(07/10/18) New Rolling Stock from Menards!

Ordered the Nose Art cars. 

Gondolas sound like scale size....or like the box cars VERY close. (the box cars are within scale inch of PRR X-29) I may need a few PRR Gons! 

Mark, these offerings are a home run for sure! I'm all in for the Nose Art box cars without a doubt! Also, the gondolas, I need cars for my future scrap yard! And, the Pepsi truck and REA panel truck on flat cars are a must have for me! Keep'em coming!

Rusty

The Western Pacific and AT&SF gondolas are very nice. The 2 flatcars with trucks would also fit in very well on the S&Y RR.

   Bill T.

Sorry to pick out the fly in the ointment, but why do you pair an early 1950's vintage Pepsi Cola truck with an extremely modern era Norfolk Southern flatcar? 

Those gondolas look great! Menards always finds a new way to extract some cash from my wallet!

JACKPOT!!!!

I’ll order some stuff after how the train show I go to this weekend goes.

Also gonna wait for Mr. Menard (Cabinet Bob) to post some photos. 😅

If the gondolas are 10.5" long that makes them about 40' long so not bad. The width looks a little narrow but not a problem for me.

• Dave

Here are some pictures  that were posted Sat. see

Often these days, I wonder if this is really the 027 and Traditional O Gauge sub-forum, both of which can fall under the original definition of Hi-Rail.

Yes, the product description says the cars negotiate 027 curves, and they probably do. But with the width of the new gondolas being MUCH wider than any other traditionally styled gondola, I seriously wonder if they will clear the switchbox housing on 027 switch tracks? If they possibly do, it'll be just by a hair.

Not everyone here is interested in true scale dimensions, even if a good deal of scale related products, problems and issues get posted on this particular sub-forum.

So it appears by the 2-7/16 width, these new gondolas are a definite NO-GO for me. Hopefully enough other people purchase them to make their investment worthwhile. Though by the photos posted by Cabinet Bob, a couple of the gondolas appear to have translucent bodies, meaning they are molded plastic color (or painted white plastic bodies that were unprimed with a darker color).

I can't imagine the highly critical true-scale crowd being too happy about a characteristic more commonly associated with lesser expensive "toy" trains. Though the "lesser-expensive" term would be subject to scrutiny when it comes to any brand new recently manufactured trains today... even the traditional ones... and especially from Lionel.

david1 posted:

If the gondolas are 10.5" long that makes them about 40' long so not bad. The width looks a little narrow but not a problem for me.

• Dave

I grabbed a old Atlas scale gondola and it's 2 1/2" wide......vs 2 7/16 for the Menards....I'm gonna call it scale.....what's 1/16" between friends?

Thanks Bob, I think they all look great! I know down the road I will  be getting some UP Gondolas! But do wish they put out a BNSF one for us guys on the west coast! LOL

mike g. posted:

Thanks Bob, I think they all look great! I know down the road I will  be getting some UP Gondolas! But do wish they put out a BNSF one for us guys on the west coast! LOL

Yep, should do a BN, along with a Northern Pacific, Great Northern, CB&Q, and a Spokane Portland & Seattle, the 4 RR's that formed the BN. And maybe throw in a Frisco that was late to the merger. That would be a terrific 6 pack for us West Coast operators.

   Bill

mike g. posted:

Thanks Bob, I think they all look great! I know down the road I will  be getting some UP Gondolas! But do wish they put out a BNSF one for us guys on the west coast! LOL

I'm with you (love CB&Q too) but there are TONS of Lionel 9140 & 9141 green BN gonds at every show I've been to. Not sure you'll see Menards do 'em, but I think a BNSF version might be in order :-)

brianel_k-lineguy posted:

Yes, the product description says the cars negotiate 027 curves, and they probably do. But with the width of the new gondolas being MUCH wider than any other traditionally styled gondola, I seriously wonder if they will clear the switchbox housing on 027 switch tracks?

