@railbear601 posted:Why did the first 20,000 gallon tank car (Lifesaver) come with metal trucks, wheels and uncoupler? Then six more tank cars came out with plastic trucks. Certainly, he must make a profit on these items, but to cheapen the trucks just frustrates the buyer. Plastic trucks do not add weight to cars that are mostly plastic. I would pay more for a car with metal trucks to add weight. Many of his early freight cars came with metal trucks, wheels and couplers. Although he brings out hoppers, gondolas and ore cars with plastic trucks, I can easily add metal loads to them to make them track well. You cannot buy toy train products as cheap as Menards sells them, so my answer to keep the integrity to the line is to raise the prices.
Enjoy your Trains Sincerely yours, railbear601
Since the LifeSaver tank car debuted along with about 5 of Menard's other new tankers, it really can't be classified as the "first" tanker. I believe Menards used die cast trucks on only the LifeSavers tanker because it wanted the truck sides to be silver, matching the LifeSavers tanker. Such a color combo hasn't been needed on any other of the same style tank cars released to date. Otherwise perhaps there is cost pressures leading to usage of plastic trucks on these tankers in order to hold the $19.99 price. All tankers still have metal wheels, obviously. You say "a decision was made" to change to plastic trucks, indicating this happened on all rolling stock, including boxcars & flatcars. Trucks on the newest boxcars, however, remain die-cast.
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