At first I thought using plastic extrusions could be an economical method of producing passenger carbodies, as I watched this:
But then I thought, well then you'd have to source end caps, trucks, lighting, painting, fasteners, assembly and packaging. A company the size of Menards, you'd figure that they have at least some domestically-produced house-brand products of similar complexity which would serve as a start on a domestic supply chain for hypothetical passenger cars, but not living within their corporate footprint, I've never had an opportunity to comb through their offerings to see how much, if any of it was produced that way.
Ultimately if such a thing comes to be, the least disruptive thing (remember, the trains exist as long as they don't become a sticking point within the larger business) would be to let their existing overseas supplier (Golden Wheel) handle it, as so many of us are loathe to admit, the expertise and institutional knowledge needed to do this is already in-place "over there".
---PCJ
