Menards 027 Box Cars

Hi Denis Hartman - Model Railroader

   Sorry to hear about your issues with your Menards rolling stock. Yes they also charged me up front before receiving the items. This is very unusual for venders to do business this way. My one box car runs great, but like with all new rolling stock, I did oil the axles.

   Thanks for the feed back on my question.

Trainroomgary

Detroit, Michigan 

I'm waiting for my Milw Rd boxcar. What ones do you have back ordered?

Hi Paul - Model Railroader

     I have two on back order. Wisconsin Central & Milwaukee Road. The big plus to this rolling stock that they are all die cast, no plastic. Makes for a heavy car that will stay on the track.

Thanks

Trainroomgary

Detroit, Michigan

www.youtube.com/user/trainroomgary

So to be clear, when you say the rolling stock is all die cast, no plastic,  that means the boxcar bodies are diecast as well?  If so that would be a monstrously heavy boxcar. 

No intent to discredit you, but I'm pretty certain based on the pictures that the Mernards cars are from Williams By Bachmann (originally Kusan tooling), and those cars have plastic bodies with stamped metal floors and die-cast trucks.

I received my Southern Boxcar this past Monday. Looks very nice. The Menard's logo is confined to one small line, "Made by Menard's", in about the same position as the postwar "Made by Lionel" was. For $19.99, nice car. If you ordered the Burlington Northern, Chicago and Northwestern, Southern, Santa Fe, Pennsylvania, or the SOO Line weathered box cars, they arrived at the Menards shipping facility on June 27th and were shipped to customers and you should have them now or soon. 

If you ordered the Milwaukee Road, Wisconsin Central, Northern Pacific, or the weathered Maine Central cars, they will arrive at the Menards facility on July 15th and be sent out to those who ordered immediately after that. 

That information came from the small pamphlet that came with my car and seems to be correct. They are also advertising a pretty cool U.S. Army Flatcar with Tank for $24.99. The tank has animated LED flashing muzzle gun, sounds and voices. If you have an army consist, this would be a great addition.

Rick

John, you are correct. The bodies are plastic but detailed well. Mine arrived inside a very nice plastic case.

  Dennis, what was broken on the one you received?  The pamphlet also has an apology from Menards stating that they received the wrong information from their supplier regarding shipping dates scheduled so their published dates were wrong. Seems to be a norm for the industry.

Hi Model Railroaders.

   I just put a magnet to the side of the car. No reaction to the magnet. Just die cast trucks with metal wheels. Operating couples with a sliding door.

Hope this clears up the "Chaos"

  The stamp metal floors is where all the extra weight is coming from, not the the body

Sorry about the wrong information. 

Trainroomgary

www.youtube.com/user/trainroomgary

Still a good price for WbB box cars......and someone is doing what I asked 3 years ago why it couldn't be done!!!  Seems my logic was right. Thanks for the photos guys!

Hello fellow Model Railroaders

The stamp metal floors is where all the extra weight is coming from, not the the body

Sorry about the wrong information. 

Trainroomgary

Detroit - Michigan

www.youtube.com/user/trainroomgary

I wonder if these will also have each unit numbered differently like the boxcars?

I assume Menards is making a profit on the boxcar selling at $19.95. So this begs the question, how mucvh profit is in Lionel Traditional and MTH Railking boxcars priced between 40 to 60 dollars.

MENARDS SHIPPING SCHEDULE FOR THE BOX CARS

  Menards says, "We are sorry the box cars are late" We did not receive accurate information from the supplier regarding the shipping schedule and therefore our shipping dates on Menards.com is wrong. The cars marked with a "Star" arrived on June 27th. The cars with the large "Dot" will arrive July 15th

   See the ordering schedule they place with my one MENAED BOX, in the shipping package

Side bar question for Mr. Hartman, Model Railroader - Did you report the damaged car to MENARDS, and what are they going to do for your issue? To avoid the hassle with MENARDS, Can you repair the damage yourself and avoid having to mail it back?

trainroomgary

Detroit, Michigan

www.youtube.com/user/trainroomgary

So is the C&NW car the only one with a Menards family logo on side, while all others have a small print Made/built by Menards line on the side?

Menard's is also putting out an inexpensive train set in CNW colors. I think that is why the CNW boxcar is the only one with the large Menard's graphics.

Thanks to those who have posted photos of these highly-anticipated cars. 

I agree with what John posted above that based on the photos those cars sure do look like the old AMT/Kusan molds that Williams has been using since the early 1990’s and supposedly owns.  In addition to the Menards name the only other obvious difference from Williams production is that these cars do not have door opening dimensions printed on the doors like on the Williams box cars.  Williams cars also have reporting marks in the upper right corner on each end of the cars but none of the photos of the Menards cars show the ends to compare.  Does anyone who has already received one of these cars also have a Williams box car with which to compare to see if they are identical in size and other features?

Who is this mystery “supplier” that Menards says did not provide accurate information regarding the shipping schedule?  Are there any markings anywhere on the car or on the packaging which indicate that they were made for Menards by Williams or Bachmann (or by someone else, instead)? 

Regardless of who made them, these cars are good for the hobby.  But if Menards can sell these cars without losing money at those prices (which undercut comparable $70 MSRP Williams cars by about $50), something’s missing somewhere!

Bill

That C&NW Menards boxcar is very similar to the Lionel version from a couple years ago.

Fellow O Gaugers'

A little over a year ago, Mernards was selling a stucture, and in the ad mentioned that their box cars would be coming out soon.  There was mention of of the manufacture

referenced to Williams in that ad.  The ad was on their web site.....    

