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 from the beginning of the plastic models through 1997.

The Athearn Collector's Companion covers the original Guide, including models discovered since publication that book, plus all the kits produced until the end of production in October 2009.

The original Guide contained approximately 4,000 entries; this book contains about 9,500. We believe you will enjoy the results of our labors as much as we have enjoyed documenting all these model kits...