N&W Boxcar pre-1963 paint scheme question

[NW Mailing List]

>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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