There for awhile, you were turning out new product at a nice pace. Lately, there has been nothing. What's going on? Hopefully, you will resume new product announcements.
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Is Menard's going to be represented at York with an actual booth and display?
Paul Fischer
Swafford, those are some very nice hoppers. Menard's would wise to make a couple of those. I would start with the Chessie.
Paul Fischer, I can not answer your question. Mark the Menard's man will have to answer it.
Had this conversation with Mark a while back and York is in the future, hopefully not the distant future, I'm not a particularly young man! I too miss the teases and the excitement that this latest free offer didn't seem to generate! But , knowing Menards, the excitement will be back I'm sure!! I have a huge order waiting for the right offer!
Swafford,
I'm afraid it may be awhile before we see scale freight cars from Menard's..
Jim and Swafford, I'm with you guys on the scale cars from Menards. I made a trip to on of their Ohio Stores Sunday, and nothing but a few 027 flats and box cars left on the mezzanine.
I believe the newer flat cars are near scale, but not for sure about that either............................
OK, one more time I will reiterate what Mark the Menards Train Guy said in an earlier post regarding weekly releases. Essentially, he said the announcements would continue as long as there were new products coming in. He never promised a new product every week, if you look back at his posts.
Also, he stated that while he would personally like to see trains stocked in stores year-round, that isn't the company's business plan. So the reason you are seeing only a few odd pieces in store right now is because Menards won't be restocking its train shelves until fall. But the product is available online all year.
From my perspective, that seems reasonable. The period from April to September is a softer sales period for O gauge trains and scale modeling in general. Even on the OGR Forum in recent posts, numerous members have said that their interest in the hobby tends to wane in the warm-weather months.
As for all these hopes for scale cars from Menards, well ... . Have you noticed that all of the cars produced by Menards are based on previously existing models -- often postwar Lionel or modern Williams. To me it's clear that Menards is offering affordable copies of old models by not having to obtain or create new technical specs, aside from paint schemes. One notable exception is the long flatcar with the wood deck, but flatcars can be easily modified.
if Menards opted for the creation of all-new tooling from models developed through research and development of scale cars that no one else has made, or for which there is a more segmented demand to cover production expenses, it would be in the same boat, cost wise, as every other O gauge manufacturer.
Menards' business model has always been for lower-cost options. (I have lived in Menards territory in Minnesota and Wisconsin for more than 40 years and have been within a short drive of a store all during that time, so I am very familiar with the company in terms of home improvement needs.) While I have no inside knowledge of the company, I truly am accustomed to their business model.
I bet there is something in the wings but Mark and Menards are holding off till next week because York is going on right now and after York we need a good pick me up..............Paul
Well said Jim R.
The train manufacturing business is nothing like the fast food drive through, where you place your order, and then have it a couple minutes later.
People often wonder about the price difference between Menards trains and others. Menards is a home improvement store chain that has taken on a side business of having trains made and branded for them.
If Menards had the expansive product line-up that Lionel or MTH have, along with the investment dollars tied up in R&D and tooling, their prices would be more in line with the other train companies. The 3-rail scale market may be the new thing, but it is still SMALL! Which is why all the other companies operate on a BTO model, whether they advertise it or not: No pre-orders, no production. MTH and Atlas have both cancelled many cataloged or announced product items. Sunset/3rd Rail too.
I'm not happy either with the $50-$85 list price for a new traditionally sized Lionel train car that has had it's tooling costs long paid for. Of course, Lionel has always been the more expensive train product. But I don't doubt those prices on traditional items are helping to offset the investment dollars going into high end products, which are much smaller runs and take longer to recoup their investment costs.
Someone quipped that Lionel is laughing all the way to the bank. Ahhh, maybe not. The last time I checked, borrowing money from a bank isn't cheap either. And I'm certain Menards products have to be hurting Lionel traditional product sales. Every train car Menards sells, is one less for Lionel. And then there's the line up of buildings and structures which appeal to everyone.
And YET even with their reasonable list prices, Menards has had some enticing sales promotions on trains. Could it be that sales are just soft on everything train related, be it scale or traditional.
Others have complained about the new scale proportioned Menards flat car: Where's the brake wheel? Okay, maybe it was an oversight or a cost cutting move. If you need the brake wheel, pay double the Menards price and you'll get the brake wheel.
Menards has the advantage of being a home improvement chain, thus their only source of income IS NOT model train revenue. It seems only logical that if they were investing money into R&D, and tooling for new accurately proportioned scale trains, they would be having to charge more for their products.
Menards is doing a fine job as is. And anyone who thinks they know better, should start up their own train company, invest millions of dollars and make an extensive line of totally accurate scale products from new tooling... and find out the hard way.
I'm always looking forward to the next Menards release! I'm confident that a locomotive of some sort and switches are in the works for this fall. My weakness has been the structures!
I'm hoping they bring back the Barn, Gas station, and Hobby shop. I sure like the looks of them. I got the Menards power and Light in a mystery Box and loved it. I need to get a couple of Grand-pa houses
getting back from York, whenever they will, and the flat car sale, goes off this Saturday! A small break, then BET, the 11% rebate comes back,
then I think in a couple or 3 weeks, : SURPRISE, maybe
rtraincollector posted:I'm hoping they bring back the Barn, Gas station, and Hobby shop. I sure like the looks of them. I got the Menards power and Light in a mystery Box and loved it. I need to get a couple of Grand-pa houses
Bill,
We have a very few of these structures left in some of our stores. I will contact you via the email in your profile. I'm confident that we can find them for you. You will just need to complete a credit card transaction over the phone.
Mark the Menards Train Guy
For what it's worth, I have no objection at all to there being breaks in the week to week release of new product from menards. It's not that I don't like new things being out there, but sometimes it takes a while to develop new product, and Menards already offers more than I can afford, even at the fantastic prices.
Another thing is that when Menards, through Mark here on the forum, or in other advertising, offer a new product, it is available for purchase right then, or at most in a few weeks. There is none of this "Here's our new item! Order it now cause if you don't we won't make it. then in two or three years we'll ship it out" business that all the other manufacturers tend to like. I have no objection at all to waiting for the next new product as long as it takes, when that product is available to purchase the moment it is announced.
JGL
Mark, I was shopping at your store and noticed they have a nice selection of shop clocks for cars, gasoline and sports. I think some railroad theme ones would be great or other train room items.
franktrain
Menards posted:rtraincollector posted:I'm hoping they bring back the Barn, Gas station, and Hobby shop. I sure like the looks of them. I got the Menards power and Light in a mystery Box and loved it. I need to get a couple of Grand-pa houses
Bill,
We have a very few of these structures left in some of our stores. I will contact you via the email in your profile. I'm confident that we can find them for you. You will just need to complete a credit card transaction over the phone.
Mark the Menards Train Guy
Thanks Mark have the Gas Station now 
I bought a couple Grand-Pa's houses day for last ( right after posting this ) think they will be great for the layout.
I'd like to believe that Menards is going to be in this for a while beyond the "vanity" effect of having their names on cars and buildings. While I'm not sure how long it will last, I think we should purchase what we can while we can as Menards sells other stuff at a much greater profit.
What very much annoys me with Menards is the processing fee, on top of the shipping fee. When Menards ships direct to me, they save all the costs of packing it to ship to a store, loading it on a truck, shipping it to a store, and the personpower to unload it, shelf it, ring it up and bag it.
jim sutter posted:Swafford,
I'm afraid it may be awhile before we see scale freight cars from Menard's..
I'm pretty sure that their longer flatcars are scale. And they have simulated wood planked decks.
Alan
