Athearn RTR Factory Closing (?)

I visited my local hobby shop last week and noticed that there were very few Athearn RTR products there. This surprised me, because they always had a huge selection of RTR's products (it had been months since my last visit).

I asked the kid who works in there about why there was a lack of Athearn RTR's. He stated that they were recently notified by Horizon Hobby that the Chinese have ordered the closure of their facility in China. According to him, this factory does not manufacture the Genesis line of products, so those are not affected.

If this is true, I suspect that this is another example of China pirating American business. Has anyone else heard this?

Pat Moreland,
Union Mo.

PS, I apologize if this has already been addressed in another thread, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

 

Pat,

Things are getting rather surreal here. I am not used to having this disposable income but with everything on 1+ years delay very little new equipment is on my layout. I did order the Rock Island Berwick box cars for the late 1970s session but I just pulled all those cars off so I can do some layout work and convert to 1948-1950. Even less is coming out for that era. Guess I will just save my money or use it somewhere else. This is very strange.

 

Pat,

Yes it is happening, and Athearn isn't the only one affected.

Ethan

PS there was already a thread were this was covered:
http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread....4830#post44830

 

This is affecting the entire hobby. S scale in particular has been hard hit by the "China Syndrome". Still no production as yet in S scale.

Just as well, things are really getting expensive within the hobby. I've been enjoying other interests anyway.

Rick M:

Ooooo! Neat era! Hope you'll do some photo shoots after you've converted and share them with us!

Andre

 

Thanks for the info. Guess I've been living in a cave for a while. It's sad to see, because I really like their Ready to Roll products. They really produced some nice stuff and I especially liked the 50 ft. TOFC's, such as UP, CGW, and NKP. And the prices were reasonable. I'm sure that Athearn will move their production somewhere else, hopefully back to the U.S.

Rick, I have some mixed feeling about your conversion. I really like the late Frisco era, as I have some fuzzy memories of orange and white. The late 40's and early 50's offer a lot more variety, so I understand your decision. From what I have seen, I think there are more offerings for those modeling this period, as opposed to 1970 and later. I'm sure that whatever you do, it will be top notch.

Pat Moreland,
Union Mo.

 

Well I sorta saw this one coming when Athearn was bought out by Horizon Hobbies. First they ended the Blue box line, then they got cheap on the quality of their products, so now they are history. Personally, I have about 35 locomotives, 18 are Athearn blue box and the rest are a mixture of Bachmann, IHC, Mantua, Atlas, and Life Like. Also have about 88 or so blue boxed Athearn rolling stock. If this is going to be the trend of model railroading (Chinese taking over the production facilities I mean) then I'm afraid the hobby as a whole is headed for a major collapse. As for me, I will keep running my old trains until either they wear out or I do!
George

 

Discontinuation of the RTR line is a problem on more than one front. When you consider the expense of just getting started in this hobby, you are looking at $1,000 or so to (1) buy a decent DCC locomotive, (2) buy a power supply, (3) buy a loop of track with a few turnouts and (4) get a few pieces of rolling stock. After you have made the initial start, you have a small layout that doesn't really do much of anything, and certainly will not keep kids entertained for very long, which brings us to the other problem, which is demographics. Attend any hobby show, railroadiana or model show, and you will see that the average age of the attendees is 50 or older. Most (not all, but most) kids would say that a Wii or an X-box offers far more entertainment and for a couple hundred bucks. Compare that with the cost of getting a railroad up and running, plus the amount of work necessary to do even that and you can see where we are headed. With the RTR, Trainline and other inexpensive starter products, at least there is a chance to attract young families with limited resources. With high-end, limited production products, I see a market that is very limited. In 12 years of teaching 8th graders, I had exactly one kid who admitted to being interested in model railroading. No surprise, when I met his parents, they were both in their 50s.

GS

 

No one said that Athearn is discontinuing the RTR line. If I understand the situation correctly, several companies are just going to have to find other factories to make some of their products.

 

It's official, sadly Athearn RTR production facilities in China are closing. Here is the link to Athearn's official disclosure of the situation.
http://cprailmmsub.blogspot.com/2012/01/chinese-factory-closing-athearn.html
George

 

The so called modeling press does not help the situation of bringing new people into the hobby. They constantly reinforce jumbo layouts by people that seem to have unlimited budgets. I will say I am perfectly happy with my West bottoms that runs four sound equipted locomotives and 30 freight cars. Good for a couple of hours of slow switching. So Chris, I think you are on the right track.

Did I make a mistake with my choice. At time I thing I went too large at 12 X 26 "L" and 18 inches wide. I am always intrigued by Jim James posts.

John

 

Yes........................i have an extensive HO model rr layout in basement........its 60ft x 30ft.......double track around the mainline which is 5 scale miles around one time. Three reverse loops....i modeled the slsf....some BN and ATSF from the post ww2 era............took 15 yrs to build....but its outdated in that the wiring is cab control....with magoffin sound....ok but not like the current sound systems availble......and back in 2000 when Train Simulator came out....and gradually as it improved with the very realistic sound...chimes....different prime mover sounds....the cars and locos kept getting better in appearance.....i slowly lost interest in the model rr........its still up ...havnt the heart to tear it down....i have slsf gp7s....f-7s.....in both pain schemes.........e-8s .......and 3 to 4 each of gp 35s.......one pair with the alco trade in trucks......gp 40s......sd45s.....sd40-2s-and gp50s..........the whole evolution into the bn and finally into bnsf.....but the computer game eliminates the crawling around under the layout which is 48 inches base level...open grid with scenery.........ive got thousands of hours...into the layout......and same in dollars into the rolling stock ....scenery....buildings.....but i simply prefer the simulator............had a high end pc built just for the game......i can run routes from the east coast....chicago..midwest....west and west coast....its a shame but i guess its just the evolution process...however i know a very talented man who gave up great potential in building routes for the sim to get back into model railroading...so to each his own...................Bob Zucco.........sullivan, mo

 

Bob, you lost me.
Not intended as derogatory.
Have no idea what you mean.
Bill Jackson

 

I think what he is saying is that he has a fairly large HO layout, but now finds a V-scale operation more to his liking...or not.

GS

 

I can't post what I truly want to say because after what Horizon Hobby did to Roundhouse...

 

Ok, well that makes since to me now. I have not seen v-scale. I have been on the BNSF and MIT simulators in Chicago and Kansas City. They are lots of fun. Bill Jackson