The July Athearn e-mail update caught me a little offguard. I’m assuming the “Athearn Roundhouse” F7 diesels are the old Athearn ‘blue box’ ones, now marketed under Roundhouse name?
Thats the only logical explanation - just re-branding.
I just looked through Athearn’s website, and it looks like Roundhouse is now the brand used for old tooling. From what I can see, all of the old Blue Box and Roundhouse products still in production are being branded “Athearn Roundhouse”.
As long as they’re using the name for older tooling, maybe they should start selling some of the old Roundhouse steam ready to run (besides the “Old Timers”), or as KITS?[:D] I know the Shay was a disaster when they tried RTR, but the other steam engines (especially the ones with a plastic body) took very little effort to assemble and ran well. Other “inexpensive” steam engines now are far more complex than most of the MDC/Roundhouse kits, so why not make them ready to run?
It’s odd for those who have been around for a long time and remember the Round House/Model Die Casting company and the products that were sold under that brand until a few years back when they were absorbed by Athearn/Horizon.
It may have been less confusing if Athearn would have come up with a different naming scheme like Athearn basic RTR and Athearn deluxe RTR or some other naming scheme that would indicate that the models came with less or more detailing etc. and it would have been reflected in the price.
Looking at the site, ot looks like a rebranding of the RTR line. The styles of locomotives and cars listed are in similar format as the RTR pages, but not all models are showing up. Many items are listed for 2016 release dates.
Jim,IMHO just Athearn RTR or Athearn/Geneses would work but,marketing folks has to employ new names and ideas so,the boss will think they’re doing something creative.
Another case of its not broken but,let’s fix it anyway.
One would like to think that an F7 from the old Globe/Athearn tooling – from the Eisenhower if not late Truman Administration era! – would have pricing so different from the Athearn F units from the Highliner tooling that it probably makes sense to use the Roundhouse name.
I was more intrigued by the little blurb in June Model Railroader page 13 for a “Club offering” – an Athearn Louisville & Nashville tank car custom decorated KIT from Athearn. Kit! So Athearn is still willing to run off kits if the price is right (the MCR/NMRA is charging $14.99 for this one)? Or did the MCR guys run into a crate full of old blue boxes?
Dave Nelson
I have not had any time look closely at which other products are getting this re-branding - BUT, it may be an attenpt to seperate the lesser detailed items in the Ready To Roll line from the better detailed items.
Roundhouse - GOOD, Ready to Roll - BETTER, Genesis - BEST
If so you will likely see stuff like the 50’ flats with vans moved to the Roundhouse line, since there has been little upgrade to them.
Sheldon
I always hoped someone would cut a new F7 mold to match the LL F3.
As for tha old Athearn (Globe) F7, weren’t the molds cut BEFORE sputnik? Time for some new ones…
Maybe, but it is still one of the better of the budget priced F7’s out there.
With grab irons and such added, they look pretty good. They were designed without molded grab irons to allow them to be correctly added. The grills are really the only weak aspect of their detailing.
Sheldon
Probably some old tank cars that Con-Cor had in stock for this reason. Con-Cor is usually the source for historical society or NMRA Division cars. They buy the kits from Athearn and custom decorate them, I have a lot of Athearn Kits with a Con-Cor label on them.
Rick J
I’m 67 and I can’t remember when it wasn’t around so,it must out date me.Same for the BB GP7.
Roof Slope is wrong. Nose is a bit off. Grill and fans aren’t that bad, but new ones are better. Look at Bachman N scale F7 (not F9) as an example of a decent cheap model.
Sure it is hard to beat a Genesis/Highliner or Intermountain F unit for detail and accuracy - but price wise that is apples and oranges - especially here recently.
The newly retooled F unit form Bachmann might be the only “budget” F unit out there better than the Athearn/Globe shell - just my opinion.
Most of my fleet of F units are Genesis and Intermountain, but I still have one nice ABA set of Athearn BB I did the full detial treatment to years ago - GSB interiors and all.
Sheldon
Would be nice to see the AGEIR boxcab available again - with the body shell from the track cleaner version as the standard. The track cleaner shell has the front end that matches the majority of the prototypes, the normal shell is pretty much only good for CNJ 1000. But trying to get the track cleaner, even an unpowered one, is next to impossible, they sell for stupid high prices on ebay.
–Randy
I saw a photo and it looks like the “Roundhouse” F7 seems to be the same basic Blue Box shell from the 1970s.
Although I appreciated the affordability as well as the “bullet proof” drive, the one feature that always turned me off about them was the pair of huge “Baldwin Babyface style” windshields. Big enough for a scale sized NFL linebacker to fly through the openings without touching the sides or top! [:P][:D]
Yet, once detailed and weathered they were nice looking units. I held on to my BB’s until Stewart produced their HO F-units sometime in the mid 80s (IIRC).
Same with me. As soon as Stewart came out with their F units, I got rid of mine Athearn blue box F’s despite a little bit of nostalgia. I never cared for the crudness of Athearn blue box F unit - I just don’t have the warm fuzzy’s that many others in this topic seem to have for it. The horrible windshield openings, crude air grills and number boxs on the nose, etc. The Stewart F look gorgeous in comparison and it was no looking back. For those on a budget, the Proto 1000 F unit was very economical btw.
The Athearn/Globe F7 IIRC was tooled in the 1950’s and is really showing it’s age badly. Yet still Athearn still cranks out the 60+ year old tooling.
Again, it is a price point issue - comparing an Athearn F7 to a Stewart/Bowser is apples and oranges price wise.
And for the same money, I will take a Genesis or Intermountain over a Stewart any day - why you ask - OK, I was not in the market for F units when the Stewart first came out - I was too busy to do much in the hobby at that time and was happy with the stuff I had.
But for that kind of money - no handrails installed or even included with the model, I think that stinks, I don’t care how good the drive is. And I have never cared for the idea of trying to add those details to an already decorated model - either sell me a kit or sell me RTR - not something half way in between.
And if I’m going to build a kit, I like the Highliner approach where I don’t have to decide which version/phase/features I want the model to be in
Is B-manns HO F7 just their F9 rebranded? That would mean the roof slope is still wrong. (Also $95 list???)
From the looks of it, it has been completely retooled - much finer detail than their old F9.
I don’t have any, just saw a few in a local shop. But the drive too have been completely redone on the same order as their newer GP7/9, Sharks and other recent upgraded regular line models.
Sheldon