Menards rolling stock?

Several forum members have done reviews and compared them other manufacturers rolling stock.

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Tom N

https://ogrforum.com/t...66#43524897949621266

A great deal appears to be of the RailKing type.  More toy like than scale. 

not a lot up under detail, large wheel sets unusual paint jobs.

IMHO.

Dick

They are a lot closer to scale size than semi-scale IMO.  The difference in size isn't all that great.  Here's some pictures I posted previously comparing Menard's 40 foot boxcars to my Vision Line PFE 40 foot reefers.

https://ogrforum.com/t...66#43524897949621266

Here's is a train I made up of all Menards cars .

https://youtu.be/MiWpMEzWdFU

If you want traditional type non scale trains, these are a great value.  I have been running about 5 Menards cars on the floor layout for some time and they are really nice.  At about $20 a car it is easy to put several in your shopping cart.  Once in a while paint colors vary, but, to me that adds variety.  I have a B&O Sentinal box car and the blue looks very light compared to darker blue on a Railking car.  When do you not see various fade of railcar paint though in real life?  I bought a Menards Chessie System  box car which looked too blue in the store but I liked it somehow.  Once home under incandescent  light the blue looked darker and matched my MTH Chessie darker blue cars.  Under fluorescent lighting they look brighter blue, while the MTH Chessie blue looks the same under both types of light.

  Anyway....these cars are well worth the money!   Some of the flat cars can be mixed with scale cars very nicely.

taycotrains posted:

Here's is a train I made up of all Menards cars .

https://youtu.be/MiWpMEzWdFU

 

taycotrains,

I love the video. Thanks for posting!

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

MSP,

   I have purchased a lot of the Menard's Military rollings stock and it is great stuff, and very close to scale, the  Copter Flat Car is one of my all time favorite Menard's pieces, the Military Nose Art Box Cars are just great and for the money you can't beat the product.  Now the very early stuff did not have decent trucks, and I upgraded them to better trucks using both some old Lionel and newer K-line replacements.   After we complained to Menard's they quickly took care of the problems buy upgrading all the trucks on their later rolling stock, and along with your purchase many time there come a bonus piece of rolling stock or mountable Car or Military Ambulance to add to your layout.  IMO purchasing Menard's rolling stock is well worth while.  Recently I had a Military Box Car delivered, with the Flat Washers & Slide Clips that hold the trucks to the frame of the box car missing, and for some reason was also packaged differently, I complain about it, and ask Mark to send me the missing hardware and a decent box to store it in.  Mark had Menard' fix the problem by sending a brand new Military (Time to Take Off) Box Car, no charge, and he further advised me that I could keep the original Box Car.  I keep advising people who purchase Menard's rolling stock, that if there is something wrong, Mark and Menard's makes things right.  Give Mark some time and he corrects the problems.  

Mark if you would drop me the newest 4 pack offering of Military Flat Cars I will purchase them also, some how I deleted them from my computer by accident!

PCRR/Dave

 The US Army Medical Red Cross Truck, was one of those cool Bonus gifts from Menard's.  I mounted it on an old Lionel Flat Car to add to my Military Transport Train, all the other Military Cars you can plainly see, are also From Menard's, yep I will continue to purchase them as they come out!  Great products I only wish they would purchase the old Sear store in Wilkins Township/Monroeville, Pa and put a Menard's store in it, would love to just walk into a big Menard's store here in the Churchill area.

Thanks for the input and reference to other threads.  I am looking at the CSX Hoppers can't beat the price for six cars - from what I read I think they will blend in nicely with what I have....again it is mostly scale Premier/Atlas stuff....but for the price I am willing to give it a try.

Good buys and decent quality for $19.95 EA. Raises the question is any O gauge rolling stock worth more? Let's be real about it;  these are just mass produced toys not power tools.

Pine creek.

you sure you don't want to send me that helicopter? Lol

I'm pretty sure that is the only one they made that Ifooled around and don't have

even Mark tried to find one for me and couldn't. Ya snooze ya loose 

larry

Gotta be top 5 or maybe top 3 topic over the past year or two......PLENTY of reviews and opinions posted.  Box cars are VERY close to exact scale of a PRR X-29 box car.....the Menard's car is slightly larger. I love mine. 

They are probably not for the person who wants furious detail and precision, but for the average railroader, they do the job populating your trains and look good in motion without picking your pocket excessively. I feel that most of the designs produced to date are colorful and well printed; they add a nice variety to my trains.

I found that a couple of my Menards flatcars seemed top heavy but adding a bit of weight to the chassis helped. This is easy and adding weight low on the car is an old-school cure for smoothing out performance of any rolling stock.

Why not buy one and decide for yourself? I'd imagine that many people would take it off your hands if you don't care for it.

