell the sound units by eliminating any non-sound units in the near future and maybe beyond. The new letter states they are sold out at the factory, which to me means they made a short run and all have been shipped to dealers.
The MRC sound in general is very poor, but I have not heard the SD45-2 version. Anyone out there care to comment on how they sound.
Quote from news letter
If you want one, we strongly suggest that you get it when you see it, as they are SOLD OUT AT THE FACTORY. Oh, we know that there were five total units painted like this. And we’ll make all five, over time. But for the foreseeable future, there aren’t going to be any more non-sound units available. The sound units are due in before Christmas.
This makes me even happier with my recent purchase of two Athearn F3 AB sets from an internet store recently. Switching out the circuit board with a decoder is supposedly pretty easy(haven’t gotten to it yet), and if I do decide to go sound, would probably go with better quality Loksound or Tsunami rather than the factory installed MRC
I believe all it means is that this SF unit is/was such a strong seller that it is already sold out before shipping. I doubt that it has anything to do with a smaller production run.
Other manufacturer’s locomotives sell out before shipping also…such as Atlas.
I wouldn’t read anything into that line about it being sold out already…other than, it’s further proof that if you want something, it’s best to make sure you get it pre-ordered when your LHS is taking orders.
The Email stated they were going to make all five numbers since the Santa Fe had five of the Bi-Centenial units, but they also said these might be the only non-sound units. The Bi-Centenial paint job is nice and probably will sell out the first run quickly, but other will be coming along later on. .
They probably make more money on the sound units since they charge an addtional one hundred dollars for sound, and probably only pay MRC about fifteen dollars for the electronics.
There were a couple of Genesis SD45-2 related threads within the past few months. I posted that me and the group that were at my LHS were very dissappointed with the sound from the SD45-2 that the store’s owner was testing. He actually cancelled a $3000 order to Athearn for sound equipped versions.
I hope Athearn is not going to pull this junk with the upcoming Genesis cowls! I want non-sound versions and plan on dropping in Lok Sound units in them. If some of you guys are concerned that Athearn may try this, then zip them an e-mail. I certainly am going to.
Everything is “limited run” these days. Just look at the kids lined up at the stores for days for the latest computer games at exorbitant prices. No bargains there! It’s all about the hype and a very effective marketing strategy. If you can create demand, as in the gaming world full price and beyond rules. Remember when Honda dealers required a primium over list price just to get you on the waiting list for that special new model? Well in our world we don"t have a gazillion kids waiting for the latest stuff, just a small number of model railroaders. So, what to do? Why let’s limit production, ensuring all are sold and at full price. You didn’t get your’s? You shouldn"t have waited, and the next time you won’t. So think the mfgs. Demand is not unlimited in mrr so the supply is! Now I did get my SD45-2, one with sound and one without in EL and I am pleased with the sound quality and choice. I heard it in philly at the national and thought it was too loud until they [Athearn] explained that it was on max volume because of the size of the place and number of people. I was also shown the engine at LHS, grudgingly so, for less than 30 seconds of a short run. Not impressed and the owner was annoyed at having to take it out and demo it. Yes, I have purchased other items there. When someome shows a lack of enthusiasm for the merchandise they are selling how can you consider it? So, why did I eventually buy it? Well I too was going to put loc sound in it, and may still well do it in the second engine, but another dealer had it and yes for a better price [ maybe he heard all the naysayers too and wanted to get rid of it]. Anyway, I lowered the sound, selected the bell and horn, set the volume on individual sounds by using the cv’s and I am up and running! Now if I order the loc sound, which I have not heard either, I will have the pleasure of installing it and the I will make a valid comparison. In the meantime I’ll be in the basement running trains and making noise.
Very good point about the limited runs. However, on the flip side of the same coin sometimes with patience a modeler will eventually get that “limited run” unit he/she wanted so badly (2nd & 3rd runs, ebay, etc). I’ve seen this happen several times over the years with various Athearn and Atlas units.
Though I will likely place one on order in advance at my LHS for a non-sound FP45 when the time comes.
BTW: Brakeman,
I’ve stated on other threads that some modelers may find the sound quality “o.k”. Yes, it is quite loud but the point I made on the other threads was that the overall quality pales in comparison to the competition. The turbo charger is quite audible…in fact it dominates the prime mover sound. We laughed when my LHS’s owner commented that the unit sounded like a Lokheed L1011 passenger jet! Several of the horns sounded slightly distorted and "foggy"even at low volume. Especially the Nathan M series horn sound.
We weren’t being snooty about this. We were simply comparing the unit to QSI and Lok Sound equipped units and in our opinion, it was “No Contest”. The owner was disgusted and so were we. Our overall consensus was that it was like having a top of the line Corvette with a $60 car stereo. If this were the year 2002, we probably would have been thrilled but sound has come such a very long way in just 4 years.
So the owner promptly called his Athearn sales rep, cancelled the big order on sound units and instead ordered all non-sound units (which are still selling well). Needless to say, the young lady at Athearn wasn’t very happy but promised to zip our feedback to management.
It is obvious that Athearn is locked into a contract with MRC so not much may happen now.
