We were able to get a few more LifeSavers and Tide tank cars! Get yours before they are gone!
In case you miss it, I've attached today's train email below.
Thank you,
Mark the Menards Train Guy
Original Post
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Good Morning Menards,
Did you produce more of these tank cars or are these left over from the initial run? Also, is it my eyes or is the chrome in the middle of the Life Saver tank car getting funny looking?
@jim sutter posted:Good Morning Menards,
Did you produce more of these tank cars or are these left over from the initial run? Also, is it my eyes or is the chrome in the middle of the Life Saver tank car getting funny looking?
These say they were made in 2022.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Both new tank cars are a little different. The Life Savers tank car had silver metal trucks on the first run,this has black trucks with metal wheels. The Tide has a different date on the tank, its dated 2022...
@cabinet Bob posted:Both new tank cars are a little different. The Life Savers tank car had silver metal trucks on the first run,this has black trucks with metal wheels. The Tide has a different date on the tank, its dated 2022...
Thank you! (I, too, was looking for the differences because of the whole "All runs are unique & never repeated" marketing Menards does, and knew I was missing something but couldn't catch what that something was.)
Now that @cabinet Bob pointed out the new date on the Tide tankers, I'm debating on getting more of the Tide tank cars. Picked up a few of the last run directly from Menards and off eBay. Of course the ones from eBay cost me almost double.
If Menards does bring stuff back, I would like the Cow Abduction UFO. It could have Holsteins instead of Jerseys.
shorling,
You should place a ad on this forum looking for that item. There are several stores selling Menards products.
Maybe some tank cars with 50s oll company logos like Cities Service, ESSO or ENCO to name a few.
Got mine the other day. Disappointed that on one of my cars both couplers do not work.
I guess you get what you pay for.
I would consider exchanging, but the last time I tried that it turned out to be a disaster. Ray was NOT cooperative and insisted I only need one working coupler. By the time we had our back and forth, he told me to send them back and he would refund my money. I told him - and clearly stated it in my return packaging - that I wanted an exchange; NOT a refund.
Returned them and did get a refund. Then had to find 2 more cars at much more than the Menard's price.
Maybe I should not look at Menard's announcements?
Menards, should find Ray another job. They need someone in his position with excellent customer service skills. The other thing Menards needs to do is improve the quality of their trains. I don't think they have any quality control.
@jim sutter posted:Menards, should find Ray another job. They need someone in his position with excellent customer service skills. The other thing Menards needs to do is improve the quality of their trains. I don't think they have any quality control.
At one time when I contacted Menard's, the response was what I expected - exchanged. I don't know when Ray started and whether he took care of my first exchange.
And yes, their QC seems to be on the lower end. I wonder how many others have problems with couplers. If it's a lot, then they should fix the problem. I realize you get what you pay for but don't think it's too much to ask to have 2 WORKING couplers. Not too long ago I received a car from one of my online dealers. While they have an RMA process in place, all I wanted was a new truck since the coupler was attached to the truck and I didn't see a way to separate the two. I asked - and received - a new coupler. Fortunately the truck was only screwed into the car. Easy peasy replacement!
I just opened my order. The Lifesaver cars are NOT chrome plated, they are painted silver as is the Hershey tank car. Out of 5 cars ordered (4 tank cars and one flatbed with a tank), 2 of them have issues with the couplers and 1 has an issue with both the coupler and the truck being warped. I'll be sending them an email. I thought that these looked like something unique for my collection. That being said, I like most of you have more than enough trains. I'll see what reply I get back.
@jim sutter posted:Menards, should find Ray another job. They need someone in his position with excellent customer service skills. The other thing Menards needs to do is improve the quality of their trains. I don't think they have any quality control.
1. Is this the same person who used to do such good service?
2. I mean, they are $20 (well, $25) cars. We get what we pay for and if they cost much more I would not be able to personally afford them, or if I did it would be with far less regularity. IOW, if the price was much higher they would lose me as a customer.
Despite my gripe about the "missing" brake wheel in the other thread, over the last several months, my family has ordered 4 sets of ore cars, one skittles hopper, and two Ford V8 Flat cars --the second Ford V8 was before I noticed the missing brake wheel was a feature, not a bug. All but two of them seem to be in good shape (one set of ore cars might have misaligned couplers because of the packaging or one coupler arm is a bit bent, and 2 of these 11 cars each have one minor flaw (not worth sending for a replacement/exchange) in the paint scheme.
