I have never entered a Menards store nor seen any of their HO nor O scale structures. Menards' website suggests that their westernmost store is in Casper, WY, but my only drive-by contact was in 2010 in South Duluth, MN, while attending NASG's national convention. Menards was not known as a model railroad merchant then.
In the next three weeks I will have the opportunity to visit one or more Menards stores as I ride Amtrak to Wisconsin for November's Fall S Fest. I will ride the Empire Builder from Portland to La Crosse and drive a rental car to Watertown/Oconomowoc. Menards stores in La Crosse, Onalaska, Baraboo, Madison and Pewaukee all appear to be potential stops close to my intended route. My question is whether all Menards stores have a train department? Will the larger towns will have larger inventories, or will the smaller towns be less picked over? How much I can buy will depend on what structures I find available and how much S merchandise I sell at the show. I will bring plenty of out-of-production AM and SHS, but little or no Flyer.
A recent downsizing from a 2,300 square-foot house to a four-room apartment is the reason for my transition from S scale to On30. I have plenty of experience converting structures from one scale to another, and my project this weekend is turning a B.T.S. East End Grocery 1/64 scale kit into a 1/48 scale fish 'n' chips cafe at the end of a fishing pier. Enlarging two door openings and expanding the spacing of tarpaper roofing strips are the primary changes.
Gil Hulin
