Manards

I think their freight cars are "O" Gauge. Like the old MPC box cars or the postwar 6464 ones. Checking their website all (16) cars listed say "O" Gauge. They will cut 0-27 curve but they are "O" Gauge size.

Much of the train stuff is online only other than at Christmas when in store you may find stock. If you live near a store order online with free delivery to store for pick-up. 

The box cars are the exact same size as Williams cars which scale out to a smaller real box car like a X-29 type box. My understanding they will run O-27. 

Do you mean Menards?

Okay, well this clears up a lot of confusion. The on line only makes
sense. This is the only store I know of that if they don't sell it it
don't exist.

On Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 12:59 AM, O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum <
alerts@hoop.la> wrote:

The Menards boxcars are exact copies of Williams boxcars which are larger than Lionel's 6464 type boxcars. They are not scale size but very close to MTH Railking boxcars in size. All the flatcars are the same size as Lionel's Postwar flatcars.

 

Menards boxcars at $20 a pop is the best bang for your buck in the hobby today.

 

   Bill T

AMCDave.  I am still confused about the size of their boxcars.  

 

Is their advertised length (10.5 inches) from extreme coupler end to coupler end, or just across the car itself? They are advertised as 2 1/8 inches wide which seems at a scale foot narrow that most scale.  I worry about how they will mix with scale reefers, etc.  

 

I have not bought them because I thought they were traditional size, but would love to if they are scale or will fit in with scale: the individual numbering of each car is inspired and something that would be nice - order ten, get all different numbers!

I have one at home, and can take some pictures and measurements tonight. They are noticeably longer and wider than the Lionel boxcars (all 027) I own. I have a Railking A&W boxcar and the Menards car is very similar in size to it.

It seems from OGR Forum members the stores are loaded with Xmas items prior to and after Xmas including trees, lights, and ceramic villages. Hard to understand a store would have no train items. Unless of course someone waited until right before/after Xmas and they were sold out.

 

A friend has some of the Menard's boxcars, not scale dimensions but larger than Lionel and others "027" size. Didn't a company a while back use these dies to make boxcars sold in white boxes?

Lee,

I got out my ruler and this is what I came up with:

 

Box dimensions: 2-3/8”W x 10-3/16”L x 2-5/8”H

Total Dimensions: 2-3/8”W x 11-1/4”L (coupler to coupler) x 3-3/8”H (height from track)

 

It looks like the advertising dimensions are an approximation based on the box length and height from the track. I'm assuming the numbers have been rounded to produce more attractive integers.

 

Thank you,

Mark the Menards Train Guy

Great.  I just ordered ten. 

Depends on your definition of 'SCALE'.

The Williams Box cars, which the Menards are the exact same size, while not exact scale copies of a real box car.....they are full scale size. 

I base my claim on the PRR X29 box car class. The WbB/Menards car scales out almost perfect in all dimensions except as noted. 

Length - The WbB box cars are 6 scale inches short. But the real car is measured OVER the coupler striker plate which the model does not have. Add these to the model and they are exact length.

 

Width - The WbB cars are about a scale 2 1/2 inches too wide.  This to me is a good thing as the prototype X29 cars were small so this makes the models fit in with larger models. 

 

So are the WbB/Menards box cars exact scale replicas??? NO  But I have many 'scale' cars that have more dimensions off than this one. 

Are the WbB/Menards box cars usable on a SCALE only layout....I vote yes and will do so on my scale layout. 

Very well put.  There will be ten on my scale layout soon.  I hope Menards will bring on a similarly priced quality and scale-size tan car, preferably single dome.  I need to buy a whole train of those.  I need to get something besides boxes (boxcars and reefers).

Well, I ordered two just to check them out myself.  Looking forward to seeing them.  I am interested if they will fit right in or if the couplers will need some filing like mentioned in another post about flat cars. 

I bought the 6 pack of BN boxcars a few months ago. The diecast couplers had no issues with coupling but they were very firm to close. Kind of reminded me of the old K-Line diecast couplers.

Williams boxcars, which these cars are look great with Weaver wood sided boxcars.  The only difference I see in the Menard's cars and Williams is the price.  Menard's is offering some very good deals for o gauge fans.

Menards has a LOT of turnover in the young employees in the stores as they hire a lot of school folks part time.

Bachmann has made it known that Williams/WBB/Kader has/have nothing to do with the production of the Menards cars.

Been noted a number of times.......cloned maybe.....The Chinese are very good at this. We have had missing molds cloned from vintage parts.....very well done. 

I took out one of my Lionel 6464s (New Haven), one of my Kris/Franks Roundhouse cars (UP), and my only Menards boxcar and took a few photos.  The Menards car looks to be the same size as the Kris, and look very similar.  Both are a bit bigger then the 6464.

They only have trains in the stores around Christmas, and were fairly late in doing that last year. They have been selling online starting last year or so.

Call them what they want, but I can't see a nickels worth of difference in them.  Maybe they are clones of the WBB cars.  Either way, they sure look alike!

Like I said earlier.....the Chinese are THE experts at cloning tooling. We had a missing part from a plastic kit cloned. The vintage part had a mark inside (didn't show on finished part) from a mold repair done sometime in the 1960's before the tool got lost. The cloned tooling had the same repair mark on it!!! They had copied the repair marks!! So yes......they may appear exactly the same. 

I use the Menards, Livonia Store. The train stuff is in the part of the store called "Collectables". Sometimes they have a special discount table.