(11/07/23) New Center-Flow Hoppers from Menards!

@Menards posted:

Introducing the newest addition to the Menards rolling stock family - the center-flow hopper!

Canadian National Center-Flow Hopper (275-9230, 9231) Shop now >

Here are some of the highlights:

• All die-cast couplers and fully sprung die-cast trucks with a steel swing-type drawbar
• Uniquely numbered - no two are the same
• Limited edition
• Navigates O-27 curves
• For best results, lubricate all metal parts before running
• 9-11/16”L x 2-11/16”L x 3-7/8”H (11-3/16”L with couplers)

In case you missed it, I've attached today's O gauge email below.

Thank you,
Mark the Menards Train Guy

This is a very pretty car!
Are both sides painted with the multi-stripe pattern, or is one side a plain grey (the same as another manufacturer's car with the same paint scheme)?

I'm really excited about this new addition to the Menards lineup of vehicle types!

This is the best looking freight car you have made. I think its great. Not only does the hopper car look great, the price is great also.

Beautiful decoration on this unit!

I like this car.

What railroad scheme that I would like most is the Denver & Rio Grande Western and the D&RGW Center Flow hoppers repainted by the Union Pacific that have the MAIN LINE THROUGH THE ROCKIES logo decals.

Thank you,

Andrew

The FRISCO had long 2-bay CENTER FLOW covered hoppers. They were randomly repainted in various Burlington Northern paint schemes.

Andrew

I see a ton of these coming in different road names!!! Just ordered the CN Hopper, I will give it a try..!!

Needs a fictitious road name of a bulk product that Menards sells, with some sort of Menards color scheme and logo. "Menards Sands"?

But yeah, lots of opportunity here.

How about Incobrasa Industries' fleet of 100 green covered hoppers (they deal in biodiesel) used to carry soybeans to their main plaint in Gilman, Illinois? Those are seen in a variety of locations inside and outside of Menards' footprint. While true that the prototypes are 3 and 4-bay hoppers, so was the CN hopper that this one is based on. Bonus, as far as I know, this roadname hasn't appeared in 'O' yet.

---PCJ

Fantastic addition to the line! Nice to see the die cast couplers. I'm definitely ordering this one since I collect and operate CN. Looking forward to more releases.

Rob

JJames9641, Once you receive your new hopper, please let us know how you like it. Thank You Jim Sutter

Menards, using your new hopper,please give us a yellow Chessie hopper with a blue Chessie cat. Also, please do a Burlington Northern, Pennsylvania, New York Central and a Baltimore and Ohio.

@jim sutter posted:

Menards, using your new hopper,please give us a yellow Chessie hopper with a blue Chessie cat. Also, please do a Burlington Northern, Pennsylvania, New York Central and a Baltimore and Ohio.

These are cool, I wonder where they got the tooling, maybe it is new?

Looks good! I’m kind of relieved to see the higher price point. I’d gladly pay the little bit extra for better quality!

Jim, I sure will

Take a close look at the quality  of the new hoppers. For the price, they can't be beat. All metal couplers, hand applied  details, a cat walk that's realistic in all ways and great graphics.

Are they 1/48 scale?

Are the trucks improved? Only issue I've had with any Menards cars. Some are very wobbly. Not all, but some. Love the car!

Those trucks look nice, we need more 1/48 vehicles especially from the 1940s and 1950s.

@LT1Poncho posted:

Are the trucks improved? Only issue I've had with any Menards cars. Some are very wobbly. Not all, but some. Love the car!

These are all metal  trucks, they all work perfect. No plastic on these....

Please run the gamut of roadnames on these new cars. A string of colorful centerflows can’t be beat.

@jim sutter posted:

Menards, using your new hopper,please give us a yellow Chessie hopper with a blue Chessie cat. Also, please do a Burlington Northern, Pennsylvania, New York Central and a Baltimore and Ohio.

What is the logic there?

The priority would be to be offer the real railroad schemes that K-LINE never produced, such as SL•SF FRISCO that became BN BURLINGTON NORTHERN.

The Chessie System C&O was already produced by K-Line, so a remake should come later.

Pennsylvania and New York Central were merged into the Penn Central by the time this ACF CENTER FLOW covered hopper variation was being built, so it would be a retroactive concept.

