Model Railroading > Here is the next wave of rumors these are too funny...

Here is the next wave of rumors these are too funny...

"Posted to another list:

Some amazing/astounding news from Athearn out of the Hobby Expo...

Athearn will produce an HO scale Gunderson-built Auto-Max car!

Athearn has acquired the the molds for all the Details West box cars.

And... Athearn has acquired the entirety of the Rail Power Products product line including all diesel shells, rolling stock, trailers and containers!" <------------ Bull Sh*t

Marshall Starks
San Diego Ca.

*Marshall steps into two flameproof suits and awaits the insane attempts to burn him*

While the first two seem plausible, that later one is more than likely false, seeing how model power just got the Mantua molds.

Ted Curphey
funnelfan@icehouse.net

I don\'t know about the rest if this stuff, but I\'ve seen preproduction AutoMaxes - I was actually expecting the official announcement at the NMRA convention earlier this year. The final tooling was shipped to Athearn earlier this week.

CP9102

funnelfan wrote:
> more than likely false, seeing how model power just got the Mantua
> molds.

Uh, this is Rail Power, not Model Power.

This could make sense, assuming the following:

Premise 1:
Athearn\'s widebody molds are getting old, and they don\'t want to redo them. Most RPP shells are designed to use Athearn blue-box drives. Buying RPP would let Athearn revitalize the widebodies, and add a few new models, for *cheap*!

Premise 2:
RPP\'s owners are thinking of moving on. When *was* the last time they released a new shell? They built their business on fringe locomotives, which are increasingly being done by larger manufacturers. I think the only new things we\'ve seen dieselwise of late have been prepainted shells (which *are* pretty cool).

I won\'t put a lot of stock in this until I hear it from RPP or Athearn, but it sure seems like a good idea.

Daydreaming of a blue-box SD45-2, I remain:
B-Dubya

Athearn Automaxes?

So we\'re going to get Automaxes from Athearn and Thrall articulated \'racks from Atlas announced at the same time?

Well at least we know what the first $50 HO freight cars will be...

So how is Athearn doing the flexi part in the center? That is what has delayed the Atlas car.

- BCM

BCM wrote:
> So how is Athearn doing the flexi part in the center?

I hear they\'re going to use a cross-section of a Hostess cupcake. Resilient, and durable!

Wishing cupcakes came in size P215/70/R14, I remain:
B-Dubya

I don\'t think these are funny, I think they are great if true. All are plausible.

I can\'t see how RPP has made it this far. If someone offered them $$ to get out, I would take it if I were them.

Athearn is on a growth spurt unlike anything Unlce Irv ever did.

The Genny Fs are the best plastic HO ever. I can\'t wait to see how they grow the Genny line.

A scale RS-3 perhaps!?!?!?!?!

Well, I can dream.

Rob

So how is Athearn doing the flexi part in the center? That
> is what has delayed the Atlas car.
>
> - BCM
>


Rubber. It won\'t have quite as many folds as the prototype, but they couldn\'t get it to stay in place when it was 100% to scale.

CP9102

I was overly excited at the time of the posting that I failed to think how much sense this made for Athearn. I too am excited mostly about the Auto Max cars since I am a present day BNSF modeler.

Marshall Starks *praying that the Auto Max cars are not $50 each*

Sorry folks, but all indications say all this is true...

A lot of stuff happening in Compton... might explain the weird cloud cover I see when I look in that direction out my window...

So...

1) Will the AutoMax cars be reasonably priced so we can make unit trains of them, just like how most of them on the prototype run?

2) Will the RPP shells be improved? I somehow doubt it. Wishful thinking. Just remember folks, anything is for sale at the right price...

3) Details West cars? Heh, now there are some cars with some serious accuracy issues (re: the 50\' double plug door that is 2\' too short and with the wrong roof!) Way to go. And Atlas makes the CORRECT car.

Going to be comical, thats for sure. Let me grab some popcorn and enjoy the show.

CP9102 wrote:
> So how is Athearn doing the flexi part in the center? That
> > is what has delayed the Atlas car.
> >
> > - BCM
>
> Rubber. It won\'t have quite as many folds as the prototype,
> but they couldn\'t get it to stay in place when it was 100% to
> scale.
>
> CP9102

Yea, that\'s the same problem Atlas was reporting as why they can\'t (yet) do/announce the Thrall articulated autoracks (as they have done in O-scale) in HO...

Roadnames for AutoMax cars could include:
BNSF (in at least two schemes)
CSX
KCS
CP/SOO
Greenbriar Demo
TFM?

