New announcement from Athearn

I remember when I could go to a movie for 50 cents (adults) and 25 cents for under 18. I'm not really sure what this has to do with the topic other than the obvious march of time and the effects of economics, progress and so on.

If you want an Athearn loco made in the USA, the be prepared for the price to jump a great deal over what it has jumped. Anything else would be simply ignoring the realities all around us and living in the distant past.

Obviously the upside to the current state is we have higher quality, more accurate HO diesels to choose from; along with that they cost more. But I'd rather have the choice to be able to buy a nice RTR engine than not.

 

Hey...I've been there! Drives me up the wall! Obviously an undec loco is meant to give the buyer their option of decorating as they choose - yet all the parts that should come off to do a decent job are glued in to the point that breakage is inevitable.

 

I was surprised to see the OP wasn't bragging about having to have one come hell or high water. It used to be that the minute some new product came out, everyone on the forum had to have three, me included. Everyone would post pics of the new model on their layout proudly, "look what I did, I dropped a lot of cash on something, opened the box, and set it on the layout."

Part of the problem is that the hobby has changed. I like reading old Mr mags from the 60's 70's. A lot of layouts then were a combo of toy trains, and toy trains that had been modified by the owner to look more realistic. Model railroaders were willing to see less than perfect layouts in the railroad press.

RTR used to mean toy train but no longer; the bar has been raised since then. Even N scale RTR cars have more detail than a RTR Ho car had then. What you are seeing now is brass models made out of plastic. And all the plastic locos are being made in asia just like the brass ones were back in the 70's.

It's still possible to have a nice layout for less money now. As others have said: buy used and be willing to accept or modify as needed. But if you wanna spend the equivalent of a european vacation on model trains have at it.

 

Good post. I have to admit that in some cases, I actually avoid the super-detailed newer RTR cars, even if I can find them at a price that's within reach, for the simple reason that they would tend to stick out like a sore thumb among my older IHC/Tyco/Lifelike/Bachmann/et al. It's not that I'm against super-detailing - I try to bring my 'toy' trains into the model railroading level with upgraded wheels, couplers and 'massaging'. But if I raise my personal detail bar to level of, say, a new Rapido passenger car (which does leave me drooling), I don't think I have enough years and money left to bring everything else up to par! Kind of the "keep it fun" thing, I guess.

 

The new offerings from Athearn are excellent to see and hear and run. The msrp is the price of progress. When these highly detailed units come up in my favorite paint scheme I plot to purchase just one. I don't need every road number.

Maybe Athearn releases numbers that ran locally in the Pacific Northwest? Gotta check. That'd be a fine selling point for me. Some simple research, finding tidbits of history on the numbers.. now i'm engaged and interested in the hobby!

Worth it.

 

You have a valid perspective. However, we seem to be - as a hobby - moving from modeling to buying. The new releases from Athearn and others are beautiful, no doubt, and the detail requires a higher msrp (you get what you pay for). I would be hypocritical if I said I wouldn't be snatching several of them up a month myself, if funds were available.
The void I see in the hobby now is what we have been referring to nostalgically as the old Athearn Blue Box line. Good, hobby-quality pieces that require assembly and dare I say it...a little modeling.

 

Originally Posted by Smithsr
""The new offerings from Athearn are excellent to see and hear and run. The msrp is the price of progress. When these highly detailed units come up in my favorite paint scheme I plot to purchase just one. I don't need every road number.

Maybe Athearn releases numbers that ran locally in the Pacific Northwest? Gotta check. That'd be a fine selling point for me. Some simple research, finding tidbits of history on the numbers.. now i'm engaged and interested in the hobby!

Worth it. ""

I do concur with the above. Many of us in the 60's were calling for this kind of quality in both HO and N scale. It took Kato, to turn things around....and, what a turn around. N Scale. The Kato Mechanism joined with Atlas and Micro-Trains locomotive shells started a positive movement, to better running and operating locomotives. HO, with a Kato Mechanism and locomotive shells by Atlas and Stewart were welcomed offerings and the prices were tolerable.

Downside, they've ALL priced themselves out of my market. No longer am I able to purchase these fine, new offerings. Waiting (I might add impatiently) to see what I can find at the flea markets and swapmeets...for less then. Rick's Restorating takes on new meaning as I get to re-work them. Nothing like a treasure hunt. Parts, parts, parts...Sigh!

 

I always cringe when I see that statement, but kudos to you for being civl about it. I still stand behind the Lego analogy. I can give ten people a box of a thousand different, but identical between boxes legos, and Tell them to build a house. I'll get ten different houses. Every time. And if their small enough, maybe even eleven or twelve. Maybe 8 and one really big one, if two people pool resources and build condos, (the club effect). If we all buy the same trains, even factoring in roadnames, the same buildings. The same track, my layout still wont be as good or the same as yours. I'm gonna head for my Hill, you may decide to do Cajon Pass, someone else will see a nice LDE switching puzzle. scenery, benchwork,mtweaking, track laying, building the scene, telling the story, doesn't that count as modelling?

