Athearn's Response To Tariffs

 

Important Notice Regarding Upcoming Price Adjustments At Athearn, we value transparency and open communication with our customers. We’d like to inform you of an important update regarding our pricing structure. For over 20 years, Athearn has produced our Roundhouse, Athearn, and Genesis HO and N scale models at factories in China. During that time, we’ve faced increased costs from raw materials and shipping but have largely been able to absorb those expenses without significant changes to pricing. However, recent tariffs imposed on all imports from China have created new challenges. Unlike previous increases, these tariffs have had a substantial impact, and unfortunately, we are no longer able to absorb the added costs. Effective Monday, March 24th   we will implement a price increase to help offset the effects of these tariffs. This adjustment will apply to: All current open pre-orders Items in the April 2025 pre-order packet and beyond In-stock items shipping from Horizon Hobby We understand this may come as disappointing news, and this was not an easy decision. Our hope is that this is a temporary measure. Athearn and Horizon Hobby will continue to closely monitor the situation and make adjustments as necessary. We truly appreciate your continued support and understanding. -The Athearn Team <Author's Note> Here we go! If you have an idea for a blog post here, let me know. If I can comment on it, I will or I'll see if someone else can and post it

From Walthers: Important Notice About Tariffs

Dear Valued Customer:

As you may be aware, the recent tariff changes are affecting many products within our hobby. While we've worked diligently to absorb as much of the impact as possible, some of these increased costs were incorporated into our pricing going forward. Rest assured, all backorders and advanced reservations placed before this date will be honored at the original price. Our commitment to maintaining high quality and offering great value remains unchanged, and we truly appreciate your understanding and continued support as we navigate these challenges together. Thank you for being an important part of our hobby community!

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Bob The Train Guy's Last Weekend! Updated 2025-03-24

Bob the Train Guy is finally calling it quits!

From Bob:

 

Store will close in a day or so!

 

The new owner is taking the last truckload of inventory today!

 

A very sad day for me!

 

The new owner will be in contact with all of you. I assured him most of my customers are real model railroaders with a lot of patience!

 

I would like to Thank the thousands of valued customers who have bought from me! My current health status is slightly better but I will never be able to hit it like I did in the past. I cannot do many shows due to my balance and overall strength.

 

Please contact me if you need your order in a timely manner, I will try to move your order to the top. I will continue to be around and will honor and special orders and reservations. Please review the website and see you find something you would like to get while still in stock!

 

The inventory is being shipped out shortly. Please order anything NOW if you want it!

Bob's inventory is moving to A and S Trains

A and S Trains

It's a shame to see him go as this author has bought quite a bit of merchandise from him in the past. At least his inventory was bought out and will, hopefully, continue to be available to the Model Railroad community.

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Some History On Atlas HO Turnouts

A poster named "Sheldon" on the Trains.com Forum has given an outstanding summary history of Atlas turnouts entitled "Some history on Atlas HO turnouts". 

It is a summary and comparison of both Code 83 and Code 100 turnouts and the reasons that Code 100 has lagged somewhat behind Code 83 in quality until recently. 

It is located here and is very much worth the read.

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Athearn Introduces New "CarKnocker" Product Line

Fig 1 3D Rendering of the model

From Athearn:

Athearn Deformed 2494 RailGon Gondola

A brand-new product line and a brand-new approach to realistic modeling; Athearn® CarKnocker introduces a factory produced distressed and worn plastic model. Based on the popularity of Athearn’s Primed for Grime® line of pre-faded and dirtied paint decoration, Athearn has taken this concept one step further by creating deformed and dented models that retain Athearn’s operating performance standards. More exciting models are coming to the industry leading Athearn CarKnocker product line.

Available for pre-order.

Fig 2 Example product

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