Great value at a great price and I'm an average collector/operator.  There's no need to spend $80+ on a boxcar when visitors to the layout will never know the difference between them both.  Their rolling stock looks fantastic when it's pulled by pretty much anything, whether it's postwar or all the way up to today's locos.  

All Menard's cars except the engine and my homemade caboose. They are more to the toy side and I personally like the military rolling stock they make. I have just as much fun with these as my higher end military stuff.  And like all are saying , you can't beat the price.

Larry

Larry Sr. posted:

All Menard's cars except the engine and my homemade caboose. They are more to the toy side and I personally like the military rolling stock they make. I have just as much fun with these as my higher end military stuff.  And like all are saying , you can't beat the price.

Larry

WOW !! Looks great Larry, nice job !

Larry Sr. posted:

All Menard's cars except the engine and my homemade caboose. They are more to the toy side and I personally like the military rolling stock they make. I have just as much fun with these as my higher end military stuff.  And like all are saying , you can't beat the price.

Larry

Nice Job Larry, I bet your son cant wait to see them if he hasn't already! I like the home made caboose!

I bought a set of 8 Great Northern hoppers.  closer to scale, well pleased.  I can't say the same for the boxcars.  I'm just not happy with the size, weight or detail.  Regardless, as for the person who is looking for affordable and good these fit the bill.  If you are looking for awesome and perfect, it's going to cost far more! 

John C. posted:

  I can't say the same for the boxcars.  I'm just not happy with the size, weight or detail. 

Help me understand here......

I like the Menard's box cars so I may be bias...but the cars are similar to WbB 40 ft box cars but with better paint and tampo.  The Menard's box cars weight more than stock Weaver 40ft box cars. The Menard's 40 ft box is larger than a scale PRR X-29 box car so fit in well with 1930's through 1960's era layout....or any 'toy' style operator. 

Agreed detail is simple but for under $20 VERY well decorated.....and almost nothing that breaks off easy. Look GREAT rolling by at speed. So what's missing or what can they do better?? thx

Did they fix the problem they had with the trucks? I got a flat car I like but it rolled so badly I never ran it. It's in the garage somewhere.

Matt Kramer posted:

Great value at a great price and I'm an average collector/operator.  There's no need to spend $80+ on a boxcar when visitors to the layout will never know the difference between them both.  Their rolling stock looks fantastic when it's pulled by pretty much anything, whether it's postwar or all the way up to today's locos.

Some detail is nice but I am of the opinion that any layout is viewed within the context of the whole and not by individual detail.  Viewing a layout is like a Broadway show with a stage, scenery, actors and a plot. With the layout you have the tablework/trackwork, the scenery, the trains and an operating scheme. No segment is viewed in micro detail and semi-scale works and looks  fine.

AMCDave posted:

John C. posted:

  I can't say the same for the boxcars.  I'm just not happy with the size, weight or detail. 

Help me understand here......

I like the Menard's box cars so I may be bias...but the cars are similar to WbB 40 ft box cars but with better paint and tampo.  The Menard's box cars weight more than stock Weaver 40ft box cars. The Menard's 40 ft box is larger than a scale PRR X-29 box car so fit in well with 1930's through 1960's era layout....or any 'toy' style operator. 

Agreed detail is simple but for under $20 VERY well decorated.....and almost nothing that breaks off easy. Look GREAT rolling by at speed. So what's missing or what can they do better?? thx

Derailments with boxcars frequently where nothing else does.  Truck issue?

The only issues I've had with the Menard's boxcars are some coupler issues.  Most of those were a fairly simple fix that I had posted about previously.  The weight of the Menard's boxcars is significantly more than some other makers, and I've seen no reason to add weight to any of the 60+ Menard's boxcars I have. I've seen recent posts where people profess to have no coupler issues, so perhaps they're taking a little more care with the later offerings as far as QC.

The other factor with Menard's boxcars are the trucks are similar to PW Lionel trucks in design and they have greater rolling resistance than many modern offerings with needle-point axles. This comes into play if you have a very long consist, the rolling resistance of 30 or more Menard's boxcars is probably double what it would be with needle-point axles.

OTOH, where else can you buy new and very close to scale sized boxcars with great looking graphics for less than $20/ea?

Wow John!!!!!

I thought I was hording with 40 or so.

Larry

Larry Sr. posted:

Wow John!!!!!

I thought I was hording with 40 or so.

Larry

You are hording with 40, I'm an addict.

I haven't yet found the Menards rolling stock that couldn't be "tuned up" with some light oil and or some fiddling of the wheels in the trucks. One piece that I recently purchased had one wheel/axle set partially disengaged from the truck, a few moments work with it and it rolled as smooth as could be.

They are mass produced items after all and things like misalignment and flash in the castings will occur from time to time. These generally aren't hard things to correct with an exacto knife and perhaps magnifying goggles....