Private | |
Industry | Toys and hobbies |
---|---|
Founded | 1946; 74 years ago |
Founder | Irvin Athearn |
Headquarters | Long Beach, California, United States |
Products | Model trains and accessories |
Parent | Horizon Hobby, Inc. |
Website | www.athearn.com |
Jim Pendley watches one of his model trains at his home near. Front cover of its 2009 Great Model Railroads special edition that reviews.
Athearn is a United States manufacturer of model railroad equipment, produced and distributed by American hobby manufacturer Horizon Hobby, Inc. of Champaign, Illinois, USA.
Early history[edit]
In 1938 Irvin Athearn built a detailed O scale model railroad layout in his mother's house, which gained an overwhelming response when he placed an advertisement to sell it. Deciding to make his career selling model railroad supplies, he became a full-time retailer in 1946. Athearn opened a separate facility in Hawthorne, California in 1948, and that same year he branched into HO scale models for the first time.[1]
Athearn acquired the Globe Models product line and improved upon it, introducing a comprehensive array of locomotive, passenger, and freight car models. Improvements included all-wheel drive and electrical contact. One innovation was the 'Hi-Fi' [2] drive mechanism, employing small rubber bands to transfer motion from the motor spindle to the axles. Another was the double-ended ring magnet motor, which permitted easy connection to all-wheel-drive assemblies. Athearn was also able to incorporate flywheels into double-ended drives.
The company produced a model of the Boston & Maine P4 class Pacific steam locomotive which incorporated a cast zinc alloy base and thermoplastic resin superstructure. It had a worm drive and all power pickup was through the bipolar trucks that carried the tender. This item was discontinued after the Wilson motor was no longer available, and was not redesigned for a more technologically advanced motor.
Postwar expansion[edit]
Starting in the mid 1950s, Athearn produced shortened versions of streamlined and heavyweight passenger cars based on Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe prototypes. The company also offered a variety of freight cars with sprung and equalized trucks. The cars could be obtained in simple kit form, or ready-to-run. A model of the Budd Rail Diesel Car was introduced in 1953 with a metal body, and reintroduced in 1958 in plastic. The comprehensive scope of the product line contributed to the popularity of HO as a model railroad scale, due to the ready availability of items and their low cost.
When Lionel Corporation introduced their line of HO scale trains in 1958, many of the trains were produced by Athearn.[3] Athearn also produced trains for the short-lived Cox Models brand of electric train sets in the 1970s. Many of these products were pre-existing items from the Athearn catalog repackaged with Cox branding.[4] Freight cars packaged with train sets sold by Atlas Model Railroad Co. in the 1970s also came from Athearn.[5]
Irv Athearn died in 1991. New owners took control in 1994, but continued to follow Athearn's business model. Paul Lubliner's fine quality tooling for his 'Highliners' brand of EMD F-units was acquired by Athearn in 1998 and integrated into their new Genesis line. In 2002, Athearn acquired Rail Power Products, as well as the tooling for modern 50' boxcars from Details West.[6]
Horizon Hobby acquisition[edit]
Athearn was purchased in 2004 by Horizon Hobby, which moved the company from Compton to a new facility in Carson, California. At the same time, Horizon purchased Model Die Casting and their line of Roundhouse brand trains. A major international hobby distributor, Horizon Hobby is headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. In 2006, Horizon purchased McHenry Couplers.[6]
In 2008, Athearn acquired the tooling for the short-lived 'Tower 55' series of HO scale diesels from Overland Models. Much of this tooling made its way into the Athearn Genesis line.[6]In mid-2009, all remaining U.S. production was moved to China and warehousing moved to parent Horizon Hobby. Sales and product development was moved to a smaller facility in Long Beach, California.[citation needed]
On October 16, 2009, Athearn announced that it would stop making so-called 'blue-box kits' citing increased manufacturing and labor costs.[7]
Athearn continues to produce ready-to-run models of diesel locomotives, passenger cars, and freight cars representing a variety of eras and railroads. The company sells three lines: Genesis, the highest-cost, highest-quality, with DCC sound and fine details; and two lower-priced, less-detailed lines: Ready-to-Roll, representing trains from the steam-to-diesel transition period to today; and Roundhouse, representing trains from the days of steam era railroading.[6]
References[edit]
- ^'Athearn Trains History'. Train Collectors Association, Western Division. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
- ^Interview with Irv Athearn
- ^Tony Cook. 'Athearn OEM'. HO-Scale Trains Resource. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
- ^Tony Cook. 'Athearn Produced Cox Trains'. HO-Scale Trains Resource. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
- ^'Athearn Trains History'. Train Collectors Association, Western Division. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
- ^ abcd'About Athearn'. Athearn. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
- ^'Athearn discontinues Blue Box model kits'. Model Railroader. October 16, 2009.