 

Flash - I do see your point. We're not all that far apart. As far as this thread goes, I'm focusing on locos and rolling stock pretty sharply. But yes, there are infinite ways to express our hobby. "Modeling" can be a very vague term on its own - one person's modeling may be nowhere near what another's is. With all that in mind, I was hesitant to even make the post - because I could see it from one perspective as denigrating someone for buying highly detailed cars.
I will stand firm on my opinion though, or observation - looking at the big picture of the hobby today, it sure seems as if there is far more emphasis on buying RTR pieces that are in need of nothing besides weathering (if you have the courage to airbrush grime on the sides of its perfect sides), and the cost deemed as "worth it". If that is your thing, I'm 100% in support, but my lament is the that this is ignoring those with less than stellar budgets. I'm with Rick, it can be fun to go on treasure hunts at train shows, swap meets and flea markets - sometimes the finds are breathtaking. Sure would be nice to have a middle of the road choice at the LHS though....

 

I once lived near a LHS that was selling Athearn BB kits for anywhere between $4.25 to $8 or $9 dollars. Every couple weeks I'd go and blow $100 on those kits alone and come home with a dozen or more. Those kits make up 40-50% of my entire rolling stock collection. I'm glad I bought them when I did.

I will agree with JNXT, the hobby is moving to a more RTR-based hobby. Quality built-up structures, Built-up scenery, RTR Locomotives, Cars, etc. However, I also find there are still smaller manufacturers/mom 'n pop operations who still fill the gap for hard to find kits that require assembly or more such as Sunshine, Westerfield, Speedwitch, Funaro, Rail Shop, etc.. Not as cheap as $8.49 Blue Box or MDC-Roundhouse kits, but the detail quality is generally better and rarely modeled cars can be found.

Unless I've missed something, we still have Accurail, Branchline, Bowser/Stewart kits readily available. I hope they don't trend to RTR to the extent that Athearn/Horizon and Walthers has.

 

Boxcab, does your statement now make you the websites philosopher?

Yep, I do concur!

Never, ever (Seems to me I heard a song with these lyrics, grin). Never, ever misinterpret what I've said, to say or to mean, "I don't appreciate the new offerings of high quality model train equipment". It beats hands down, what we used to get. My ability to afford it...well...that's another story.

My advice is: If able, purchase the newer offerings coming out of MTL, Intermountain, Athearn, Walthers-Life Like and even some Bachmann Spectrum. Can't believe I just recommended Bachmann. Do me a favor: Try to talk the local LHS into the idea of buy one and get the other one for half off...then call me. I'ma sure we could work something out. LOL

 

Yep....about the same time I was getting BACK to this hobby, the LHS carried those good ol' BB's for those prices and I didn't give it much thought, thinking (in my ignorance at the time) that they were still making the things and would be for the foreseeable future (OOPS!). I'll have to open my eyes and look for those Accurail, et.al. kits.

Box cab, I see your point about the constantly changing face of the hobby in regard to high-end RTR, and the positive effect it has. No argument with that, and something to keep in mind before waxing too nostalgic.

 

I do find it somewhat difficult if not a shade bit of hypocritical of myself to be or at least give the air of being opposed to the "RTR-ification" of the hobby due to myself being the owner of several RTR locomotives and a few freight cars. Beneficial to the time-constrained modeler? You betcha. Appealing to newcomers to the hobby? Of course.

 

These prices are what UK modellers have been paying for locomotives for several years now.

Remember, all UK models, especially steam, are railway specific. Even freight cars are railway specific. There's no way UK modellers would put up with say a GWR "boxcar" painted and letter for the SR, LNWR or LMS or a Southern passenger car painted in anything other than a colour scheme the real ones carried. North American modellers have accepted incorrectly painted freight cars, passenger and locomotives for donkey's years and accepted them just because they are painted in their favourite road's colours, no matter how incorrect they may be.

So, if you want accurate models and not generic models painted for your favourite prototype, then you have to pay for them. Simple.

 

And UK drivers pay out the wazoo for gasoline too!
American modelers have accepted models that are not 100% prototypical because they were in their favorite road's colors...and they were available and priced reasonably.
I would have to say to cwwrman that there are GP-38's available at the LHS or online that are not that expensive. Do they look as beautiful as those new Athearns? Well, nooo.....but there are some Athearn RTR GP-38's available at auction sites that are fairly recent that DO look pretty darn good at about half that price.

 

Twas gonna make a long winded reply here, but I'm gonna cheat instead and summarize with "I've been lucky so far, the three railroads I'm interested in, maybe four, are all very well represented in older runs. INRD has never been in the expensive ranges, CHessie, SP Cab Forward Era now has Sound Value F units so I could save money there for the Cabbys, and no one's heard of the CMPA so you can't tell me what I'm doing is wrong anyway!

 

I couldn't agree more: Muddling about and playing with caricatures of the 1X1 foot scale. That be me.