Menards 3 Dome Tankers

All we need is for Menard's to copy the Williams truck sets and then we are at perfection.  BigRail

LOL.  I will admit, I'm not a huge fan of their trucks, but they do work.  While we're at it, does anybody know how I'd go about adding weight to 3 dome tanker cars?  They appear to be sealed.  The only thing I can think of would be to use a syringe and inject water and then put a drop of glue in hole to seal.  Anybody have any other ideas?  I like all my rolling stock to be heavy, adds to that clank clank sound.

Boxcars are obviously easy.  Just throw in some lead weights and you're good to go.  Tanker cars are proving to be much more difficult though.

They look like different dies to me. There are slight differences. I have never taken one apart but then again the last three dome flat car I had was from the eighties. But I would not use water. Maybe weight could be added to the frame it sits on....................Paul 

McGee,  Remove the tank from the frame.  Drill several adjacent holes in the tank an inch or so from the ends.  Enlarge those holes enough so your weights may be put into the tank from the bottom.  Squirt or pour some glue into the tank, add the weights and with the tank in the upright position, lift the opposite end to about a 30 degree angle.  Let the glue dry.  Repeat at the other end.  Assemble the car.  John

Railbear, you're correct.  The car on the right in the last picture is the Menards.  The only issue I have with the trucks is that on some of my cars, you have to oil the axles (pretty frequently) or they begin to squeek.  I think that's because of the way they were assembled.  I now have about 20 pieces of rolling stock (some of them are 30 years old) and none of them have ever been oiled and don't squeek.  It's not a big issue, just an annoyance.  And like I said, it's only present in 3 or 4 of my 8 tanker cars.  Also, I'm not a big fan of that coupler release plate.  It's kind of difficult to get to but it does work fine.

Rattler21, thanks.  So you don't fill the holes in?  It sounds like you let the glue dry in far ends of the car.  Is that correct?  It sounds logical and I think it will work fine.    As far as weights, do you recommend ball bearings?  Or just square shaped lead weights?  

TrainGuyMcGee posted:

I haven't seen any posts regarding the Menards 3 Dome Tanker Cars and how they stack up against their competitors so I figured I'd post these pics. 

So I picked up a Williams Burlington Northern 3 dome tanker car last weekend at a local train show.  I noticed that it's identical in every way to the Menards 3 dome tanker cars with the exception of the trucks and couplers.  So I've taken some pictures of the Menards and Williams cars next to each other for a comparison. 

When I say exact, I mean exact.  Down to the last rivet.  The Menards cars are a fraction of the price and exactly the same.  I'm posting these pics not to stir up controversy, but to assist anybody interested in purchasing the Menards 3 dome tanker cars.  So if you're interested in these, you now know that they're essentially Williams cars with different trucks/couplers.  

I bought the 6 pack of the tanker cars at Christmas and love them.  They are the same weight as the Williams  and they run  fine on my track, even when I run them at max speed.  Overall, a great buy for the price. 

Just my 2 cents. 

Of which the Williams car is a copy of the postwar Lionel 6415 tank car:

Rusty

Interesting.  Or maybe the same guy made the molds for all 3 of them. 

TrainGuyMcGee posted:

While we're at it, does anybody know how I'd go about adding weight to 3 dome tanker cars?  They appear to be sealed.  The only thing I can think of would be to use a syringe and inject water and then put a drop of glue in hole to seal.  Anybody have any other ideas? 

Buy some birdshot used for reloading shotgun shells. Drill a small hole in the bottom, pour in the proper amount of shot, then add the glue. Plug the hole and stand the tank upright for a few days. The glue dries and you have your weight at the low point in the tank. Before you allow it to dry, rattle it around a little to make sure it fairly evenly distributed over the bottom. 

25# Birdshot for $40

TrainGuyMcGee posted:

Interesting.  Or maybe the same guy made the molds for all 3 of them. 

Pretty sure the designer and toolmaker for the Lionel car is long gone seeing the Lionel 6415 is from 1953.

Rusty

This observation keeps on coming up again and again and again. I'm amazed how many forum members don't read posts that are clearly labeled with such information, including this thread ("Who makes Menards train cars?") that started in 2015 and was just updated several days ago.

One more time: Menards has had many of its cars cloned from Williams cars using a Chinese manufacturing plant which we believe is Golden Wheel. The Williams cars were cloned from Lionel postwar cars with slight variations.

The Menards ones are not made from existing Williams tooling (which now belongs to Kader/Bachmann), but new tooling created from finished Williams models.

Menards also uses non-Williams cars as prototypes.

The trucks are another story. The sideframes are based on old models, but they are otherwise not clones of other models.

I agree. They are a great bargain and very attractive with fresh paint schemes.