athearn looking for ideas


blackz28

blackz28

Well-Known Member
anybody see the athearn post about wanting ideas

Athearn


Existing Freight Car Ideas Wanted. We have a plethora of suggestions for all-new tooling as well as current locomotives. We would appreciate roadname and/or paint scheme recommendations for Genesis, Ready To Roll, and N scale freight cars we already have in our line. Please be specific. Thanks for your help! :D:D:D:D
 
I wish the would do some Norfolk and Western GP9s in black with gold lettering as well as the Redbirds *dreaming* and *drooling*
 
I wish they would deliver the C.B.& Q. passenger-painted F3A-B's I ordered a year ago last October! :( Now Caboose Hobbies in Denver say the Cal Zephyr F-3's are "promised" for March-May 2013! :( :( I have an old A-B-A set of blue box F-7's in D.C. that I painted for the passenger scheme. I put a Mars light module in the B-unit, with an off-on toggle switch on the top of the steam generator. Both A-units are powered, with flywheels. I may get disgusted and install a decoder in the B-unit, connecting it to the two A's for DCC and sound. (These are drawbarred together anyway.) I'd then cancel the order for the Genesis set.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
They should re-run some of their F-units. Its pretty impossible to find some of them, even on ebay. I was looking for a pair of M&STL F7's for a long time. I was lucky to find a pair recently through a private sale, but on ebay the non-sound pairs (when they do show up) go for $350 plus.
 
Looks like they are after suggestions for frieght car paint schemes.

Looking over photos on sites likes railpic archive shows there are lots of leased frieght cars, often covered hoppers, with boring grey paint schemes, yet few models are avaliable in these schemes. Walthers does do a few, such as some CFLX hoppers. Maybe Athearn could try passing on the colourful private schemes and try some boring everyday leaser paint jobs?
 
This seems a bit pathetic- the manufacturer asking the customers for ideas. When Irving Athearn owned the firm, I don't recall public appeals for ideas being necessary- they were generous with the spectrum of their product line and anticipated interest in various schemes quite well. Nowadays, the owners have less connectivity with their customer base, apparently! Either that, or the selection they have been manufacturing is not selling as well as they anticipated.
 
cedarwood said:
This seems a bit pathetic- the manufacturer asking the customers for ideas. When Irving Athearn owned the firm, I don't recall public appeals for ideas being necessary- they were generous with the spectrum of their product line and anticipated interest in various schemes quite well. Nowadays, the owners have less connectivity with their customer base, apparently! Either that, or the selection they have been manufacturing is not selling as well as they anticipated.
Click to expand...

On the contrary, it seem somewhat logical to find out what hobbyists want.

How do you think irv figured out what was wanted, by divine inspiration? He probably talked to people. That's all they're doing now.


Sent from my Vic20 using JavaMoose
 
trailrider said:
I wish they would deliver the C.B.& Q. passenger-painted F3A-B's I ordered a year ago last October! :( Now Caboose Hobbies in Denver say the Cal Zephyr F-3's are "promised" for March-May 2013! :( :(

I have an old A-B-A set of blue box F-7's in D.C. that I painted for the passenger scheme. I put a Mars light module in the B-unit, with an off-on toggle switch on the top of the steam generator. Both A-units are powered, with flywheels. I may get disgusted and install a decoder in the B-unit, connecting it to the two A's for DCC and sound. (These are drawbarred together anyway.) I'd then cancel the order for the Genesis set.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't cancel the order, heck March-May will be here before you know it. Plus, the Genesis F units look so nice compared to the old 1950's crude Globe tooling used on the blue box F unit, once you see the Genesis F's your mind will be made up. The Genesis F shell is widely considered to be the best rendition of the F unit nose done by any manufacturer including Intermountain, Proto 2000, and Broadway Limited. One more thing, AFAIK, CB&Q F7's did not pull the California Zephyr, it was F3ABA set in the early days and later E units.


cedarwood said:
This seems a bit pathetic- the manufacturer asking the customers for ideas. When Irving Athearn owned the firm, I don't recall public appeals for ideas being necessary- they were generous with the spectrum of their product line and anticipated interest in various schemes quite well. Nowadays, the owners have less connectivity with their customer base, apparently! Either that, or the selection they have been manufacturing is not selling as well as they anticipated.
Click to expand...

It isn't pathetic, its the opposite ... it's good for companies to seek input. Here is your chance to let your wants be known. Everyone worships Irv Athearn as the god of model trains, but while there may have been good things about his era, there have been even better things since the last 15 years - the products wer have been getting from Athearn are awesome and I wonder if we would have gotten those products should Irv been with the firm 20 more years. Probalby not. His method worked for the 70's an 80's but times have moved on. I for one am very pleased with what Athearn has offered during the past 10 years! Genesis F units, new tunnel motors, new SD45's with proto details, PC&F box cars, nice upgraded RTR freight cars, whats not to like? Keep it coming Athearn!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just want all future Athearn locomotives to have LEDs in them. The whole "Nothing looks like a lamp, like a lamp" argument is no longer valid. LEDs now come in countless colors including the popular 'golden white' that looks like the old lamps and 'sunny white' that is prototypical of the modern locomotives' lights. The blueish tint days are well behind us.

Other manufacturers have universally migrated to LEDs. Only Athearn remains among the leading manufacturers with bulbs that burn out at irregular times, thousands of hours sooner that LEDs forcing the owner to replace them. The replacement process, with either new bulbs or LED replacements, often results in damage to the model.

I don't know the real reason that Athearn sticks with bulbs but I would be willing to bet economics has everything to do with it. I could imagine sitting on a pile of 50,000 bulbs or a contract with a manufacturer to install bulbs may be behind it.

They should listen to their customers and abandon bulbs.
 
trailrider said:
I wish they would deliver the C.B.& Q. passenger-painted F3A-B's I ordered a year ago last October! ...
Click to expand...
Hmmm when Precision Craft (BLI with Loksound) ran those a few years ago they couldn't give them away. I got the ABA set for about $250. I believe list was closer to $600. I wonder why Athearn would even think about repeating such a foopah.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top