Hey Gang,
With the retirement announcement of Mr. Matuch at RMT, Menards could make some nice acquisitions. One of the best I believe would be the addition of the RMT/K-Line Snap Track. This would not only allow Menards to carry a stylish tubular track, but also provide turnouts in two radii.
Assuming Menards could acquire the Snap Track line and make it more affordable, who would be interested in purchasing it from Menards?
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If Menards did not recently invest itself into their tubelar track offerings I believe that snap track might be something for Menards to consider. I strongly believe the idea of adding a second track/switch offering so close to the release of the tubelar depends on the details of their current tubelar production agreement and related sales. As nice as the original K-Line snaptrack was, it likely served a very, very small customer base and likely costs more to produce with lesser margins than their current tubelar track.
The RMT/K-Line/KMT rolling stock/passenger car items would be a much easier and effective product line to pick and choose among a number of remaining model RR companies. The RMT RDC, Beep and speeder might also have limited production appeal, but IMHO the super condensed Beef has run its course.
I don't see the remaining companies climbing over each other for these items. They may cherry pick an item or two from the owners of the tooling, but the O gauge market is not what it was 10 or 15 yrs. ago when these products were greatly welcomed and reasonably priced. RMT or it's former iterations as Ready Made Toys or Arista-O put out substantial rolling stock and accessory products - sometimes at almost give-away prices. There are still a number of dealers selling some of the RMT ore cars and hoppers at $10 to $15 each.
Walter's announcement made it sound like the tooling has already been taken care of, so unless Menard's has it, they won't get it.
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