Diok S posted:Golden Wheel Die Cast in China. See their web site.
Just for the record, I've looked at the Golden Wheels Die Cast website - assuming this is the right company - and can find no reference what-so-ever to Menards.
http://www.hktdc.com/manufactu...Fty-Ltd/en/1X001BEP/
Just because you read something here, doesn't necessarily mean it's entirely accurate. Like what Jim R. said:
The manufacturer is Golden Wheel in China, most of the cars were tooled (cloned) from Williams models which were cloned from Lionel postwar models, and Menards is the company that commissions them.
Well, mostly true, but not entirely. The recent Menards 4-bay hopper and 3-dome tank car are clones of the postwar Lionel originals, and the caboose a clone of a modern-era Lionel SP caboose.
BUT the most widely produced Menards item, the box car is a clone of the AMT box car, which was later used by Kris Model Trains and then Williams. As HAS been discussed greatly, the Menards box car is bigger than the Lionel 6464 styled box car body. And the first traditionally sized flat car Menards did bears more resemblance to the K-Line flat car (which has its' origins from Kusan), other than the additional of the side mount brake wheel.
