Model Railroading > Athearns slow boat from China

Its been several years since the announcement but it looks like the ICC Rio Grande cabooses are getting closer to fruition. Of course the UP CA11 cabooses must have fallen off the planet.
From their news letter:

 Here are the latest test samples of the Athearn Genesis ICC caboose models. Athearn Product Development is currently fine tuning the details and electronics and the delivery ETA is still not established but we’ll keep you posted.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/26 18:25 by TomG.

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everything now takes 3-5 years

Only five years?    What about the California cars?   That must be like 8 years by now.   I cancelled my order and no longer care about getting them.

At least the Cali/Suftliner cars have samples. Athearn is still claiming 2026 on the shelves. Their website says 2028, so who knows. 

CA-11's? I'm curious about those for sure. Not much chatter, but N scale samples they have. So maybe before the end of the decade? 

Some Athearn stuff, old repeat, is not too horrible. It's the new stuff they can't seem to get out. Hopefully they fix their issues. I have pre-orders. Only way to get stuff it seems. 
 

Mike ONeill
Okahumpka, FL

In my "Fantasy World", Scale Trains or Rapido (or your favorite model railroad company) buys Athearn from Horizon Hobby and brings out all the stuff Athearn is currently "promising".

I think that purchase could happen. I think the more likely scenario at this point is, the new kids just make a better mouse trap of the current Athearn catalog.

Look at SD70MAC's coming from Rapido. I know there is a top of the line SD70ACe plus some others out there in HO, but I counted over 40 paint schemes for the model if you include the M-2's. Why wouldn't a company make them? Even if you did 6-7 paint schemes every other year, it would take a few companies to cover all schemes, not including new ones, at least every 4-5 years. Same with "GEVO's". Seems like you could print your own money with some of the models. 

Mike ONeill
Okahumpka, FL

It appears I spoke to soon,, the CA-11s are still on the planet as this recent test shot shows.

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