Menards New Burned Engine House pictures

I think it's pretty cool! I wish I had a Menards near me    Why do all threads have to turn out this way? You Are in the hobby add your own effects and scenery as you feel fit!!

Doug

Ah yes, the age-old, "Don't question anything, it's all bright and shiny and nothing is wrong with anything" shtick that this forum often has.

Nope, I don't buy into that.

There really isn't anything wrong with pointing out what is wrong with a model this far off the mark (and isn't intended as such) and has so many things I wouldn't even know where to start if listing them all. But the impossibility of the building housing a locomotive itself with no tender, having had the roof burned around it with no real damages to the locomotive is a pretty strong place to start.

So I guess the best advice I can give you is don't be surprised when the blindingly obvious issues with a model this far off the mark are mentioned.

When I see these, "Don't question the nice company who made this model that's not very accurate" posts, I'm always reminded of a great quote that says it best:

People do not deserve to have good writing, they are so pleased with bad.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why not?

It's not a crime if a casual customer "lucks out" and gets a limited production item.

Seems to me the casual customer's purchasing power is just as real as the steady customer's.  Just not as often...

This whole thing is being blown out of proportion.  The burnt out engine house is a bit of fun(not a museum grade diorama,) apparently moderately priced and most likely uses up excess inventory at the builders.

And as old Mick sang: "You can't always get what you want..."

Rusty

Well, since you decided to apply labels, I'll be mailing you some lens wipes for your rose-colored glasses.

There really are people into O scale who won't accept everything as completely perfect and that it can't be questioned.

I'd often wondered on this forum, where the threshold is for people to look at a new product and say, "What the heck is that?" I now truly believe for many people, there isn't one and some will simply accept anything that comes out In O as the best thing since sliced bread.

Me, I'd rather strive for stuff that looks, well, plausible at the bare minimum.

I now return you to tonight's episode of, "the everyone loves everything hour", sponsored by several members of the O scale forum...

   Menard's is not designed to be prototypical.   Why you guys who prefer realism always find a way to rain on others excitement with Menard's releases is beyond me.

Seriously, EVERY TIME Menard's releases something, the people for whom an item is not targeted come into that thread and tell us all why it's wrong.

Guess what?  We don't care.

Menards has rolled out more for this hobby for the normal run of the mill guy in the last 9 months then then the two biggest train companies combined. Will I buy this? Probably not. Am I impressed with them over all? I sure am.

I honestly get tired of the constant bickering & negativity on this forum. I didn't visit for almost 6 months, after getting tired of the same yap-yaps complaining about this & complaining about that. 

Get over yourself. If something doesn't measure up to your personal standards, don't buy it & keep it shut as the majority of us are thankful for the offerings from a non-traditional train company.

I'll be at my local menards this weekend to pick up some 31" curves. If I see this on the shelves, I will pick one up & post it for sale at cost plus shipping, just to irritate the fraternal order of crap heads out there...

email in profile. 

That would be really neat.  Unfortunately it didn't make it to Cedar Rapids or at least the store clerk didn't know what I was talking about on the phone. 

However that Herman Sauerkraut factory will have a location in my layout. 

Keep those out of the box buildings and rolling stock coming Menards!!

I am impressed with the feed mill (bought that and have already kitbashed it) and the

sauerkraut packer.  I have looked at a lot of engine house kits offered and they are

only long enough for a narrow gauge tank engine.  You needed to butt three kits in

a row to get something useable.  But since this isn't designed to be used as an operating engine house.....?  The Great Western RR had an engine house destroying fire in the early 1940's.  Engines are designed to contain fire, so unless they have a wooden cab and tender, not that much damage is done, in a fire that was interrupted as depicted by this.   I won't buy this, but I would be curious to see the locomotive...

is it s shell...is it something that is available from somebody, or was it ginned up just

for this scene?  I saw a lot of Menards train items on the shelves.   Nothing else rings my chimes, but if they keep shotgunning stuff out there, they are going to hit something.  The shelf items were not canceled or on infinity back order.  More power to them.

