At the Eau Claire show last July, Mark The Menard Train Guy (his OGR Forum name) said many of the ideas for Menards train products come directly from John Menard, who was on hand at the show and running trains on the company’s display layout.
John has been a TCA member for many years, and I know that he has privately attended York shows as an enthusiast.
In one of his earlier postings, Mark also said that the train line was formed within Menards by a bunch of train enthusiasts. The company essentially provided them with a guideline that the train line was fine as long as it doesn’t interfere with Menards’ normal business operations.
The train line has done well enough so that the company has allowed it to expand.
To reiterate, however: Train sales are a drop in the bucket for Menards, a 14-state chain with more than 300 stores and roughly $10 billion in sales annually.
