All-
People
always think that Athearn ran their product frequently.
It
only seemed that way because of the condition of the
Hobby in the 1950s and a couple of decades after.
There
were many more Hobby Distributors that had product on
their shelves and actually stocked merchandise.
Likewise,
there were many more retail stores that likewise stocked
product….not just LHS, but department stores, bike
shops, and other types of stores that maintained hobby
departments.
Athearn’s
practice of not changing road names, paint jobs and road
numbers also contributed to the illusion. You could be
buying a kit that was ten years old or just came from
the factory.
Athearn
only had Model Die Casting /Roundhouse as
competition….with AHM, Tyco and other pure trainset
companies also rans.
Kar-Line
had a nice business of painting and decaling Athearn and
MDC kits, assembling them with Kadee couplers and
offering them in road names, paint schemes that Athearn
wouldn’t touch.
They
made people realize that you didn’t need duplicate box
cars on your railroad.
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