$449.00 for an athearn I dont think so
I am amazed it wasn’t a much needed Pennsy K-4. Horizon apparently doesn’t want to step on MTH’s toes, litigation issues over railed toys being invented by “Mr Mike”. Of course it could be there is no market for Eastern railroads!
Will
If you use the Challenger price at most of the discount shops, you pay about $250 to $260 when they were in stock,which is 30% off. Most of them are gone now so the price is higher now until more stock comes in.
The Big Boy should go for about $350 using that logic so it will be resonable for a locomotive with sound installed.
MTH is small-time, compared to Horizon, or Walthers.
Mark
Just who does have the best discounts on big engines? internet or otherwise?
Thanks
Support your local hobby shop. Late last year, another one, B T & L, in West Palm Beach bit the dust. There are plenty of us down here in South Florida, who still mourn the demise of Orange Blossom Hobbies.
Much needed K4? Take a look around. MTH, BLI, And Bachmann Spectrum have done them.
Facetious is the key word here…lol
Mark
I think that it is important to support LHS for sure and I support the local shops but also buy from local shops in other states that offer good prices, or at least what I consider good.
First Hobby is one for sure that seems to offer fair prices on all of their stock.
Many of the LHS are run by people that are ready to retire and some cannot sell the business so they do just go away. I was never in Orange Blossom Hobbies but have seen their advertisements over many years in MR. I was at Bobby Hall’s in Texas just before she closed, at 91 years of age. You just cannot sell the Hobby Shops unless they are the caliber of Caboose Hobbies or many of the very large and succesful shops that most of us still buy from.
I just received my latest Zephyr cars from Caboose Hobbies and would reccomend them to anyone since they have the goods most of the time.
If you can afford the extra 20%-40% that your LHS will charge you, definitely go with them. Otherwise, try Trainworld first; they’ve generally got the best prices for engine anywhere (some mail order houses beat them occasionally on individual items, but they beat everyone in general).
I haven’t bought an engine from any of my LHS in years; I can’t afford to. Structures, freight cars, track, and scratchbuilding supplies come from them however.
The new Rivarossi’s are $281 at FirstHobby.com
Much lower.
Another Big Boy??? Gee, that’s just, ummm, er, SWELL!
You’re saying the same mfg will make the PCM that made the Trix Big Boy. Wasn’t the Trix Mfg in Germany? I assumed the PCM Big Boy would be from the Orient. Do you know for sure this info is correct? Thanks Bill
The PCM Big Boy that is coming out is the Trix being marketed by PCM in the USA.
I do not need a Big Boy, but I model an eastern RR. Athearn is in business to make money. Hopefully they did their research and they will make money. Than perhaps they can bring us other steam engines that they can make money on. Eventually if they keep making money on them they will get to that prize locomotive that we all want. I sure could use a NYC Berkshire.
Train18393
Dayton and Mad River
Back in 1967?
I purchased some of the AHM Big Boys from that era also and they cost between 25 and 55 dollars when AHM was discounting them. They do not run like the new ones and are display only models for me.
We should all appreciate new models becoming available and remember there was a time in the hobby for many years, brass was the only way to get the model you wanted. Brass was not inexpensive at that time for the money we had and are not cheap now.
I think it’s good they are coming out with a Big Boy. Big Boys are my favorite of steam locomotives. TRIX, no way. Too pricey. Rivarossi, somewhat bad (see Fixing a Rivarossi Big Boy to learn what i mean) mechanisms. Brass, too hard to find and way over my head on prices. Con-Cor, only did N scale (until the merged with rivarossi) except for the kit. Athearn, good mechanisms, nice detail, and power. If an Athearn Challenger could pull a 100 car coal train, whats a big boy gonna do? The pic i saw looked really nice (other than the smoke deflectors). Besides, i like the handheld. This will be a fine locomotive.
swp7776, the challengers were $359 retail. The average price (from my piont of view) is $250. The Big Boy will probably get to that price (although i do agree with you on the $449.00).
I dont know if it will, but if the controllers are different (as well as 2 for the same model), the locomotives could make double heading runs more realistic, as well as hooking up to each other.
I just had a revalation you guys.
Both the Trix and PCM Big boys will have the same sound! They both use Loksound. Meaning, both will have a really really good wistle, but wont have the ability to control how many blasts you get.
Did everybody forget about Bowser Big Boy and Challenger? Oh wait, it’s a kit that would have to be put together. Would pull more than the rest, though. I think Bowser also made PRR K4s.
Maybe make DM&IR Yellowstones and WP 2-8-8-2s. DM&IR had more 2-8-8-4s than UP had Big Boys, and I believe 2 are left. The WP engine was essentially the base from which the DM&IR engines came from.
18 M4s built vs 25 Big Boys. Hmmm…