WOW!!!!!
It seems the OP thinks he is he first to ask Menards for improvements. Using the search function, he will find numerous previous posts regarding the couplers on these cars and what forum members have done to improve their operation.
In response to this feedback, each new generation of Menards cars has shown improvement, and as noted above some of the latest cars come with roller bearing trucks.
There has been an ongoing positive dialogue on this forum between members and Mark, the representative from Menards who posts here frequently.
Had the OP done a bit of research before assuming he was the first to ask for improvements, he might have been aware of what has previously occurred.
Thus far, Menards has been very responsive to forum feedback and is providing an excellent low price alternative for operators.
The point I was trying to make is that sometimes you have to go up a level (albeit pay more) to reach your expectations. You can only get so much quality at a certain price point, and Menards is certainly doing very well at theirs,
Last year my daughter graduated from college and landed a good job in her field...so when Christmas came around in 2014 she bought everyone presents. She didn't ask me what I wanted so she must have done some googling and I was given this...
I was pleasantly surprised by her gift and thanked her for thinking of me. A few days later I put the car on the layout and was quite disappointed in the way it tracked through switches and how hard it was to couple and uncouple. I didn't think much of it and just put the item back in its "bubble".
Fast forward to Christmas 2015...my daughter is still working and making more money at her job so there is more money for more gifts...
This was this years surprise...
When I opened these 4 cars I'm glad I didn't say what was really on my mind when I saw them.
I found out after trying them that the trucks and couplers are somewhat improved.They are a little noisy when running but work and track through switches nicely...A big improvement in the last year !
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Taycotrains, do the cars in the boxes have sprung trucks? Uncoupling levers by the couplers?
If yours do, then maybe I got older versions.
John H
You are correct
1drummer posted:Taycotrains, do the cars in the boxes have sprung trucks? Uncoupling levers by the couplers?
If yours do, then maybe I got older versions.
No they do not...The last company to have those features at this price point was RMT and that was about 3 years ago.
Just for the record, the uncoupling levers on my Lionel milk cars are so far back I can't get to them in a consist with my fingers.
I'm sure everyone here agrees that you are entitled to speak your mind on any topic you wish. But you have been trying to force your ideas on others here, and to be frank about it I and maybe others are getting quite tired of your rant. Most of the comments about Menards on here have been positive! I guess you have your rose colored glasses on, as not to see that. You make a statement once so people heat it, then let them make up there own minds on how they feel. As for me I will buy as much as I can from Menards and be happy with what I get. Cause I know that they are here for the working man, not someone who touts how hard the work and present the idea of having deep pockets full of money. Alot of us on here are building trains on a budget and dont have deep pockets.
If you don't like what you are hearing back from the members here, maybe you might think about some where else to toot your horn.
Mike
It's a new year ! Can we just let this rest ??? Thank you..
I agree with you, but you just wont let it go. Everyone who has read your post has heard your thoughts. now if you dont mind, lets move on to like you said Trains.
Mike
You get what you pay for. If you want high end details, you have to pay up some denaro. If you want the traditional equipment many of us seek, it's perfectly acceptable, the Mernards line is, because it got a lower cost for its quality than any I've seen since Marx went out the door.
There are ways to express an "opinion" in a public forum that do not raise others' hackles yet still make the same point/s. I've watched enough YouTube comments degenerate into some of the most vile shouting matches ever recorded to know this. Given the right to have or make an opinion public does not make it sacrosanct.
The OP has basically called out the products he bought as JUNK. I know he didn't use the actual word, but:
"...the positives do not outweigh the NEGATIVES"
pretty much says the same thing. Especially when putting "negatives" in ALL CAPS. That word was meant to stand out. And hackles were raised. No surprise there.
Characterizing the lack of working springs as contributing to a negative opinion of a $20 car ($27 with added weathering) just amounts to dog-piling, when you consider Lionel is selling traditional-line cars with plastic trucks (and no working springs) for $50. Williams' postwar clone trucks didn't have them, WBB's retooled friction-bearing trucks don't have them (in fact these also lack the external uncoupling tabs). Neither did Industrial Rail, before or after Atlas O-s stewardship. The only outlier is RMT, who uses a single style of sprung roller-bearing truck across its entire freight-car lineup, whether or not they're appropriate for the era represented. And they most assuredly do not go for $20-ish nowadays.
What's laughable about this whole hullabaloo is that it's over cars that started shipping in July 2014 and whose oddities were well-discussed here a year and a half ago. I would have at least asked if recent-production cars shared the same characteristics before telling the manufacturer to "step up its game".
When I bought the 24-pack of 11" flatcars, I did so knowing that the couplers were problematic. I then set out to find out why, and even documented the issues and laid out how they could be remedied, with before-and-after photos. The end result was not only that the train (now 30 cars long) behaves itself, but it was later reported that already manufactured cars from the same production run had the fixes I described applied after I made the post. Did I have to do all this? Should I have expected satisfactory operation out of the box? The answers are of course "no and "yes". But you know the saying about catching more flies with honey than with vinegar. Now others can benefit from improved operation, that while not Kadee-like, at least you can get the couplers to latch when pressed together.
As I mentioned previously, Menards' newest trucks have all the improvements--articulating T-bar couplers with external release tabs, adjustable screw-and nut carbody mounting, working springs AND rotating bearing caps. These offer the promise of an eventual retrofit with friction-bearing sideframes making them suitable for the boxcar fleet in subsequent production runs.
---PCJ
Very well stated! Last word from me!
Mike
Got so many alerts to this thread and spent plenty of time trying to clean it up. I believe the OP as well as others have made their point. Seems it is going downhill so rather than delete the thread, it is now closed...
