Athearn Overland

[up1950s]

What does this say for Overland's future ?

 
 "September 20, 2008

Athearn Acquires T55 Tooling

Athearn® Trains is excited to announce we have purchased select tooling from T55, the plastic division of Overland Models. T55 is one of the model railroading industry’s leading producers of high-quality injection-molded models. Using T55’s outstanding tooling, Genesis will soon be producing a run of General Electric GEVO (ES44AC and ES44DC) models, as well as EMD SD70ACe and SD70M-2 models.

These prototypes are the most current locomotives from North America’s primary builders, and are found in the fleets of Union Pacific (including the Heritage Fleet and Bush Presidential Library and Museum), BNSF, CIT Leasing, CSX, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, EMD Demonstrators, Ferromex, Florida East Coast, GE Demonstrators, Kansas City Southern, Montana Rail Link and Norfolk Southern.

   

Just as these locomotives are the backbone of today’s Class One and Regional railroads, they will also be an important addition to Athearn’s Genesis® series of top-of-the-line HO models. Locomotives, in keeping with Genesis standards, will be offered with and without sound. They will also feature directional lighting; operating ditch lights; separately applied, etched metal details; and the same attention to detail you expect from Genesis.

Any backorder you may have placed with T55 will unfortunately not be transferred. As Genesis announces each new run, please contact your local train store to place your new order. Release dates, pricing and specific product information will be announced in future editions of Athearn News and online at Athearn.com."

 
 

[jmlaboda]

But how this might impact N-scale remains to be seen.  If Athearn can take the engineering drawings and reduce them to N-scale size then it could be very good for (yuck) modern modelers but it is a matter of Horizon wanting to do them... and that will really be the big question.

[up1950s]

I wonder if Overland plans to call it quits . Why would they give , share , or sell anything to a competitor ?

[Puddington]

I agree with UP 1950's - this potentially bodes poorly for Overland - why sell your bread and butter ? I wonder about the entire brass market and their various resin/plastic's divisions with regard to their viability.

I have never really understood the development costs that are claimed by the major mfg's but if true they are a huge burden; this may be an example of one mfg surrendering......

[nscalesteve]

I wonder if Overland plans to call it quits . Why would they give , share , or sell or sell anything to a competitor ?

to get some liquid funds to keep at least the brass business alive and running...
...al the legal issues with the Tower55 name did probably dig a big and deep hole into Brian Marchs wallet

[Walkercolt]

Most of us will never understand the brass market and even less the manufactoring mind-set. I gave up long ago. Why does Kato do what they do? Just take a Valium and a Prevacid and forget about figuring any of it out. Quite honestly, the plummeting dollar, and the shaky economy probably has Overland looking for cash. They have "niche" market items that will always sell, but "mass-production" of plastic shells on their brass drives might not be viable for them. Selling Athearn the tooling for plastic shells might be their way to get "out-from-under". We'll never know the whole story, anyway. ???

[up1950s]

Well it looks like Overland is staying in the brass business . I hope with their new found time they will do more transistion era N .

Overland Models wrote

  "Late this week, the sale of the GE Evolution Series and EMD SD70ACe tooling to Athearn® Trains was finalized. T55 Products enjoyed its short time in the plastic model train market and decided it was time to sell its tools to a proven leader like Athearn. A copy of their press release is listed below.   

 

We felt with Athearn's expertise in the plastics industry and our dedication to detail, the time was right to roll the T55 diesel projects forward within the Athearn network. We truly hope that you can appreciate our decision to sell and also understand that this acquisition has been in the works for quite some time but could not be disclosed until the sale was completed. We truly appreciate all of our customers' support and business since the launching of T55 and will deeply miss that portion of our business. 

 

If you have any orders for T55 models, they will not be transferred to Athearn. We will be happy to provide you with a backorder list so that you can compare your orders to the models Athearn will be announcing and place any new orders with your Athearn distributor. Also, if you currently have a deposit on record for any T55 models, those deposits will be refunded to you next week. 

 

Now that the T55 transaction is completed, we can better focus on our brass model train business known as Overland Models. We've been delivering fine brass scale models since 1976, with plans to deliver even finer models in the future. 

 

We are pleased to turn over our baby to Athearn and are excited to get back to our brass roots. We truly appreciate your business and support.   

 Sincerely   
 Brian and Missy Marsh"
 
 
 

[sootower]

I wonder if Overland plans to call it quits . Why would they give , share , or sell or sell anything to a competitor ?

to get some liquid funds to keep at least the brass business alive and running...
...al the legal issues with the Tower55 name did probably dig a big and deep hole into Brian Marchs wallet

<laughing> Do you have any idea how wealthy the Marsh family is?</laughing>

The Marshes are better off financially than the US Government. Thinking about it... I guess that isn't saying much - I'm better off than the US Government!

[TiVoPrince]

For modern
Athearn+Tower55+Hubert makes sense.  Hopefully adopting the Oveland designed mechanisim.  The LBF/Huberts tooling for modern boxcars could give Athearn a huge leg up on the competition...

[asarge]

I just don't see it JJ. I can see buying T55. That's actually good for the HO guys, but doesn't bode well for Athearn n scale, not like they were tearing up the n scale market, but now there even less resources available for new N scale tooling.

While this may make a case for getting Hubert's to improve the N scale line. the tooling is all or mostly aluminum which is not up to Athearns standard and they would have a very short life span before they woukld have to re-tool and starting over with steel would be most costly.

[TiVoPrince]

Since
we cannot expect large runs of new tooling anyime soon (based on economy factors) the thought of Athearn obtaining tooling to expand the nscale line is intrigueing. 

Even if the tooling is less than ideal the option of releasing a complimentary product to new diesels.  Looking forward I would anticipate smaller and less frequent runs allowing aluminium tooling to last a long as traditional Athearn tooling based on less usage.  That is assuming that there is a transfer of the GE/GM - Overland/Tower55 license and it will allow production of the recent locomoive models in Nscale also and a willingness to produce Nscale diesels beyond the F/FP45...