I think they remain good cars for the price. Not necessarily as good as say MTH's or K-line's used cars in an auction (depending on how used those are), but those cars are twice (or three times) as expensive even then.
As long as people continue to buy their products with the defects in place, they will have no reason to change their process.
As the same time, if they introduce better quality control but increase their prices to account for that how many people here are going to complain about that?
@BenLMaggi posted:As long as people continue to buy their products with the defects in place, they will have no reason to change their process.
As the same time, if they introduce better quality control but increase their prices to account for that how many people here are going to complain about that?
Exactly (people accepting items with defects as the "standard").
As for price increase, depends upon how much. Depending upon the item, I'd pay more if I knew the product had no defects.
@RadioRon posted:Pretty sure Menards did a green Cities Service tanker 4-5 years back.
Check out the Lionel versions. No. 9277 (top) and No. 36146. Really nice cars. (These 8,000 gal. tank cars are actually scale sized.) Not sure why folks looking at Menards cars don't check out these older Lionel cars for other choices. They are readily available - and don't have any coupler/truck/tracking issues!
Two very nice Lionel tank cars. I love the top one the most.
@jim sutter posted:Two very nice Lionel tank cars. I love the top one the most.
Yeah, I like that one, too. It was part of the Milwaukee Road Limited set from 1978. Has diecast sprung metal trucks, too.
@BenLMaggi posted:As long as people continue to buy their products with the defects in place, they will have no reason to change their process.
As the same time, if they introduce better quality control but increase their prices to account for that how many people here are going to complain about that?
Just like Lionel!
You have good taste breezinup. Right now I'm waiting to see RMT freight cars. According to Walter they are to be the cats meow.
@Micro posted:
I mean, they are $20 (well, $25) cars. We get what we pay for ......
To be accurate, they are actually about $33.00 a car, even with the mail-in rebate, after Menard's $2.80 processing fee and shipping charges are added.
Menard's should just drop their processing fee and eliminate the mail-in rebate, given that they cancel each other out. They play the mail-in rebate game, though (as do many retailers) , because they know that many buyers are attracted to buy because of it but never get around to mailing in the rebate, so Menard's gets to keep the rebate amount plus their processing fee. Plus, even if the rebate is mailed in, they don't lose anything because of their processing fee.
Same old story. Buy it or do not buy it.
@breezinup posted:To be accurate, they are actually about $33.00 a car, even with the mail-in rebate, after Menard's $2.80 processing fee and shipping charges are added.
Menard's should just drop their processing fee and eliminate the mail-in rebate, given that they cancel each other out. They play the mail-in rebate game, though (as do many retailers) , because they know that many buyers are attracted to buy because of it but never get around to mailing in the rebate, so Menard's gets to keep the rebate amount plus their processing fee. Plus, even if the rebate is mailed in, they don't lose anything because of their processing fee.
Actually, they are $23.65 (before tax) after both the mail-in rebate (-$2.75) & processing fee (+$1.40 per car) if you ship to the store.
Don't ship to your home if you live reasonably close to a Menards, unless the cost of the gas to get there is more than that cost of shipping to home.
@breezinup posted:Check out the Lionel versions. No. 9277 (top) and No. 36146. Really nice cars. (These 8,000 gal. tank cars are actually scale sized.) Not sure why folks looking at Menards cars don't check out these older Lionel cars for other choices. They are readily available - and don't have any coupler/truck/tracking issues!
Good to know, though my prejudice against everything Lionel as being
a) overpriced (sometimes obscenely so)
b) as a kid I thought it was primarily aimed at rivet-counters (still do, sometimes),
c) junk compared to K-Line (growing up with MPC and post-MPC stuff--the only high-quality Lionel item we had was a single 6656 post-war stock car) for far more money than K-Line, and
d) modern boxes are a waste of extra empty space compared to competitors' boxes
colors my perception of Lionel in general, though there have a a few exceptions I've seen that didn't meet any of those things above. That Cities Services car looks like it might be one of those exceptions.
@paulp575 posted:As for price increase, depends upon how much. Depending upon the item, I'd pay more if I knew the product had no defects.
I thought the $5 increase was in part to upgrade the deck height so that the trucks wouldn't rub etc.
@BenLMaggi posted:As long as people continue to buy their products with the defects in place, they will have no reason to change their process.
