Athearn Box Timeline

I get into a lot of discussions on the age, and order, of Athearn boxes that were offered, through the years. Some are very easy to pinpoint, to pretty much the exact year of release, and the approximate length of the run of kits. Thus , one is able to date a particular kit in their collection to within a few years.
Shown here is the progression of Athearn kits, from left to right (first photo) from the beginning. The gray box was the first, he started using that one in 1948, and it was used about two year. The three boxes that are stacked up, were offered as special run type kits (Athearn’s first) in special boxes, in 1949, running concurrently with the gray boxes (I describe these in another post).
Next is the solid black box. Here is wher I differ from the author of the Greenberg book on Athearn, and several other collectors. I go by availability of a particular box, along with contents. The solid black box is quite hard to find, suggesting it was done early on, and lasted for a very short time, in this case, probably only a year.
The next one (again differing from some printed authors) was the black box, with silver banner. This one probably went for a couple years, likely started about 1951. It is easier to find, than the first boxes mentioned, suggesting a much larger production number. The Greenberg author felt that this box was offered AFTER the first yellow box, I very strongly disagree.
Next came the yellow box. I think a couple of factors influenced the decision to change colors. In the second photo, you see the comparison between the Athearn black/silver box, and that of the Silver Streak box that contained the Hart gondola kit. They’re very similar, especially on the label end. I think Athearn wanted more visibility, and thus the first yellow box era began. There were two sizes of banners on the yellow box, and, for obvious reasons, I feel the larger one came first (it would have been a natural progression from the large banner on the black box).
The last on, of the HO and O scale red/white boxes, was the last one offered, before both the introduction of the familiar yellow boxes of the early 1960’s, and the end of Athearn’s O scale production.
Other boxes ran concurrent with some of these (mainly the locomotive boxes), but I feel this timeline is very accurate, to within the years mentioned.