It's an interesting item.  I would add it to my layout if I had one at this time.  Keep the cool O gauge items and offers coming. 

I can understand your not caring for these products because they don't fit into your desire for realism.  And everyone certainly is entitled to their opinion.  But I think it really in poor taste to post negative comments about a product simply because it doesn't fit into your style of modeling.

There  are a fair amount of people, myself included, who just care about having trains that are fun for themselves no matter how fanciful or unrealistic they might be.  And there must be a lot of folks like that because Lionel and MTH generate a pretty good revenue stream from selling fanciful products.   Both types of products are of equal value to different people.

Myself, if I see a new product that doesn't fit into what I prefer for my layout I would just pass it by rather than say negative things about it. 

It boils down to this.  You like realism and I don't need it.  What difference does it possibly make to warrant tearing the product down because of nothing more than one person's preference over another.  

Ed

p51,

I think you are still a good man and I still like you.

I am going to offer some unsolicited advice since I have spent way too much time in my life being angry. Let folks be happy about theirs and you find some happiness in yourn.

As you have pointed out, you have every right to criticize models on this forum. I think there is a way of doing that which will show you in a better light than the way you have done it on this thread.

i do not believe you desire to engender the comments made about negativity because it does none of us any good. I suggest you grab a shot of your special cocktail and run your trains. Tomorrow, you will feel better. Come on over to Carmel, NY and I will pour you a shot of Patron.

Eliot

I am guessing that you have not purchased any Lionel , MTH and shutter the thought, Bachmann buildings since none of them would meet your criteria. There are a few $500 to $1500 buildings by professional modelers that you can purchase.

   Bill T.

Jimmy and I both make numerous comments about the latest Menards offerings. I don't work for Menards, and I don't think Jimmy went to Menards when he closed his train shop. This is a train forum for discussing train stuff, isn't that what cabinet Bob is doing ?

   Bill T.

For those of you who want smoke, a few thinned out cotton balls may give some nice smoke effect. Thanks Menards for helping to keep this hobby alive. I wish there was a way to see how many people never gave toy trains a thought, became hooked and made there first train purchase, just because of the exposure your store has created.

Thank you Bill T. !!  Chinatrain99..NO I don't work for Menards. I Have owned a cabinet shop for over 40 years, but do buy a little material there. The reason I post the pictures is to show other people who care, a little better picture of the piece than seeing on the web. I get many people thanking me for it,it is a forum isn't? If you don't like it ,don't click on it.....enough said...I'm done..Bob

AMEN!!!  Geeze, people if you don't like it don't click on this thread.

Surprised a moderator hasn't killed this thread.  Seems less "fiery" comments have caused deletions.

Key words here, this isn't a scale forum and the product was not intended for or aimed at the scale crowd. There are several other forums here for those who strive for realism.

Jerry

While criticism is always a good thing, I think what my point is we all know this isn't for the scale modeler.  Menards is doing a fantastic job offering some really cool, non scale, items that look great and add to your layout without breaking the bank.  I just think some of the comments really don't take that into account. 

If it were truly trying to be a scale piece then those comments would be much more valid as it pertains to this building and it's target market.

But as we are reminded it is a forum for discussion so have at it but don't get bent out of shape when the double face palm rears it's head.   LOL!

AMEN again.

For me these buildings are better than nothing and a step way above Plasticvilles.  So what if engine isn't protypical.  for instance I noticed no bell or whistle.  Do I care, no.  If that bothers me h*** I will thumb through numerous parts catalog and buy them and glue them on and weather them burnt.

I can design, wire electrical and electronics, but don't have the time, talent, knowledgeor fancy tools to build structures (and if I did and posted pictures, no doubt party poopers would nit pick details (and as an aside, I did pick up a "simple" kit at a show but it had next to nothing instruction so I had a local person build it  and charged $250)), so Menards are a godsend way to spice up my layout.  And quite frankly it doesn't bother me that Joe Blow's O layout down the street also has Menards buildings.

End of my foaming rant!