McMurtry L. How the West Was Won or Lost. New Republic. 1990;203(17):32-38. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=12031177&site=ehost-live. Accessed November 8, 2019.
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Athearn&oldid=925627028'
The Gorre & Daphetidmodel railroad was a notable HO scale layout built by John Whitby Allen in Monterey, California. (The name is pronounced 'gory & defeated'.)
The Gorre & Daphetid, also known as 'The Gorre' or just 'The G&D,' was actually three successive model railroads. The first two small versions were built at Allen's home in Monterey. The final version of the G&D, which incorporated the earliest layout, was much larger and built over a period of twenty years at his new 9 Cielo Vista Terrace home in Monterey, where he excavated part of the basement to build the railroad. Mr. Allen was a pioneer in the field of model railroading - as a professional photographer he had the artistic talent and attention to detail to create and document incredibly realistic scenes, and did so in numerous articles featured in Model Railroader, the NMRA's Scale Rails and Railroad Model Craftsman magazines. He developed a wonderful story of origin, including humor and numerous references to his friends in the model railroading and model railroading publishing industry. He designed and built numerous buildings and people. The final layout is considered one of the greatest layouts of all time, and has several fan websites and a devoted Yahoo discussion groups.
The basement of the house was severely damaged by fire just ten days after John Allen suffered a fatal heart attack in January 1973. Most of the layout was destroyed in the fire. However, one of the locomotives, No. 34, a 4-10-0 that John kitbashed from parts, resided in the office of the late former Model Railroader magazine executive editor Andy Sperandeo. Sperandeo was a frequent visitor to the G&D, being stationed in California while serving in the United States Army.
Kalmbach Publishing published a book entitled Model Railroading with John Allen written by Allen's longtime friend, Linn Westcott. The book is currently out of print and used copies can fetch a premium price at booksellers and online auction sites. There is a new edition available through a different source, check out the yahoo G ^ D website for the location.
Allen was a professional photographer by trade, and numerous boxes of his slides and prints are in storage at Kalmbach Publishing's corporate building in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Some of the boxes were singed by the flames of the fire that destroyed the G&D, and the smell of smoke from the blaze still lingers when one opens a box for a look at unpublished photos of the G&D.
References[edit]
- Model Railroading With John Allen: The Story of the Fabulous HO Scale Gorre & Daphetid Railroad (Paperback) Linn H. Westcott Kalmbach Pub Co.(July 1981) ISBN978-0-89024-559-0
- Model Railroading With John Allen: The Story of the Fabulous HO Scale Gorre & Daphetid Railroad (Paperback) Linn H. Westcott Kalmbach Pub Co.(1982) ASIN B0032AW8BE
- Model Railroading With John Allen: The Story of the Fabulous HO Scale Gorre & Daphetid Railroad (Hardcover) Linn H. Westcott Kalmbach Pub Co.(July 1996) ISBN978-0-89024-298-8
- Model Railroading With John Allen: Expanded Edition (Hardcover) Linn H. Westcott Benchmark Publications (2011) ASIN B004L18IN0
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gorre_%26_Daphetid&oldid=902901925'