Athearn

Athearn is an American manufacturer of model railroad equipment, produced and distributed by American hobby manufacturer Horizon Hobby of Champaign, Illinois, USA. more...

Home
Action Figures
Beanbag Plush, Beanie Babies
Building Toys
Classic Toys
Diecast, Toy Vehicles
Educational
Electronic, Battery, Wind-Up
Fast Food, Cereal Premiums
Model RR, Trains
G Scale
HO Scale
Accurail
AHM/Rivarossi
Athearn
Atlas
Bachmann
Bowser
Branchline
Brass Imports
Buildings, Track, Access.
Craftsman Building Kits
Other
Plastic, Resin Kits
Buildings, Structures
Figures, People
Other
Scenery, Trees
Track
Concor
Fleischmann
Hornby
IHC
Intermountain
Kadee/Model Power
Kato
Life-Like
Lima
Lionel
Mantua
Marklin
Marx
Merten
Other Manufacturers
Roco
Roundhouse
Stewart
Tyco
Varney
Walthers
Mixed Lots, Magazines
N Scale
O Scale
OO Scale
Other Scales
S Scale
Standard Scale
Z Scale
Models, Kits
Outdoor Toys, Structures
TV, Movie, Character Toys
Vintage, Antique Toys

The story of Athearn really began in 1938, when its founder, Irv Athearn, started an elaborate O-scale layout in his mother's house. After placing an ad selling the layout, and receiving much response to it, Irv decided that selling model railroads would be a good living. He sold train products out of his mother's house through most of the 1940s. After becoming a full-time retailer in 1946, Irv opened a separate facility in Hawthorne, Ca in 1948, and that same year he branched into HO for the first time.

Irv Athearn died in 1991. New owners took control in 1994, but Irv's commitment to offer high-quality products at reasonable prices remained.

Athearn was bought in 2004 by Horizon Hobby Inc. Athearn was then moved from its facility in Compton to a new state-of-the-art facility in Carson, California.

Read more at Wikipedia.org