Athearn Acid Tankers. FOOBs?

[ljudice]

The fact that some of those cars are still running around while the public has their panties in a bunch about crude oil just makes me go  ...
\

Ignorance is bliss...   

A new development down the road here which borders the old CR Lehigh Line petitioned Conrail to please move the railroad 200 feet
away from their homes.  We had looked at them and the real estate agent told us there was only 1 train a day on "those tracks".  I kept
my mouth shut of course.

[Denver Road Doug]

The fact that some of those cars are still running around while the public has their panties in a bunch about crude oil just makes me go  ...

No kidding.  And methyl mercaptan too.   I visited a yard in Texas that was adjacent a mega refinery and also carbon black plant and the yardmasters biggest worry was the cars of methyl mercaptan.

[jpwisc]

I needed some more RCRX cars for my layout as that is the man car used by one of my industries, so I ordered a couple of the Athearn cars. I was hoping for a change over the old tooling, as the flyer specified body mounted couplers.

When the cars showed up, they were the same old version as before. I contacted Athearn about the discrepancy between their car and the ad.

Here is the response I got:

"Thank-you for your e-mail. We apologize for any inconvenience and for the confusion caused by the inadvertent typo in the features list on our web site for this former MDC/Roundhouse product. We have asked the web master to correct the listing.

Sincerely,

Athearn Trains"

They don't even hide the fact that it is the old Roundhouse tooling. What a joke. I can't wait for the Atlas ones to come out.

[nscaler711]

Ah send em here @jpwisc, I'll put them to work, I don't mind fussing with them!
But that's Athearn for ya, they could care less about N... HO is where the money is at for them... (don't know why, 'cause my HO Katos would run circles around them... Didn't look as detailed, but still...)

[jpwisc]

Ah send em here @jpwisc, I'll put them to work, I don't mind fussing with them!
But that's Athearn for ya, they could care less about N... HO is where the money is at for them... (don't know why, 'cause my HO Katos would run circles around them... Didn't look as detailed, but still...)

I thought about returning them, but I can fix them as well. I've already done the GMM upgrades on 4 of them, I just need to finish painting and decaling them. I need to go back and add the brake piping. Did we ever figure out a good match for the red?

[Philip H]

Honestly given what the atlas and BLMA tanks are attesting for - these make excellent train fillers. I have 4 or 5 for when they were still Mdc and once you body mount the couplers and switch to better wheels a bunch of the flaws go away. The GMM upgrade kit makes them even better.

[GaryHinshaw]

Not sure what "attesting" was auto-corrected from Philip, but if your point was that these cars make cheap filler, then I beg to differ.  These cars have an MSRP of $25.98; for comparison, the latest state-of-the-art tankers come in as follows:

* Athearn Ethanol: $25.98
* BLMA oil cans: $26.95,
* Atlas 25K: $29.95

So the Atlas cars are creeping up a bit, but the ethanol and oil tankers are comparably priced, and all are vastly superior in detail.  These MDC cars only make sense in small numbers as modeling projects, and for a bit of variety.  But they are great for that, and the paint schemes Athearn is choosing are really well done, so I give them some credit.   The price is a poser though.

[tom mann]

They were good filler 26 years ago @ $4!  I remember buying 2 of them when I was in 8th grade!

[mu26aeh]

They were good filler 26 years ago @ $4!  I remember buying 2 of them when I was in 8th grade!

I had a bunch of them decorated for the corn syrup cars.  When the Atlas cars came out, I sold them.  I think I only kept 1 ADM car.

[jpwisc]

I picked up six undecorated bodies for around $10. Getting trucks, couplers and the detail frets was more expensive than the cars. By the time you figure in paint, decals and so on, I can build them for $10-12 a car. That goodness I don't figure my time into the equation.

I never go by MSRP, your only going to pay that if you buy everything from an old school LHS.

[Blazeman]

I'm pretty sure every hydrogen fluoride tankcar I've ever seen has had a wide orange vertical stripe, similar in size to the RCRX HCL cars.

10-4 on that. Our plant in Calvert City, KY receives HF from Mexico. Shipper's cars similarly decorated.

[jmarley76]

They were good filler 26 years ago @ $4!  I remember buying 2 of them when I was in 8th grade!

Indeed! I bought a case of boxcars and a case of tank cars from MDC when they had a huge liquidation before Athearn bought them. It averaged out to $2.75 a car. Ended up selling all the tank cars on ebay after buying the first Atlas. It was at such a better level of detail.

It seems rather out of place with the current marklet that Athearn would release these, without any upgrade except paint. And when you consider the higher level of detail of most other tank cars out there (including Athearn's other offerings), the price point doesn't make sense either. Or, maybe I am just a grouchy penny pincher. 

[peteski]

It seems rather out of place with the current marklet that Athearn would release these, without any upgrade except paint.

What a coincidence. How about that ancient helium tank car MTL will be leasing soon?  It will probably feature a spiffy paint job and truck-mounted MTL couplers (pretty much same upgrades like this tank car). I bet it will cost more than the $2.75  or whatever the original price was over 40 years ago. 

[jmarley76]

What a coincidence. How about that ancient helium tank car MTL will be leasing soon?  It will probably feature a spiffy paint job and truck-mounted MTL couplers (pretty much same upgrades like this tank car). I bet it will cost more than the $2.75  or whatever the original price was over 40 years ago. 

Indeed! 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It seems rather out of place with the current marklet that Athearn would release these, without any upgrade except paint. And when you consider the higher level of detail of most other tank cars out there (including Athearn's other offerings), the price point doesn't make sense either. Or, maybe I am just a grouchy penny pincher. 

I don't think you're alone.

MB Klein has them on an "inventory reduction sale":
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/N-Scale-20-900-Gallon-Tank-Cars-s/3873.htm

But, they also just showed up in the "new products" feed, which makes me think Athearn realized their error with them, and is now trying to flush them through the system. Smart.