Athearn - MDC Roundhouse Now Dead?

And Athearn...

CL

You have to remember that Mantua was, at one time, almost as strong as Athearn. It took many years to do it but you don't see the name anymore nor the successor name Tyco.

-- Why isn't there an Ozone Hole at the NORTH Pole?

counting traffic.< This is a concept that Horizon has not comprehended in their LHS rules, i.e. send pictures, etc. I believe that the majority of modelers at this time in history are as the above person. If Horizon really in-forced their rules there market would shrink by 50%* or higher. That's probably what they have figured out and why they don't pay much attention to the rules!

*If they lost mail-order (most likely discount)!

It's on their web site, pictures of the stores, pictures inside the stores, etc. The only part of it they really inforce is how much a month you need to buy from them.

I can't find that amount on their web site - do you know what it is?

CL

Bob=A0May wrote: Remember Mantua products? They got bought out and then eventually that company's products are no more.

--------------------------------------------------- Mantua Products was purchased by Model Power. Model Power is re-issuing the Mantua line:

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad: History of N Scale: Railroad Bookstore: 's Books and Toy Trains: to 1,000 sites:

Called an order in to the LHS today, $25. He opened at eleven, closed at four, gross for the day was $16. Yesterday, he started plowing snow out of his parking lot at seven, closed at seven pm, granted, bad weather conditions, sales for the day $0. I think the cabinet shop he has that is supposed to be run as time is available is the only thing that keeps him from closing up. Still, for the small amount of the shop that's devoted to MR, he has a pretty wide inventory, HO, N, O and G. Carries a lot of craft supplies, as well as boats, aircraft, the trains and building kits. Needs all of it to keep the door open. Expecting even $1000 per month from just railroad from him is stupid.

Greybeard.

Only since Irv died, do you how many times folks told him CP never had BC red twin hoppers? They never changed it to the correct black till he was dead and they did the five car set. Have a look at the CN GP-7 in the 'stripes' scheme the typeface on the cab is totally out to lunch yet they do it correctly on the SD-40-2, go figure.

It's unfortunate that Dave Henk seems to be absent from the group right now.

When this came up last year he, as a LHS owner, saw no problem with meeting Horizon's requirements. As he pointed out, model railroad items are just a small part of their hobby inventory and most shops would have no problem meeting their minimum because it includes all orders for all lines, not just Athearn or MDC.

I personally think it's going to hurt Athearn in the long run because I don't think they can make up the loss of on-line retailers and train shows. Hobby shops simply aren'y going to expand their shelf space to make up for the loss.

Mike Tennent "IronPenguin"

I doubt that it would die, but you'd end up with stuff that would make Tyco look like top of the line. Almost all hobbies have to be considered niche markets, limited demand and production on any of it. With the wide range of interests, I would guess that any manufacturer has to consider that for every 100 hobbyists, he's making products that will appeal to maybe two of them. The wide range that's available, and the quality that's now available are somewhat of a compliment to the ability of some manufacturers to meet the demand without going into bankruptcy. Restricting their retailers to only those that do X amount of dollars will probably cut their exposure and market by a factor of at least ten, and maybe further. (I didn't walk in to the LHS with the idea of wanting an 0-6-0, I saw it on the shelf and thought it might be something to have. With no exposure, that wouldn't have happened.) I know of only one shop that is railroad only, and from listening and watching, get the idea that profit is what they don't make, breaking even is probably more like it. Which could be the same as saying the hobby shop is a hobby for the owner.

Greybeard

Dave doesn't seam to be on right now, so I will hop in here. Most of the anti Horizon people on this group have made up their minds already so they can stop reading now if they want. For the inquiriny minds, Horizon has downgraded their minimum gross purchases to the point that even the hobbyist dealer can make it. I told them that the original mins were not reasonable for most small dealers that needed to maintain accounts with more than one dist. I am one such dealer. I am in a town of under 9000 and am a Walthers, Hobby Stores Dist, Horizon Hobby And Hartland Hobby Wholesaler.

No >

Well, in that case, you probably should have said they are "going to be destroyed", rather than saying that "they are destroyed". BTW, whose history are we talking about here? As I stated elsewhere, buyouts have been common in model railroading at least since Athearn bought Globe, and that resulted in a model that is still being made today, decades later. Where is the history you mention that signals the end of Horizon/Athearn/MDC?

Oh, well, that's different.

For starters, cities are where the trains went. Most lines I can think of that didn't go to a city at each end are long out of business. Secondly, I happen to have here a 2004 Walthers catalog. Here is a list of non-urban Cornerstone kits/built ups that might fit your needs (IMHO):

933-2822 Route 66 Motel (built up) 933-2813 Wood Water Tank (built up) 933-2806 Golden Valley Depot (built up) 933-2821 Golden Valley Freight House (built up) 933-3613 Benson's Five and Dime 933-3605 Wally's Warehouse 933-3612 109 Elm Street 933-3806 Cottage Grove Church 933-3607 Cottage Grove School 933-3601 Aunt Lucy's House 933-3604 Smith's General Store 933-3600 River Road Mercantile 933-3603 Rocky Point Lighthouse 933-3602 Willow Glen Bridge 933-3608 Lake Forest Cottage 933-3083 Backwoods Locomotive or Carshop 933-3063 Clarkesville Depot 933-3096 Valley Growers Association 933-3036 Farmers Cooperative Rural Grain Elevator 933-3090 Columbia Feed Mill 933-3061 Sunrise Feed Mill 933-3006 Interstate Fuel & Oil 933-3057 Walton & Sons Lumber Company 933-3082 Mills Bros. Lumber 933-3058 Mountain Lumber Company Sawmill 933-3166 Team Track 933-3073 Midstate Marble Products 933-3527 Jim's Repair Shop

I'm not saying that these are all of interest to you, but I don't think you would find too many of the above structures in, say, downtown Boston... LOL

I gathered that for your wish for truss rod cars. :-)

That's not the case around here. Sure, there's one or two that discounts, but the majority in the Boston area do not unless they are having a sale...

