Walthers Catalog.

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hello,

I’m curious, can someone tell me why Athearn Products are not represented in the Walthers catalog?

Thanks,

James Barnes, Jr.

Taylor, Michigan

2

Because Athearn products are distributed exclusively by Horizon Hobby Distributors; who incidentally, bought the Athearn company some years back. Walthers, as a distributor/wholesaler, does not have access to the Athearn product line, so they do not feature them in their catalog.

As a countermeasure, Walthers bought the LifeLike company to ensure access to a line of quality locomotives (Proto2000).

3

For Athearn products you can go to their web site or a local hobby shop that has an account with Horizon Hobby Distributors, the owners of Athearn. Horizon and Walthers are competitors in the model railroad business.

4

Didn’t Horizon Hobby recently split off Athearn into a separate operating company?

Rich

5

Even if they did, Horizon will probably continue to be the distributor for Athearn products.

6

I remember reading that. But, I noticed that the people in charge were the same, so this was some sort of accounting thing, I’d imagine. It might have been a response to recent changes in Federal health care regulations.