Athearn Passenger cars what are they worth?

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

Well maybe a better way of phrasing the question is whats a fair price for them? I picked up what I believe is a full set of Athearn Norfolk & western Passenger cars today at a train show 8 cars for $90 They don't have light kits or interiors while driving home I was second guessing myself and thought I should have bought the Spectrum cars form a guy farther down the isle for $15/ea. but whats done is done nothing I can do about it now. So did I get taken or was it a fair price? My guts telling sort of fair but not a really great deal what do u guys think?

[nachoman]

Last time I bought one as a kit, I thik I paid about $5.50, and that was probably early 1990s. I don't think they make the kits anymore, but with Inflation I would suspect they would run about 10 bucks today - unassembled. I haven't priced them in a long, long time, though, so I don't know what the market is.

[Sumpter250]

Like Nachoman, I haven't bought any Athearn Passenger car kits for a number of years...mid to late 90's. The boxes are marked $9.00. The price of plastic really took off with the rapid inflation of oil prices, so those kits could have reached $10.00-$15.00 undec.
8 kits for $90.00......fair price considering, but not a great deal.

[Brakie]

First,You found some rare cars..These haven't been made for several years..There no longer on Athearns web page.

Are those cars the Bev-Bel/Athearn N&W cars?


If so,you have a complete set..

Suffice it to say you did real good

[nachoman]

ps, when you get the chance, post some photos

[doctorwayne]

Probably a fair-enough price for a train of matching cars. While I prefer the old Rivarossi passenger cars, the Athearn ones often show up on the "used" table at my LHS - when they're under five bucks, I'll often buy them. The ones below, all former coaches or Pullmans, were $2.00 each, with Kadees and the older all-metal trucks. They roll about as well as a brick, but the price was right.










This one is parts from two Athearn baggage cars:


Wayne

[Allegheny2-6-6-6]

Ok I should have checked this thread before I took them off the track and put them all back in the box..dough! My next step is to install interiors and diaphragms . I saw a post some where some guys used Rivarossi/IHC Interiors without much modification. I have always wanted to get a set of interiors from Palace Car Company as I have read and heard great things about them but of course they are currently all out of Athearn interior kits figures!
Wayne I was kind of pleased with the way these roll myself. I'll have to have a drag race between the Athearns, IHC , Spectrum & original AHM cars I have and see what free wheels the best. Other then a few cars for my own road name I think I'm done with buying passenger cars. But I did see a guy who had a good deal on Spectrum cars there too...........

[Russ Bellinis]

The Rivarossi/IHC interiors are for full length 85 foot cars rather than the 72 footers like Athearn. I like to start with Pike Stuff coach seats and styrene. I cut the seats apart from the casting so that all are individual seats. The seats can be used from the package in chair cars. For lounge cars where you might find a single overstuffed easy chair, you can cut the seat in half and glue on a piece of styrene for arms. For bedroom cars I use a full seat and a 1/2 seat with arms added and then use the styrene to make the walls. In my opinion, you don't need a lot of detail because the windows are small enough that you can't see that much inside of the cars anyway. The exception is dome cars. You must put in a floor in the dome and add seats and people or you are looking down into an empty car and weight through the dome.

[doctorwayne]

I also like the Pikestuff seats. For an Athearn car, the thick window material obscures a lot of detail, so you don't need to be too fussy. On this shortened business car, most of the interior "detail" is plain styrene partitions and the same, but thinner, material for blinds:




Wayne

[tomustang]

I always say, if it's worth it to you don't worry about it.