If the demand is that small, shouldn't you be blaming your fellow model railroaders for not spending the money on the stuff you like?

Paul A. Cutler III

************* Weather Or No Go New Haven *************

"Cheery Littlebottom" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Well, for starters, they are now the exclusive distributers for all Athearn and MDC products, so if your customers want them, you have to deal with Horizon (annoying, but not terrible as Walthers does the same with their stuff). Secondly, they want a minimum order every month of several hundreds of dollars (I can't recall the exact amount, but it may be in the thousands). And that was, IIRC, the dealer wholsale cost, not the retail cost (but I could be wrong, it's been a while). Thirdly, they can be real SOB's to deal with. One rumor/story going around was that a general hobby retailer ordered a lot of merchandise one month, then nothing the next. When he went to order again the following month, he was told that he had lost his account and had to re-apply all over again (with more pictures, credit checks, etc.) because of his lapse in ordering. Forthly, they refuse to sell to anyone that doesn't have a commercial storefront. Therefore, just about all hobbyshops out of people's homes are forbidden to buy Horizon goods. Also, all trainshow-only dealers are SOL. Initially, they refused to sell to any internet dealers at all, but this was revised to include internet hobby shops that had their own domain name. Fifthly, with the announcement of all these stipulations, they sent some use-one-time-only 35mm cameras to all interested stores trying to apply for an account. One was supposed to photograph not only the exterior of your storefront (as is more-or-less common), but also the interior as well. There was some speculation about some interesting pictures that were going to be returned to Horizon showing some irate retailers feelings towards the new policies... LOL

So, what conclusion can one draw from these policies? IMHO, they only want their products visble at "high-end" hobby shops and web sites. Why? I dunno, because they have to be leaving money on the table with antics like this.

Of course, the well heeled hobby shops love this policy because it's putting a stake in the heart of their bitter rivals: the mail order companies, the "basement bombers", and the train show dealers by putting them out of the business of selling Athearn and MDC, long a staple in the MR community.

Personally, I think they are screwing themselves and all of us by these ridiculous moves, but it's their business...

Paul A. Cutler III

************* Weather Or No Go New Haven *************

Which is why people buy DCC - which you reckon is too expensive!

TO be found in those products in the model aviation field that were bought up by bigger companies, then found to be unprofitable within a larger corporate structure. Where we could once buy good flying models, there are few of them left, and what has replaced them fly like they were made of lead. (But are bean counter approved.) If one wants good flying models, he looks for the smaller, often one man, companies.

Yes, there are no more logging roads. And yes, the extent of any common carrier will begin and end in the millyard, being nothing more than a loop to keep it from looking too static.

And I have just bought a 2005, last week to be exact. I have looked through them, and their kit offerings are more that would be found in downtown Racine at the turn of the century. (No, I'm not in Racine, just too damn close to it.) Close enough that it wouldn't be too hard to go through Racine or Milwaukee and find the buildings on which most of them are based.

This is not what I have in mind, and although I wish there was enough diversity that I could use a kit, I'm fully aware that to get what I'm after, I'm going to have to scratch build almost everything.

To further inform, during the period of 1955 through 1963, I lived on a ranch with my parents, and worked for the owner, part time until

1959 and full time until the end of the logging operations on that ranch in 1961. During this period, and in that area, Laytonville Cal., the "good" logging was long since over, although at the time we moved there in 1955, there were 27 sawmills within ten miles of the town itself. By 1963, there were two of them left. The town never had time to achieve anything that resembles any of the kit offerings, with the exception of the "mall", in which most of the shops were less than twelve feet wide by twenty feet long. No, I'm not modeling this town, and haven't seen anything there since 1963. What I want to reproduce, or create, is the feeling of the "town that never quite made it" and is in the beginning of decline, or maybe continuation of the decline is more accurate. The nearest railroad cuts inland at Longvale, some twelve miles south, and the railroad logging was gone long before we ever moved into the area. Which should also tell you how concerned I am with accuracy. Where I am concerned with accuracy is showing things that most people would rather forget. The shoddy construction of the houses on the Indian Rancheria, the clear need for maintenance on the buildings in town and the lack of money to do it. The town that has had it's reason for existance slowly degrade, but most people have too much time and money tied up to abandon what they still have.

Because I clearly realize that what I want is the tiniest of niche markets. Those that like diesels can probably blame me for not buying them, but I have some, and they haven't seen daylight for over ten years. I have no interest in them. But, this is a hobby, I don't have to compromise, if it's not available, I scratch build. If the loco I want isn't available, I bash something. I realize that for any company to survive, they have their bottom line, and unprofitable items have to fall by the wayside. But it doesn't mean that I have to like it.

Greybeard.

(It's my world, I'll bloody well build it any way I want.)

I'll admit a need for DCC when you admit a need for having as many metal working machines as I have. I can't make a balanced flywheel without the machines, but I can run the lokey without DCC.

Greybeard.

has downgraded their minimum gross purchases to the point that even the hobbyist dealer can make it. I told them that the original mins were not reasonable for most small dealers that needed to maintain accounts with more than one dist. I am one such dealer.<

What is that number in dollars per month? One of the dealers I deal with says it's to high for him but then he is a very small business.