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Athearn is a
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
manufacturer of
model railroad Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...
equipment, produced and distributed by American
hobby A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing Sport, sports, or pursu ...
manufacturer
Horizon Hobby Horizon Hobby, LLC. is an American international hobby product distributor, headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, United States. It currently manufactures various hobby-grade radio-controlled (RC) models, as well as Athearn model trains and die ...
, Inc. of
Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...
.


History

In 1938 Irvin Athearn built a detailed
O scale O scale (or O gauge) is a scale commonly used for toy trains and rail transport modelling. Introduced by German toy manufacturer Märklin around 1900, by the 1930s three-rail alternating current O gauge was the most common model railroad scal ...
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 Hawthorne is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. It is part of a seventeen-city region commonly called the South Bay. As of the 2020 US census, Hawthorne had a population of 88,0 ...
, in 1948, and that same year he branched into
HO scale HO or H0 is a rail transport modelling scale using a 1:87 scale (3.5 mm to 1 foot). It is the most popular scale of model railway in the world. The rails are spaced apart for modelling standard gauge tracks and trains in HO.NMRA"M ...
models for the first time. Athearn acquired the Globe Models product line in 1951 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-F" 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.


Blue Box Era

Starting in the mid 1950s, Athearn produced shortened versions of streamlined and heavyweight passenger cars based on
Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
and
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
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 The Budd Rail Diesel Car, RDC, Budd car or Buddliner is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars were primarily ad ...
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.


Lionel, Cox, and Atlas OEM

When
Lionel Corporation Lionel Corporation was an American toy manufacturer and holding company of retailers that had been in business for over 120 years. It was founded as an electrical novelties company. Lionel specialized in various products throughout its existence. ...
introduced their line of HO scale trains in 1958, many of the trains were produced by Athearn. Athearn also produced trains for the short-lived
Cox Models {{For, Cox models in statistics, proportional hazards models Cox Models, a former division of Estes Industries of Penrose, Colorado, was a multimillion-dollar hobby company, is one of the hobby industry's oldest companies and is noted for its pr ...
brand of electric train sets in the 1970s. Many of these products were pre-existing items from the Athearn catalog repackaged with Cox branding. Freight cars packaged with train sets sold by
Atlas Model Railroad Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc. makes scale models in N scale, HO scale, and O scale. The company is based in Hillside, New Jersey, United States. They produce a wide variety of locomotives, rolling stock, and vehicles. Atlas is well known for th ...
Co. in the 1970s also came from Athearn. 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. Irvin 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.


Horizon Hobby acquisition

Athearn was purchased in 2004 by
Horizon Hobby Horizon Hobby, LLC. is an American international hobby product distributor, headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, United States. It currently manufactures various hobby-grade radio-controlled (RC) models, as well as Athearn model trains and die ...
, which moved the company from
Compton Compton may refer to: Places Canada * Compton (electoral district), a former Quebec federal electoral district * Compton (provincial electoral district), a former Quebec provincial electoral district now part of Mégantic-Compton * Compton, Que ...
to a new facility in
Carson, California Carson is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the South Bay region of Los Angeles, located south of downtown Los Angeles and approximately away from Los Angeles International Airport. Incorporated on February 20, 1968, ...
. 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 Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...
. In 2006, Horizon purchased McHenry Couplers and in 2007 acquired the tooling for several trailers from A-Line, which are released in the Ready To Roll product line 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. In mid-2009, all remaining U.S. production was moved to China and
warehousing A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, tow ...
moved to parent Horizon Hobby. Sales and product development was moved to a smaller facility in
Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...
. On October 16, 2009, Athearn announced that it would stop making blue-box kits, citing increased manufacturing and labor costs. In May 2021, the decision was made to close down the Long Beach office as Development was now performed remotely. By June 2021, all service and spare parts for Athearn products had been shipped to the Horizon main complex in Champaign, Illinois, with repairs and warranty work all being performed there by July 2021. The development team, sales and marketing continues to work remotely with all replacement parts and repair request are handled on site in Champaign.


Products

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 multiple product lines: * Genesis, the high-end range, with DCC sound; with additional lighting features and see-through steps. As of April 2022, this brand includes N-scale items as well. * Athearn, representing trains from the steam-to-diesel transition in HO and N scale. * Roundhouse, representing affordable, durable models for entry-level buyers; from 2004 to 2015 the line consisted of pre-WW2 models only. * McHenry, HO-scale and N-scale model railroad couplers


References

{{Reflist


External links


Athearn official website
Model railroad manufacturers Toy companies established in 1946 1946 establishments in California Model manufacturers of the United States