Vintage Athearn Car

http://hoseeker.net/athearn.htm

Here is a site that you may find helpful.  It has catalogs and instructions sheets from Athearn in previous decades.  Is the name Athearn anywhere on the bottom?  I wonder if this is a kit someone built and put into an Athearn box.  Sorry I don't have any info on your model.

Well that is something I didn't consider, Jack, thanks, I'll take a look!

Holy Toledo! You are correct! It saysWestbrook on the bottom.  I can google search that name now. Thanks a million!

That Athearn box goes back to before my time in the hobby, I am thinking it is 50s-60s at latest.

Westbrook made a fairly large line of "craftsman" type kits.     They go way back in O scale.    The sides on all I have seen were embossed cardboard.    It is/was a very fine board and they embossed rivets on them and did nice paint jobs.

bellymoondrop posted:

Hello,

I could use some help identifying this Athearn item. The box has no description and I am truly clueless as to how one would describe this item.

I'd love to know what year this was made as well. The packing material is something I saw on the Waltons once, it seems pretty old.

Many thanks in advance for any assistance!  Suzanne

Glad to hear you've discovered the manufacturer. Have seen that packing material in the ancient Egypt exhibit!

hahaha, it's got a mummy vibe for sure!

Don't recall Athearn  dabbling in O Scale, but I certainly could be wrong !

Weren't Reynolds freight cars were sold as Athearn?

atlpete posted:

Weren't Reynolds freight cars were sold as Athearn?

 

I think (and I may be wrong here) that the Athearn line was sold then owned by several different entities over the years; "Menzies" (here in Oregon) was one, and I believe you are correct about Reynolds...

Mark in Oregon

Athearn made a large line of boxcars and some reefer cars; they did not make gondola cars. Line changed hands several times; Menzies, Old Pullman, Locomotive Workshop, Boxcar Jim, etc.

That Westbrook mark on the center sill(?) indicates this was a Westbrook kit car

I think Reynolds was the last owner of the Athearn line.    The line was boxcars and reefers for sure, I don't know of types of cars.    The construction was very similar to the All Nation car kits.   

Athearn was the original developer of the B&O 4-6-0 steamer that became the basis for the All Nation Steam loco line.     So they/he did dabble some O scale.    I believe the original business was founded by a gentleman named Irv Athearn.

prrjim posted:

I think Reynolds was the last owner of the Athearn line.    The line was boxcars and reefers for sure, I don't know of types of cars.    The construction was very similar to the All Nation car kits.   

Athearn was the original developer of the B&O 4-6-0 steamer that became the basis for the All Nation Steam loco line.     So they/he did dabble some O scale.    I believe the original business was founded by a gentleman named Irv Athearn.

No, Reynolds was one of the earlier owners; was with Beat Hug of the older Old Pullman business before that broke up and last known owner was Boxcar Jim in Alabama.  Somewhere in the mix, Jan Lorenzen of Locomotive Workshop had hold of the line for a while - in between is what I recall - still have bags of parts from at least one of these concerns.

BTW,  (from Jack Pantry)

How to tell whether a 40' steel sided boxcar (with metal roof, metal ends, and metal underframe) is an Athearn car or an All-Nation car:

1) If you measure the length of the car from the underside, from the inside of one metal end to the inside of the other metal end, an All-Nation car will measure 10", whereas an Athearn car will measure 10-1/8".  This is the same dimension as the car sides.

2) If you open the doors, an Athearn car will have a wood or composition inner wall, whereas an All-Nation car will not.

3) Just below the right end of the lower door slide, the scalloped edge along the bottom of the car side, an All-Nation car will be cut vertically, whereas an Athearn car will be cut at an angle, just like all of the other scalloped edges on both cars.  Obviously, a modeler could trim an All-Nation car to look like an Athearn, but an Athearn car would never be made to look like an All-Nation.

4) Along the bottom edge of the roof overhang, along the side of the car, most Athearn cars will have a row of rivets, whereas an All-Nation car will not.  Do not confuse this row of rivets with the row of rivets along the top edge of the car side, which both cars have.