I will echo those comments that praised Menards for the continued creative offerings. 

Mark (Menard's guy) can you let us know if this accessory is made of plastic or ceramic?

+1.  And so true for some other product lines.

I have only one point regarding "the engine doesn't look like its been in a fire".

Who says the engine was the cause?  Perhaps Menard's envisioned it to be primarliy contained to the buildings roof?

Once again guys "Toy Trains!"

Holy smoke!  

Very nice. 

Needs a smoke unit.

Roger,

The footprint is 16.5" x 10". I hope that helps!

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

Thanks to Menards for another interesting piece to add to our train layout.

You folks have really jumped on the wagon in high gear to get stuff to market, and I for one appreciate the inventory!

We started out with Dept 51 buildings because they fit in with the scenery better than the plastic buildings that were available, but they lacked functionality that the plastic buildings offer, and that kids, and visitors love. Your buildings give us some of that, and are more realistic coloring for my purposes.

And as you can see from some of the die hard modelers, they are easily adaptable for kit bashing. Your offerings are giving me pause for changing the layout.

Thanks again for entering the market, and keep the wide variety coming!

I have no complaints at present.  Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone was wondering.

Seriously, Menard's is making some nice additions to the hobby and filling a niche no one else is catering to.  Well done.  Obviously the company's leadership has a real passion for these products, which are not going to make them rich .

Thanks Keystone!

The majority of this structure is made of wood. Thanks for asking!

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

I'm looking forward to the new Mernard's that is going to be built in nearby Avon Ohio but my wife is not....

I'm glad Mernard's is offering trains and the like, it's another great source for O-gauge items at an affordable price.  Thanks Menard's!!

Paul

ogaugeguy,

Although I won't get into gross sales with you, I do have an answer for the lack of availability online.

With the current limited run of Fire Damaged Engine Houses it was decided to send this new building out to the stores at this time. With the buzz this building has created being mostly positive, I would expect another batch to be railed into our warehouse sometime soon. However, does that mean it can’t be purchased over the phone?  Absolutely not!  Any store in our footprint that has this building in stock will be happy to take an order over the phone and ship it directly from the store to your front porch.

Simply call a store and ask to speak with someone at the hardware desk.

Just a tip: This is a very new structure and some of our Team Members may not be familiar with it yet. You can help them out by having the following information ready.

1. Menards SKU# 279-3092

2. Your name and address

3. Credit card number

Let me know if anyone has any questions.

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

I think this offering from Menards is great. It's unusual and displays some real out-of-the box thinking. The cabinet and sauerkraut factories were at the top of my "want" list, but I think this one is the new #1.

My layout is pretty quickly turning into one that will have only Menards structures.

Mark- do you know if it will it be available at either of the Eau Claire stores?

Derek

I'm a 2-rail scale guy AND play with my trains WITH my kids and we ALL love itmes like this. Don't see the criticism AT ALL.

So I guess I'm in need of an education... I was not aware that engines and tenders were made simultaneously and joined together from birth until death like Siamese Twins. I guess it would be IMPOSSIBLE to separate the tender from the engine if one needed repair and the other didn't. I guess it would be IMPOSSIBLE for an engine to run under power without hauling 100tons of coal around behind it. I guess it would be IMPOSSIBLE for an able engine to push an engine in need of repairs into a barn. 

If this were a $1500 engine with glaring prototypical flaws, then pointing out those flaws would be totally understandable. But to criticise the color of ashes in a whimsical fun piece is plain stupid.

SHHHHH!  Don't tell these guys:

Rusty

Yep, seen numerous steamers in a repair shed or roundhouse with a full blown refitting in progress without a tender hooked up.

   Bill T.

I like that thing and have a perfect spot for it.

Anyone know the sku# for it?

Want to check if its in stock before I head out...

thanks

Joe 

Joe,

This is Menards SKU# 279-3092.

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

BobbyD,

Morton Grove and Hanover Park each have 2 on their way. Unfortunately, I cannot predict when they will arrive.

-Mark the Menards Train Guy