Athearn Collector's Companion

Irvin R. Athearn was a pioneer in model trains beginning in the late 1940s. He started in his garage putting together O Gauge metal car kits then expanded them to include HO Scale kits. Around the mid-1950s, as a result of the purchase of Globe models, he began producing the iconic F-7 A and B Units in molded plastic. Soon after that came a whole line of plastic freight cars and locomotives.

Our first book, The Standard Guide to Athearn Model Trains, documented the production of those models...