There are other more subtle differences between the two, but the above differences will enable you to determine which it is.  I avoid ends, doors, and underframes in my comparison because those items are easily interchanged between the two.

How to tell whether other car types are Athearn or All-Nation:

Athearn had a 50' steel sided boxcar (with metal roof, metal ends, and metal underframe).  All-Nation did not.

Athearn had a 40' steel sided reefer (with metal roof, metal ends, and metal underframe).  All-Nation did not.

All-Nation had a 36', 40', and 50' wood sided reefer (with wood roof, wood ends, and wood underframe).  Athearn did not.

All-Nation had a 40' wood sided reefer (with metal roof, metal ends, and metal underframe).  Athearn did not.

All-Nation had a 40' outside braced boxcar (with wood roof, metal ends, and metal underframe).  Athearn did not.

Both All-Nation and Athearn had a 40' wood sided boxcar (with metal roof, metal ends, and metal underframe).  However, the above 1st and 4th rules still apply.

Athearn also had a few one-of-a-kind cars that do not follow all of the rules of their other 40' steel sided boxcars. The Rock Island 20060 aluminum boxcar is one of those exceptions. There was also a GN 2500 aluminum boxcar, a GN 44424 orange sided boxcar, and a GN 47872 wood sided boxcar.

In the late 40's and early 50's Athearn produced metal sided wood core kits in HO and O scale.  The O scale the line included a 40' single door 1937 AAR box car, a 50' double door  box car, and a very respectable model of a PFE R40-23 reefer.  With the addition of door hardware, see through roof walks, cut levers, and underbody detail the cars blend in well with today's more highly detailed brass and plastic models.  It was left to the modeler to paint the roof, ends , and doors. Matching the finish of the factory painted sides on the box  car kits wasn't easy.  As Martin mentions above, at different times the Athearn kits were re-issued by several owners in a variety of road names. 

The late Ted Stepek wrote an excellent Model Railroader article on how to super detail an Athearn 40' reefer.  Reprints of that article were included in some of the re-issued reefer kits. If someone has a copy of the MR article it would be nice if they would post the article's publication date.

The photos below are of two up detailed Athearn reefers  I built some 40 years ago following Ted's article.   

I have always liked these kit assembled cars and have a lot of them that I built years ago.  These kits are what got me interested in O Scale back in 1971.

Joe

Thanks MWB for the Althearn diagnostic primer! That was the only Althearn box I have, so I may not ever get to try it out.

I have a gondola I bought on ebay a few years ago, that seems to be made similar to this. I need to look through my storage totes to see if I can locate it and check it for a manufacture name, somewhere. I may have a photo of it with a burro crane.

Rusty

Here is a picture of my Rock Island gondola. I don't think they are the same detail wise, but similar. Mine has seen better days, for sure.

Suzanne's looks mint, and, I like the detail on the car, and, the pipe load with the end bracing looks good!

Rusty

Diverging Clear posted:

 Mine has seen better days, for sure.
Rusty

Most gondolas have!

I take it these things are soon going to go on the auction block?  The few trains I have sold on eBay have mostly gone for about triple what I expected!  I started them all at $1.99 and no reserve; actual shipping and no handling/packing charge.

It only failed once - a nice Max Gray NKP Berk tender hand-lettered by George Stock only brought $50.  The purchaser turned it around on the same auction for $190.  So it works most of the time.

These look like ten dollar cars to me - I am wrong a lot.

PRRMP54 posted:

Diverging Clear posted:

 Mine has seen better days, for sure.
Rusty

Most gondolas have!

I will have to agree with you!

Rusty

Thanks for the photo Rusty! 

Bob, Yes, I just picked up a full SUV load of more items, I'm going to be busy for 6 months. Interesting to hear about your selling strategy, I almost never do auctions! I do a Buy it Now and Best Offer option. Hearing of your successes though has me considering giving the auction format a try.

I love finding new homes for these items, the family was ready to chuck it all rather than bother with it.

Suzanne

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