I picked up my CN ACF 2-Bay covered hopper yesterday from Menards. I am quite impressed with the quality of it. I know some were thinking the price was getting up into the MTH range. For $35.00, I think the upgrades to the trucks and the couplers are worth the extra $10.00 over the basic rolling stock. The paint and numbers on mine were very good. I know in the past, the car numbers didn't always print even with the road name reporting marks. Mine was spot on. While I don't have a MTH version to compare with, I do have a few Lionel hoppers. The etched walkways and hatches look better than the Lionel version, although I'm not sure what the raised walkways on each end of the Menards version are for. I couldn't find any supporting photos of the real hoppers that had that. As mentioned in the original post the trucks with the rotating caps are also nice addition over the Lionel version. The Menards version is a bit longer. I believe those ACF hoppers were 42' coupler to coupler. The Menards one, at 11 3/16", works out to 44'-9". To be fair to Lionel, the hopper I used was 25 years old. I'm sure if it was made with current tooling standards, the detail would be better. That said, I also imagine it would be at least double the price of the Menards one. Well done, Menards! I'm looking forward to seeing what's next.
Rob