- BCM

Here\'s most of them! I took these 3 weeks ago at Cajon Pass. Westbound BNSF train.

Bruce Friedman

---

Also add reporting marks AOK (I think)

Anyway last Friday there were several of these in the BNSF Richmond CA yard. White cars with a big red AUTOMAX down the side.

BCM wrote:
> Roadnames for AutoMax cars could include:
> BNSF (in at least two schemes)
> CSX
> KCS
> CP/SOO
> Greenbriar Demo
> TFM?

One correction - Ferromex has Automaxes (not TFM) and AOK does have a few as well...

One prototype use note on the two styles of articulated autorack cars. The Thrall built ones (as Atlas did in O-scale with the prototype owners of TTX, UP and NS) are commonly seen in regular autorack trains and even mixed freights. The Automax cars however are usually only seen in solid unit trains.

- BCM

> And... Athearn has acquired the entirety of the Rail Power
> Products product line including all diesel shells,

I\'ve been wanting to do a couple GP60M\'s. Maybe I should?

BCM wrote:

> One prototype use note on the two styles of articulated
> autorack cars. The Thrall built ones (as Atlas did in O-scale
> with the prototype owners of TTX, UP and NS) are commonly seen
> in regular autorack trains and even mixed freights. The
> Automax cars however are usually only seen in solid unit
> trains.

Like the BNSF Trinity covered hoppers, they are more prolific in solid sets, but are also fairly common in small groups.
BNSF will often have three to five in the middle or end of auto rack trains east of Barstow.
On the UP, AOK and KCS cars show up at Dolores, singly or in small groups, all the time and are also seen on the Sunset Route in general manifests as well as auto racks trains.

Also given that the prototypes are 143\' long (IIRC), the models will be nearly 20 inches, so it won\'t take many to fill up a train.

Here it is... the first $50 piece of plastic rolling stock...

From Trains.com

---------------------
Auto-Max is latest in Athearn\'s HO Genesis line

New from Athearn\'s Genesis line is an HO scale Gunderson Auto-Max articulated auto rack car. The fully assembled models feature a working diaphragm, metal wheelsets with operating roller caps, and magnetic knuckle couplers. Road names include Canadian Pacific - Soo Line, CRLE-Auto-Max, and Kansas City Southern. The cars will be available by mid-fall and will be priced at $49.98.
----------------------

-FE

Taken from trains.com:

----------------------------------------------

Tim Geddes, Athearn president, said the company has bought Rail Power Products, Park City, Utah, including all its molds, dies and inventory. Geddes said Athearn will use Rail Power’s high-quality locomotive shells to expand and enhance its Ready-To-Roll brand of HO locomotives.

Dana Stark, Rail Power’s president, said his 15-year-old firm was formed to use Athearn’s mechanicals while providing highly detailed locomotive bodies and models that others, including Athearn, weren’t making. Currently there are 15 locomotives body styles available from Rail Power for Athearn to further update.

Geddes said the first locomotive developed using Rail Power shells will come out late in the first quarter and will feature a new drive line.

In addition, Athearn will sell some over-the-road trailers, containers and a 56-foot intermodal well car that Rail Power has developed. These too will be part of Athearn’s Ready-To-Roll lineup with the first of the products coming out in January.

Athearn also said it has purchased the rights to a line of four freight cars from Details West, Chino, Calif. The cars, which will further expand the Ready-To-Roll brand, will begin to be released in early 2003.

The boxcars include a 50-foot single plug door, 50-foot smooth side single plug door, 50-foot plug door/sliding door, and 52-foot double plug door.

Geddes said the deal with Details West includes its current inventory, plus tooling and molds. Details West, however, will continue to sell the floor and underframe for these models.

-----------------------------------------------


Mark
Reporting the news along the Route of the Black Diamond.

Thanks for the info atsf5704... Here on the east coast the Thrall cars are very common as singles in many autorack trains, but the AutoMax cars are not. Every Automax car that I have ever seen (including quite a few on BNSF rails) has been in a solid unit train...

I\'ve never seen a single Automax traveling in a train alone, nor have I ever seen a solid unit train of the Thrall articu-racks... (thus my earlier comments)

- BCM

Wouldn\'t the AutoMax cars in theory really be two cars? That\'s $25 per car, so I don\'t think the $50 list is bad at all. And NO ONE makes an articulated auto rack in HO, I expect these to sell like hot cakes... BUT... why no BNSF in the first run?