N&W Boxcar pre-1963 paint scheme question

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Wed Mar 13 11:37:15 EDT 2013


I certainly didn't mean it that way. The new Athearn is pretty good at
what it does. What it doesn't do is keep a stock of anything
(you need normal stuff like 40 & 50 foot box cars!) and a decent (not
great) $50 loco. I don't make a living
selling stuff to the expert builders and rivet counters. I make my
living selling to dad and his kids. I miss that old $35 F7!
I replaced many a dead 4 oz Tyco with it.

I know that no version of Athearn is big. But there are things about the
scale train business that does drive me nuts.

Tom Cosgrove

On 3/13/2013 1:49 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:

> >The old Athearn no longer exists. After old Irv >passed, the family

> sold it to Horizon Hobby.

> >No one cares...

> Please, the current Athearn gets things right far more often than the

> old Athearn. And in my opinion, they are TOO sensitive to what

> modelers think, and are afraid to make mistakes because of the

> armchair businessmen out there (including on here), and have refused

> to do "close enough" production runs that would satisfy most people,

> because a few people might jump all over them. But if you're happy

> with the same old F7s and 40' boxcars painted for every railroad under

> the sun, fine, bring back the "old" Athearn.

> As for the brave soul who made this anonymous bash:

> >What? A big company like that with a picky customer >base makes a

> production run based on one >overexposed photo? Seems hard to

> >believe....someone from Athearn should chime in here.

> >Sent from my HTC on the Now Network from Sprint!

>

> First, there are no big companies in model railroading. Most employ

> far less than 100 people, small by any standard.

> Second, what's wrong with a manufacturer making a model based on a

> photograph in a book? If the photograph was so obviously overexposed,

> shouldn't the book's author and publisher have included a note in the

> caption that the color is actually brown, not black? If I am a

> manufacturer or novice modeler, with no in depth knowledge of a

> railroad's paint schemes, I look at the that photograph and say the

> car is black.

> Athearn made an honest mistake, and is far from the worst or most

> puzzling one ever commited. At least there is an explanation for it.

> They can't afford to employ experts for every railroad, nor take the

> time to run every project by the appropriate historical societies,

> especially if they want to keep it a secret until it is released. We

> should be pleased that they are willing to invest in the equipment

> guides, and do our best to ensure that the publications put forth the

> most accurate information possible.

> Marty Flick

>

>

>

> ----- Original Message -----

> *From:* NW Mailing List <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

> *To:* NW Mailing List <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 12, 2013 12:39 PM

> *Subject:* Re: N&W Boxcar pre-1963 paint scheme question

>

> The old Athearn no longer exists. After old Irv passed, the family

> sold it to Horizon Hobby.

> No one cares...

>

> Tom Cosgrove

>

> On 3/10/2013 10:08 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:

>> What? A big company like that with a picky customer base makes a

>> production run based on one overexposed photo? Seems hard to

>> believe....someone from Athearn should chime in here.

>>

>> Sent from my HTC on the Now Network from Sprint!

>>

>> ----- Reply message -----

>> From: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

>> Date: Sat, Mar 9, 2013 9:53 pm

>> Subject: N&W Boxcar pre-1963 paint scheme question

>> To: <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

>>

>> I can remember my local Hobby Shop owner talking about this

>> particular car. The Athearn Rep had stopped by the store and

>> discussed this model. Athearn had made the model black based on

>> what they saw in the picture. The Owner told the Rep that the car

>> was actually boxcar red and that the lighting in the picture

>> gave it there black look. Looking at the photo in the book,

>> around the door, the color is definitely of a brown hue. Alan Cox

>> In a message dated 3/9/2013 6:45:34 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

>> nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

>>

>> The N&W had a paint scheme used on boxcars before the

>> half-moon logo scheme. It was the pre-1963 scheme that had

>> the Norfolk and Western roadname spelled out in capital Roman

>> style font lettering in white or silver, w/ N&W reporting

>> marks & car number on the other end in Roman font. Some of

>> the cars had silver doors some did not. My question is,

>> were these cars ever BLACK, or were they only the

>> brown/boxcar red in this particular paint scheme? I looked

>> at a friend's copy of the N&W Color Guide, and an example of

>> this scheme in question is on page 39 of a combo door 50'

>> boxcar. In the pic, the boxcar looks almost black, but I

>> think it's actually dark brown, in a dark pic. Did N&W ever

>> paint boxcars w/ that paint scheme in black?

>>

>> Athearn made this exact car in HO but it is in BLACK, and I

>> want to make sure they were accurate on this- they tend to do

>> a lot of wrong things in HO.

>>

>> - Moderator (email question from non-mailing list person)

>>

>>

>> ________________________________________

>> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org

>> To change your subscription go to

>> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list

>> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at

>> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/

>>

>>

>>

>> ________________________________________

>> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org

>> To change your subscription go to

>> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list

>> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at

>> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/

>

>

> --

> Tom Cosgrove

> Past Captain RBVFA Squad, EMT-B

> N2VFK

> SKYWARN Spotter LME002

> Red Cross Disaster Volunteer since 1995

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> ________________________________________

> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org

> To change your subscription go to

> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list

> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at

> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

> No virus found in this message.

> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com>

> Version: 2013.0.2904 / Virus Database: 2641/6164 - Release Date:

> 03/11/13

>

>

>

> ________________________________________

> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org

> To change your subscription go to

> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list

> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at

> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/



--
Tom Cosgrove
Past Captain RBVFA Squad, EMT-B
N2VFK
SKYWARN Spotter LME002
Red Cross Disaster Volunteer since 1995

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20130313/2e71af7f/attachment.html>


More information about the NW-Mailing-List mailing list