I think I would ask if anyone had a scale-width 40-footer that they could test on an 027 switch. I have them, but I'm at work, and I'm sure my 027 switches are buried somewhere in a corner

I recall from my floor-layout days that the Lionel quad hoppers had a tendency to bump 027 switch machines if they went into the diverging route directly from an 027 curve, thus maintaining an 027 overhang throughout the switch (I had manual ones). The quad hopper (going by the dimensions listed for the Menards version)  is a good two inches longer than these gondolas, and only a sixteenth of an inch narrower.

I don't think these gondolas will have a problem with 027 switches. And in terms of how they look in a traditional train, the width difference between these and "traditional" gondolas should only be visible when sighting down a line of them, and how often does that happen?

---PCJ

I hope someday they make a black B. and O gondola with white printing.

jim sutter posted:

I hope someday the make a black B. and O gondola with white printing.

In prototype markings...Yes!! Great grandpa had one job....working for the B&O.....

RadioRon posted:

Sorry to pick out the fly in the ointment, but why do you pair an early 1950's vintage Pepsi Cola truck with an extremely modern era Norfolk Southern flatcar? 

 Yup! If the flatcar was Erie they would've had a sale!

MIKATT1 posted:

RadioRon posted:

Sorry to pick out the fly in the ointment, but why do you pair an early 1950's vintage Pepsi Cola truck with an extremely modern era Norfolk Southern flatcar? 

 Yup! If the flatcar was Erie they would've had a sale!

It's being delivered to a car museum by rail !

Mark, How about a six pack of different roads of your colorful

tankers?  Unclepeterr 

Make that truck in vintage Mountain Dew and I will buy one.

Nothing personal I just don't like Pepsi.

I assume the Coca-Cola license is just too expensive to fool with?

Me and many others would buy almost any train item with a Coca-Cola logo.

Menards does not sell Coke products.

Is there a story behind that you are at liberty to discus?

That Santa Fe gon looks great.

Have you done the NS Top Gons yet?

I know the dimensions would be off but it wouldn't bother me to the point I wouln't buy some.

One more plea for Solid Gold/Sold Cold Reefers.

Thanks for all the amazing rolling stock you have made.

If Menards is not the number one provider of rolling stock on my railroad they are a close second.

You are the only manufacturer I have ever bought by the case.

  "All I wanted was a Pepsi, and Menards wouldn't give it to me"

  I think it will take the old 0-27 turnouts. It's no wider than a 1940s full O, NY stock car and only a touch longer. The difference is the gondola sides sit lower, but I think it's a go from the looks of the stock car's clearance. 

Watch out for that bus!

Got my ATSF gondola in 3 days.  Question, if I wnt to change the trucks, the grommet head is not visible inside the gondola body.  Do I just drill it out?

Garfield posted:

I assume the Coca-Cola license is just too expensive to fool with?

Me and many others would buy almost any train item with a Coca-Cola logo.

 

 

 

As to O gauge trains, Lionel has held the Coke license for the last several years.  I doubt that its contract with Coke would allow Menards to use the Coke name.   So, if you would buy "almost any train item with a Coca-Cola logo," check Lionel. 

BwanaBob posted:

Got my ATSF gondola in 3 days.  Question, if I wnt to change the trucks, the grommet head is not visible inside the gondola body.  Do I just drill it out?

I’d like to see some close up shots of the bottom if anybody has these gondolas.... Please CabinetBob. Lol!

I want to buy them, but only if the trucks come off easy and I can replace them with diecast ones.

The tooling looks similar to Williams, but Williams has a hatch in the bed that can be removed in order to take the e-clip off and remove the trucks.  Menards looks like it doesn’t have one.

The photos posted by Cabinet Bob make the Pennsylvania gondola car appear quite red.  It is red or the more typical brown for the PA cars?

Thanks,

Michael

The soda pop truck is cool, but I would like to see one marked for Green River. "Just sayin'...."