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Does anyone have any information on Bev-Bel rolling stock? Good quality? I've seen some of it on Ebay lately but can't seem to find any information about them and all I am finding is that they are possibly made by Athearn. I have searched the forums here but am coming up short.
It's some good looking rolling stock and might fit into my layout really nice if the feedback is good.
I beleive it's Athearn stock that Bevbel custom paints.
Not sure if they use any other brands, but they did have some decent stuff with great detail at one time.
r
I love Bev-bel stuff! I have more than 50 cars done by them. They have crisp paint and numbering. They also do different numberings as well so you dont buy duplicates of the same road numbers. They also do limited runs on very unusual stuff that are not mainstream too.
I can tell you it is worth buying. See for your self. On e-bay you can get some good deals etc. Some kits come with the kadees and metal wheel set and some dont but not that you cant add them anyhow.
They are based on Athearn 'blue box' rolling stock, but I did remember hearing some time ago when Horizon became the distributor for Athearn that Bev-Bel might be cut off from that supply. Does anybody know anything more about this? I've not been to their site to check to see if they say anything about that....
I have a few Bev-Bel cars on my layout--they're custom painted Athearn rolling stock, and they're really pretty striking. The company does excellent work, and as far as the painting and lettering, it's possible to build a 'mini-fleet' of the same road without having to re-do the car numbers.
Thanks for all of the fantastic feedback everyone, it's very much appreciated. I think that I will have to score a few pieces of the Bev-Bel rolling stock for my own collection.
The Bev-Bel domain name now redirects you to Mainline Model Miniatures. Their website isn't working very well right now but it looks like Bev-Bel was indeed cut off from Athearn freight cars since the newest I can find is copyright 2003. It looks like thay have cars that are a combination of remaining Athearn stock, Atlas, and even a few that look like Trix. They are also producing locomotives, GP-7's and GP-9's, HO and N scale, so I'm not sure what direction they are headed.
The second link opens to an error that the XML style sheet cannot be displayed. The first link is still a redirect to Mainline Model Miniatures. It still appears to me the Mainline Model Miniatures owns Bev-Bel now or is at least their sole distributor. The whole rest of the web site is nothing but XML style sheet errors for any Bev-Bel product so it seems that their web site is really hosed up. Earlier today, there were several cars that were obviously Atlas and Trix and I saw no Athearn car with a copyright later than 2003. Don't really know what's happening with such a screwed up website.
I too am a collector of their stuff. About 90% of my Bev-Bel stuff is Athearn Blue Box Kits. I also have some Roundhouse, Life-Like, and a few odds and ends.
The redirect to Mainline Hobbies has been that way for at least five years. I am not sure what the connection is. Mainline Hobbies is in Ohio and I think Bev-Bel was based in North Jersey. I used to buy from Mainline on EBay until he stopped combining shipping. He would charge full shipping on each kit ordered. It did not take long before he disappeared as a regular seller.
Bev-Bel still advertises in Railroad Model Craftsman. Most of their new stuff I have seen is N scale. The few HO offerings are usually based on Proto 1000 or Proto 2000.
The second link opens to an error that the XML style sheet cannot be displayed. The first link is still a redirect to Mainline Model Miniatures. It still appears to me the Mainline Model Miniatures owns Bev-Bel now or is at least their sole distributor. The whole rest of the web site is nothing but XML style sheet errors for any Bev-Bel product so it seems that their web site is really hosed up. Earlier today, there were several cars that were obviously Atlas and Trix and I saw no Athearn car with a copyright later than 2003. Don't really know what's happening with such a screwed up website.
This is the error I get when trying to open the Athearn page:
The XML page cannot be displayed
Cannot view XML input using XSL style sheet. Please correct the error and then click the Refresh button, or try again later.
I picked up most of my 75 pieces of Bev-Bel rolling stock from an EBay dealer, Yankeedabbler. Reliable, quick and reasonable. I like the Athearn versions much better than the Roundhouse versions, of which I have a few. If you find another source, I'm looking to find a few cars, lettered for EJ&E in the 1472 and 1180 kit number group and could use a heads-up.
Mike,
Nothing but the paint job. Bev-Bel did a lot of smaller runs of shortline and private owner cars that Athearn could sell enough of to make money. They also did runs of some of the more unusual paint jobs for major railroads that Athearn didn't think would be popular enough to justify the cost. Athearn was happy to sell Bev-Bel all the undecorated cars they wanted at one time. It still appears to me that the Bev-Bel brand was taken over by Mainline Models and the Athearn things they sell now are from standard Athearn production.
