On Jul 6, 2005, at 9:28 AM, Beckert, Shawn wrote:

Athearn recently announced that they will be releasing an HO (and N) RTR
65'6" mill gondola before the end of the year. The first run of roadnames
includes AT&SF, C&O, Monon, BN, Conrail, Norfolk Southern, and undecorated:

http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/006/019quqpd.asp

Does anyone familiar with Athearn's operations know if these will be accurate
models of *any" prototype, the roadnames shown above notwithstanding?

Shawn, you mis-read the announcement. The road names you list are those for the PS-2 covered hoppers. Road names for the first run of the 65'6" mill gons are Santa Fe, Burlington, Southern, Nickel Plate, Reading, and Erie-Lackawanna. As I noted in my post to the list yesterday, the NKP and RDG versions are not prototypical; NKP did not own mill gons of AAR recommended practice design and the Reading cars were an all-welded version of the design. Otherwise, the models should be relatively accurate and Athearn has good information on '50s era P/L for the four offerings that are authentic.

Also, to answer Garth Groff's inquiry, Athearn says the models will have free-standing wire grabs, etc.

Richard Hendrickson