Athearn are made in Chine, have been for a while now. Tyco was made in Hong Kong.
All Athearn is made in China. Has been since they moved from Compton to Carson. When they were in Compton they were made in America. The Blue box, boxes still say Made in America, and will until they run out.I think the "blue box" kits are still made in the U.S. The rtr Athearn which includes all of their locomotives are made in China. The older rtr based on blue box models are made from parts cast here and shipped to China I think, but any of the newer rtr is probably made entirely in China.
:roll1:land of the cheap labor and no quality control, China.
I think the Bowser steam engine kits are probably still American made, but I'm not sure a newby would want to start with a steam engine kit!
If you think buying American made is hard, just try to buy Canadian!
I think the blue box kits require the least amount of labor to put in the boxes. I'm not sure, but I suspect that the tooling that was pre-existing would entail high import duties if shipped to China or there is some other reason why the parts are cast here in the states. Of course when you look at the paint on rtr freight cars compared to the kits, it is obvious that the Chinese are doing a lot more hand work than they do in the US plant. The paint is a lot crisper with a lot of painted on detail that isn't there on the kits which are still pad printed as they were when Irv was still alive.