B&O would be Chessie System on these CENTER FLOW 2-bay covered hoppers.

Andrew

Interesting and varied motor trucks, that l would like to see cabbed for 1940 and prior, but might take defunct makes to avoid licensing problems.  And that might limit marketability due to unfamiliarity. Striking hoppers postdate that period, too. All look good.

@LT1Poncho posted:

Are the trucks improved? Only issue I've had with any Menards cars. Some are very wobbly. Not all, but some. Love the car!

I'm hearing they used the sprung trucks from the 14.5" flatcars.  If so, those are the best trucks I've ever seen on any Menard's offering.

@cabinet Bob posted:

These are all metal  trucks, they all work perfect. No plastic on these....

All metal doesn't mean anything, the original boxcar trucks were all metal, and they were very problematic!  However, if these are equipped with the trucks from the 14.5" flatcars, they'll be a big improvement over previous offerings.

@falconservice posted:

What is the logic there?

The priority would be to be offer the real railroad schemes that K-LINE never produced, such as SL•SF FRISCO that became BN BURLINGTON NORTHERN.

The Chessie System C&O was already produced by K-Line, so a remake should come later.

Pennsylvania and New York Central were merged into the Penn Central by the time this ACF CENTER FLOW covered hopper variation was being built, so it would be a retroactive concept.

B&O would be Chessie System on these CENTER FLOW 2-bay covered hoppers.

Andrew

Um, anyone who has followed Menards’ freight car offerings for the past half dozen years knows Jim Sutter is right on the mark. Menards has produced fantasy schemes, nostalgic schemes and colorful schemes intended for toy train hobbyists.

B&O had 500 ACF CENTER FLOW 2-bay covered hoppers in the Chessie System scheme.

MENARDS could produce these hoppers with all 500 individual, 6 digit road numbers.

Andrew

Norfolk Southern Heritage series.

Andrew

Jim R. THANK YOU.

Got to say it, the Menards car is now close in price to MTH Premier or Railking…

I like the Sinclair trucks.

Now, Menards needs to start bringing freight cars 4 different ones at one time. No more one at a time.

@Craignor posted:

Got to say it, the Menards car is now close in price to MTH Premier or Railking…

The new Railking cars are $65-70 and Premier are at $75. The new Menard’s cars are half that. The Menard’s cars still look like a good value to me, and I’m 90% Railking.

@Craignor posted:

The Menards car is now close in price to MTH Premier or Railking…

Say what?   Its $35 + shipping.....   nowhere near RailKing or Premier's nearly double prices.

And the detail on this car appears to be a huge improvement too. Those walkways are better than some Premier cars.

those trucks look like they are the best menards trucks yet. they even have the manual uncoupling tab.

never seen a menards car with this truck design before. if these work ok they should be standard on all menards cars.

I ask menards way back with the other style metal trucks that were problematic to redesigned and include this manual tab.

I will buy this car and more if these trucks are standard across the menards line. heck I would even pay slighly more for there cars with this type of truck design. still cheaper than lionel or mth new.

Picked up my hopper just this morning, so far looks fantastic. Have to put it on the layout next to see how it rolls. Glad to see the diecast metal sprung trucks with the spinning bearing caps. Graphics looks great, catwalks are awesome! I personally would like to see the "built by Menard's" on the bottom of the car vs the sides but no big deal. I did not add pics as Cabinet  Bob already did a great job of showing the car.  Now, what comes next for road names???  Maybe a warbonnet Santa Fe with the gloss red paint or a NS with the horse head in Black of course, oh the possibilities are limitless. Kudos to Menard's great job!!!!

Jeff

Spinning bearing caps?!?!?!? Even MTH's newest, most expensive Premier models never had that!

Chicago & Eastern Illinois had these ACF CENTER FLOW covered hoppers.

Andrew

The SOUTHERN PACIFIC had hundreds of ACF CENTER FLOW 2-bay covered hoppers that matched this O scale Center-Flow 2-bay covered hopper.

I need 8 of them.

Andrew

The SOUTHERN RAILWAY had ACF  Center-Flow 2-bay covered hoppers like this one.

Andrew