Menards Rolling Stock

Golden Wheel Die Cast in China I've been told.

Menard's definitely has a place in the "O" Gauge train market. I like what they are doing. When they announce a new item, its ready to be shipped. There's no waiting six months or a year or longer. And their prices are fantastic. Therefore, Menards please keep up what you are doing.

Menards rolling stock isn't highly detailed like the higher priced offerings by other vendors.  OTOH, I have a 25 car reading consist for $500, and you can't tell the difference if you're 4-5 feet away and it comes rolling by.  The colors are good, and it's scale size.

You can quibble all you want about the details, but unless you're made of money, or a hopeless rivet counter, it's great stuff for running.

Well the one thing they need to do is restructure their contract so they make sure all Items are made like an MTH or Lionel Car, no problems and RTR. I had to put the trucks under my Jeep and trailer back into Scale and get them to not wobble by beating on it with a hammer.

Any maker can have issues.  I've had no more issues with the 30 cars I've already gotten from Menards, or the diecast cars, than I have with Lionel or MTH stuff in the same quantities.  My PFE reefers from Lionel at over three times the price have as many coupler issues as the Menards cars.

I am just hoping I can pick up a few singles from the recently announced 24 flat car set. The 3 flat cars I have weren't perfect, but for 8 bucks or whatever, I'm pretty happy. I'm actually just as excited to see what they do this Christmas season for releases, as I am for the fall catalogs. 

Also really intrigued by the idea of these mysterious tank cars that have been mentioned and will be released eventually. 

Last Christmas at the local Menards store they were selling the low end flatcars by the single unit or by the 24 pack. Maybe a repeat this Christmas.

   Bill T.

Tank cars would be cool, but who knows...

I was thrilled when I saw pix of the new long flatcars.  I ordered a set of the PRR ones (along with a bunch of diecast vehicles).  I was also thrilled by how fast they shipped.  I ordered on Thursday and the package is scheduled to arrive Tuesday!

I have been suggesting to Lionel for years to do multi-packs of their scale flatcars without loads, since scale modelers are much more likely to want to create their own loads.  I'm glad that someone has decided to do it.  While I still think Lionel's scale flatcars are still the best out there, judging from just the photos and comments on those who already have them, I don't think the differences will bother me much at all.

Andy

Gentlemen,

   I agree with Andy on this one, Lionel needs to due multiples in flat cars and Menard's beat them to it, Menard's  quality is now worth purchasing sense they upgraded the trucks, I own multiple Army Flat Cars, with great loads, along with nice Ammo Box Cars now, great stuff for the money expended no doubt about it.

Nice going Menards, keep up the great O Gauge production.

PCRR/Dave

The original Menard's Tank Flat Car with upgraded MTH Premier Trucks, she floats down the tracks now, the newer Menard's Flat Cars have their own upgraded trucks and now work well also.

Bill and Scott,

That is the plan again this year. You can purchase singles in the store.

Our store Christmas displays has been expanded this year and I am looking forward to seeing them also!

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

Andy,

Where do you order your cars from?  I'm pretty sure that there is no store over my way...but again,I don't snoop around much these days.

Norm

Norm,

All of our O Gauge offerings can be found on www.meanrds.com (search "train stuff"). Here is a direct link. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Mark the Menards Train Guy

Good Day Mark,

Any more road names coming on the 14-3/4" O Gauge Flatcar with Wooden Deck?

Regards,

Frank

No Menards stores in PA, I do mail-order.

This is my product review on the MENARD'S TANK & FLAT Car.

     This car is a lot of fun for children, that visit your train room. A lot of interaction for children and adults. 

Take a look. • Gary • Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway

I ordered from Menards' web site.  The closest store to us is in Warren, OH which is a pretty long drive for a single destination trip, although you could make a day trip of it and visit Mercer junction which is just about 39 miles from Warren.

I don't know what train/diecast stuff can be found in the stores themselves since I've never been to one.

Andy

Frank,

That question is a little more complicated than you would think as we have various cars in production. To answer as simply as possible, yes, we do have more road names coming. However, they may or may not have loads.

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

Andy,Mark and Guys,

Thanks for your help.  I've got to get a few of those Pennsy flats to go along with the gray ones that I got from Jimmy Sutter a few years ago.

Norm

Great news! I picked up my C&NW flats today and am very happy with them. Keep it up!

Great news Mark! I will look forward to picking up a few, and looking forward to see what else is coming!

Word of warning for those shopping in store. I checked the website today, and found that the store 45 minutes up the road showed the items I wanted as "in stock". So I decided to make a run to grab my wanted items. However, I discoved "in stock" and "available" apparently are not one in the same. Staff had no clue what I was asking about with "toy trains" and upon asking another employee, that gentlemen said, "Well yeah, we have them in stock, but they aren't on the shelves yet". He couldn't definitively say when they would be on the shelves, but maybe in a week. 

I'm still excited about the Menards products, but I gotta say my recent customer experiences has thrown a bit of cold water on my excitement. From not being able to use gift cards online, to the website info and store not aligning (I did try calling CS before I headed there too), to employees lack of solid knowledge, it's just disappointing. Hopefully others will have better success. 

Not in California either so same thing, mail order

Any word on the track yet ? Thanks  Gary

This link is misspelled I think. The direct link goes to a siht marked "untrusted" on my Mac.

Dale H

Originally Posted by Dale H:

Thanks, Dale. I fixed above.

Gary,

I will be releasing an update along with pricing sometime on Monday. I will keep you posted!

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

I would really like to see some older model 1/48- 1/50  automobiles,40s,50s etc,just ordinary cars that people drove back then (no convertibles or exotic cars). I think there is a large market for these. I am partial to Fords and Plymouths.  I live in western Pa so I am not near a store,but do not mind mail order and postage. Thanks for your interest in the hobby. The Lowes by me leaves something to be desired. 

Dale H

I asked about O scale train products at a Menards in Champaign IL a couple of months ago and a knowledgeable employee said they have them in store as part of their Christmas reset, but not the rest of the year.

Bill,

That is correct. For much of the year, there are only a few train items and they are typically tucked away with other seasonal items. When it comes time for our Christmas set, our selection is vastly improved.

I also want to remind everyone that you can special order any of our train stuff shown online and have it shipped your local Menards store for free! Just stop by the hardware desk and tell them the 7 digit SKU#'s you would like to order.

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

Mark,

   Thanks I appreciate the knowledge! Do you know if they will be adding any more Military Train Cars to their inventory for us to purchase?

PCRR/Dave

Hi Dave,

Are you referring to inventory online, in store or are you just curious if there are more military cars coming soon?

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

Mark,

Thanks for being a forum member and participating so much.  I wonder why I don't seem to recall seeing Larry the Lionel Guy or Mike the MTH Guy on our forum :-)

Mark,

   Just curious as to future availability of the Military rolling stock and what it might be, and when we might be able to purchase it.  Sense the trucks have been up graded, I have been adding a couple of each of these new military cars to my Special Forces Train each time they become available, especially on line.

PCRR/Dave

Dave,

We do have a few Military items running through the pipeline. It's hard to predict when these items will be available but I expect a few items to be ready before Christmas but the majority will be released early to mid 2016. After that, it's anybody's guess.

I hope that helps!

-Mark the Menards Train Guy