QSI and Soundtraxx set the bars…Lok Sound has been meeting that challenge head on qui
It looks to me like there is a little too much room for interpretation in the latest Athearn e-mail. Much like a lot of info that gets posted or e-mailed, if the reader misinterprets the intended meaning of the writer, confusion results. Nothing new - ask newspaper guys.
As a dealer with Horizon/Athearn I think there is some room for me to comment, and I can’t pretend to know exactly what Athearn means, but this would be my guess.
The e-mail stated that Athearn planned on making all 5 SF bicentennial units “over time.” Now by “over time” - I predict that they meant this process could be well over five years. I am almost 100% certain that “over time” does not mean even within the next year.
Only so much room on the production line, and projects must take their turns.
It also said that the non-sound units were already sold out at the factory and that this would be it for availability of non-sound units “for the foreseeable future.”
I strongly suggest that this simply means…these will be the only non-sound units available FOR THIS FIRST RUN. Without actually speaking with someone at Athearn in California, I believe that all they meant was…there may not yet be an actual production date on the schedule for the second run of the second road number, and therefore the term “for the foreseeable future” was used accurately. And that non-sound units will be available for the future runs, whenever they are made.
Athearn just went to quite a bit of expense to produce a very nice catalog of Athearn Genesis F units with and WITHOUT sound available. It would seem that the tone of some of this discussion on this thread is that some folks are worried that Athearn is going all-sound. Believe me, as a dealer I’ve heard nothing about that being the plan.
In fact, I’ve told my Horizon rep that I am no longer stocking Athearn sound units period, for several reasons. If someone special orders one in my shop, I’ll be glad to order any unit(s) for him/her.
I want the non-sound version also, but at the worst case, I will purchase the FP45’s with or without sound. I have the Genesis Challengers and Big Boy’s and have replaced the sound. The MRC is so very poor in sound and motor drive but the price of the engines are very low compared to the PCM. That lower price of the Genesis still allows an installation of a good sound sy
I did e-mail Athearn. I commend your attitude about being diplomatic as this is something I often encourage.
I did e-mail Athearn. I was courteous and straightforward. I did “rag” on the MRC decoder, but not in a nasty tone. Just “matter-of-factly” and I even acknowledged that they (Athearn) were likely in an obligatory type of contract with MRC.
However, I do feel that modelers dissatisfied with the MRC sound system should e-mail Horizon (as Paul3 suggested before) as well as Athearn and let them know that they should strongly encourage MRC to improve their sound decoder lines. Hopefully MRC will.
This reminds me of General Motors and Ford back in the late1980s. ( I used to work on GM cars, trucks, and buses). Many consumers expressed their dissatisfactions with the quality by switching over to imports. Toyota and Honda cars became a common sight in many a neighborhood. While GM remained on top only because of sheer volume sales, they lost an enourmous number of customers as did Ford.
A few years ago many of us expected MRC to eventually reach the top of the food chain along with QSI and Soundtraxx. MRC is still on top of their game with their DC powerpacks, yet sadly, it seems that MRC is still scraping along the bottom of the pond when it comes to onboard sound.
My only 2 cents to add to the points of others is that Athearn has always been a “batch” production company, not a continuous production of any models. When the supply of a given model appeared to dry up, they would produce another run. So availability of a given model would vary cyclically over time.
The only difference with Athearn’s production of 40 years ago (compared to now) is that production run numbers were larger in proportion to the expected demand. One had a rather large unknown retail supply chain to fill when planning production, and in the days before point of sale databases, all a manufacturer like Athearn could do was go by replenishment orders and some best guesses. Shipping and ordering times were also much longer, so extra production was needed to fill that void as well.
Now that actual retail sales data is far more accurate, pre-production orders are a fact of life, and shipping and ordering times are much more frequent and known quantities, production is more carefully tailored. Atlas and some others take it to the extreme, producing little more than enough to fill pre-orders. Horizon/Athearn has so far stated that they would make additional runs of any models that there was sufficient demand for. Can’t really ask for more than that, given the need to control costs in a pretty competitive market.
I’m going to leave the sound quality issue alone until I have some personal experience to speak from. I’m sure the more we voice our displeasure with the MRC sound decoders (politely and directly to both companies is best), the more pressure will mount on both MRC and Athearn/Horizon to do something about the issues.
From reports I have read, the MRC sound decoders in the new Roundhouse 4-4-0 are an improvement over the past. But perhaps not enough.
I imagine the fix won’t be immediate on MRC’s part, no matter how much they would want it to be. Bringing chip designers and coders up to
You have an excellent point about the past ways of Athearn doing business with the BB line and the volume of runs for that product. Th new runs are much shorter and they certainly want the items to be sold and not setting on the shelves in the warehouse.
My concern about our coments to Athearn and MRC will continue ti go on being ignored because of reviews like MR’s of the Big Boy in the December issue. They did a good review with no constructive comments on the sound and therefore, MRC believes they are doing a great job.
They have made progress for the whistle selection for the Big Boy’s over the first run Challengers and most of us would hope they would now improve the chuffing also. I emailed some of the dealers about the new run Challengers that are due soon and was told they would have the previous sound package not the newer one that came out of the Big Boy. It would indicate to me they have take