Brian,

I think you have summed it up pretty well............These are inexpensive cars that

serve those accordingly.  Experienced modelers can alter, weather and customize, as they see fit.  Trucks, couplers can be changed out etc.  I have taken used cars and transformed them as I am sure many modelers have also done.  As we all realize, one gets what they pay for.  However, many have unlimited funds for this hobby.  And many do not.  Mernard's is offering an alternative to higher priced items, and they may do well in sales with them.  Even for those that only desire

premium products, may use these cars on the larger layouts for a distant sidiing

or yard stock.  Addotoinaly, For those just starting out, and youngsters, these units are perfect.  They are priced right for those with limmited resources in a rather formidable hobby....Let us look at the 2K for the new Big boys, as an example of the other side of the coin....

The sales point for me on these cars is not only the price, but that they do have spring loaded metal trucks...no plastic there. It adds a small bit of realism to these cars.

Have I read somewhere (maybe here) that someone higher up in Menards' management is a train guy and that is why they have expanded into O-guage? Whatever, the products that they have released are pretty nice whether it be box cars, vehicles, or buildings. I hope that keep on producing.

Rick

Rick,

I agree completely.  The springs are an extra bonus.  I have plenty of Williams cars,

and none of them have springs.............These marnards cars are great.  If I am not mistaken, I think their buildings are [BTS] Better Then Scratch, designed kits..........as well.

As a quick correction on at least the first-timer bar, it wasn't from BTS, it was a copy of a Bar Mills kit. That seems to run rampant in O-scale for the last decade or so.

I don't know if the boxcars are built by Williams's manufacturer, with Williams authorization, if the molds were purchased from Williams by Menards, or a copy of a Williams boxcar.

That boxcar mold has quite a bit of mileage on it, as does the Lionel 6464 type boxcar, so it is a pretty good example of what this stuff really costs, compared to what is being charged for it.

brr,

   There were many posts on this several years ago accusing one company or the other of "stealing" a design and using it as their own. Yet, we never hear of lawsuits from anyone concerning this pilfering of designs. Companies must have legally worked out the use of molds or blueprints to produce these with their own flare and pricing from the original supplier. I agree with your last statement whole heartily. With folks like RMT, Menards and others, it gives us guys on the lower end of the budget scale nice rolling stock to run on our layouts.

Rick

Correct...Bar Mills.....Not BTS.......Both are terrific.. but I enjoy building my own

structures from scratch'.......

I just reported I have received mine in this thread.  https://ogrforum.com/t...=lastReply#lastReply

Mine came in perfect condition.  I am well pleased!

George Brown from OGR did a review on these boxcars and said that they were scale size. Has anyone who got one measured it up against a known scale boxcar that they have?

They are about perfect scale for a PRR X-29 box car. They are 40' long and correct width. They are a little short, so were the PRR X-29's in real life,  but ride high on the trucks....so about the same look as a scale PS-1 box car.  We covered this pretty well last thread. I'm sure it's out there....

If these cars are really made from that same AMT/Kusan tooling that Williams uses, then they are true scale models of a 40-foot box car.  When AMT introduced box cars made from this tooling in 1952, they proudly boasted that the cars were “… scaled to meet the standards of the American Association of Railroads for a 40-foot box car”.  Back then 40’ box cars were still being used on real railroads.  Has anyone measured one up to a Williams box car yet? 

BTW, Lionel didn’t come out with their 6464 box cars until 1953 but they are shorter in length and height and also narrower.

Bill 

Hello everyone happy 4th.  We live in central Pa do we have Menard's in or around our area.  Thanx Jim R.

Trainnut 56,

     More than likely, the stores may not stock these (except maybe at Christmas). These are probably only available on-line. Here is the web site for the train offerings:

http://www.menards.com/main/se...earch=o+gauge+trains

Many things are limited runs too, so as they say, supplies may run out and there may not be more produced.

Rick

There is a store locator on the Menards web site.....

Those die-cast sprung trucks are a real bonus which the Williams cars don’t have.  Lionel’s MSRP for just a pair of die-cast sprung trucks is $23.99 which is higher than the price of one of these Menard’s box cars.  Go figure! 

And it was posted on an earlier thread that the owner of Menard’s is a Model Train Hobbyist.

Bill

Bill

Bill,

Thank you for the information.  So I was correct in thinking it is an exceptional price for the quality involved.  Not highly detailed, but absolutely superb for the price!!  I'm glad to see a train guy selling O Gauge trains in his big box brick and mortar and online stores.

John:

Thanks for correcting me that Williams now uses SPRUNG trucks on their box cars.  I don’t have any recent Williams cars so I was going by the artwork on their website which still shows the Lionel-style trucks plus they don’t even mention that they are sprung, just that they are die-cast.  Strange that they wouldn’t advertise such an upgraded feature.

I was hoping somebody who has both a Menards car and a Williams car would have responded by now to my earlier post requesting a report on the differences. 

Bill

Bill, John,

I have recent new Williams box cars, and they are not sprung??????

I have one Weaver boxcar from their Ultra-Line. It is actually a track cleaning car but I would believe that it is their standard dimensions. The Menards car is the exact same dimensions. The Menards car lacks fine detail such as separate ladders as compared to molded ladders.  I took some pictures on the living room floor. The yellow Pennsylvania is the Weaver and the white Lackawanna is an Atlas reefer.

(Sorry about the picture quality...taken with an iPhone and around my golden retriever who was quite curious)!

Rick