N&W Boxcar pre-1963 paint scheme question

[NW Mailing List]

Marty - you are missing the point here.  A "big" company isn't judged necessarily simply by the number of employees.  How many people recognize the name "Athearn"?  All 87 million of you put your hands down now, please.  THAT defines a "big" company.  Brand recognition is critical to the success of a company and I'm sorry, but "getting things right far more often (than wrong)" and being "TOO sensitive" to their customer's needs is a recipe for failure. And PS Marty, it wasn't an "anonymous bash" (see my name below which appeared on the first note), simply a request for the other side of the story.  I have many Athearn products on my layout, some more accurate than others; I enjoy almost all of them.  Look up the meaning of "bash" sometime.... And the apology for the company that "they can't afford experts for every railroad" and "take the time" to contact the historical societies because it's a secret(?!).  Really?  A 50' box is a secret? Really?  And note the original comment - "they tend to do a lot of wrong things in HO".  THAT should be a concern of Athearn and warrant a response from the CEO. As a great man once said "there's never enough time to do it right the first time but always enough time to do it over".

Ed Svitil

Norfolk & Western Railway

 

  

 To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Subject: Re: N&W Boxcar pre-1963 paint scheme question
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 01:49:12 -0400
From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org









>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 
  To: NW Mailing List 
  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)

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

  
  

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