As the same time, if they introduce better quality control but increase their prices to account for that how many people here are going to complain about that?
Exactly. If the defects are minor I can live with that given their price point I can fix a small issue like a missing brake wheel. Should it come with a small problem? Short answer is no but it’s not the end of the world at least for most of us. Now on the other hand Lionel with their “ridiculous” prices there should definitely be no defect and it should come perfect out of the box as far as I’m concerned.
@Micro posted:Actually, they are $23.65 (before tax) after both the mail-in rebate (-$2.75) & processing fee (+$1.40 per car) if you ship to the store.
Don't ship to your home if you live reasonably close to a Menards, unless the cost of the gas to get there is more than that cost of shipping to home.
Good to know, though my prejudice against everything Lionel as being
a) overpriced (sometimes obscenely so)
b) as a kid I thought it was primarily aimed at rivet-counters (still do, sometimes),
c) junk compared to K-Line (growing up with MPC and post-MPC stuff--the only high-quality Lionel item we had was a single 6656 post-war stock car) for far more money than K-Line, and
d) modern boxes are a waste of extra empty space compared to competitors' boxes
colors my perception of Lionel in general, though there have a a few exceptions I've seen that didn't meet any of those things above. That Cities Services car looks like it might be one of those exceptions.I thought the $5 increase was in part to upgrade the deck height so that the trucks wouldn't rub etc.
Yes, you can avoid shipping if you live close enough to a Menard's store, but unless you live within about 15 miles of a store, shipping is cheaper than the cost of driving there and back. So that "store pickup savings" isn't available for probably more than 95% of Americans. For them, it's going to be cheaper to ship the item, so you're going to pay about $33.00/car. That's fine, but it's more than the $25 the OP stated.
Not sure what you mean by characterizing traditional Lionel cars from the MPC and later years as low quality, overpriced junk. It's not. I still have quite a few traditional Lionel cars ) that were made prior to 2015, most of them MPC era and some later, and they (along with many similar cars I've had over the years) would all qualify as one of your so-called "exceptions." That is, all of them are fine quality (like the Cities Service car), and all of them are excellent runners. These cars are available in the secondary market for bargain prices.
I'm sure knowledgeable folks, like Jim Sutter, who ran a retail train store for many years selling Lionel MPC era and later cars among others (he has posted in the past pictures of the walls of MPC era trains in his shop), would agree with that assessment.
@breezinup posted:Yes, you can avoid shipping if you live close enough to a Menard's store, but unless you live within about 15 miles of a store, shipping is cheaper than the cost of driving there and back. So that "store pickup savings" isn't available for probably more than 95% of Americans. For them, it's going to be cheaper to ship the item, so you're going to pay about $33.00/car. That's fine, but it's more than the $25 the OP stated.
Not sure what you mean by characterizing traditional Lionel cars from the MPC and later years as low quality, overpriced junk. It's not. I still have quite a few traditional Lionel cars ) that were made prior to 2015, most of them MPC era and some later, and they (along with many similar cars I've had over the years) would all qualify as one of your so-called "exceptions." That is, all of them are fine quality (like the Cities Service car), and all of them are excellent runners. These cars are available in the secondary market for bargain prices.
I'm sure knowledgeable folks, like Jim Sutter, who ran a retail train store for many years selling Lionel MPC era and later cars among others (he has posted in the past pictures of the walls of MPC era trains in his shop), would agree with that assessment.
1. Thank you, I didn't recall the shipping-to-home prices.
2. Perhaps it is the selection of the models we have that has colored my views. Much of the MPC stuff we have has very low weight as well as plastic wheels, trucks, and couplers. (Despite this, my favorite Lionel car of all time is a blue GN Hopper.) My cherry-picker and 3650 have been disappointments. Lionel bought out K-line and the first thing they did was to raise prices about 25% across the catalog. Industrial Rail brought out great stuff for significantly cheaper than Lionel.
The new boxcar I bought from Lionel this year was disappointingly very dark and "underexposed" compared to the pictures online (on multiple devices.)
The new Bethlehem Steel gondola I bought in 2020--while nice quality--was very disappointing in terms of how much empty space there was surrounding the window--they could have made the box about 1-2 inches shorter in length, if they had only allowed less of the car to be seen through the window, and this would have made it pack better.
One good thing about the MPC-era cars was the small box.
(Then again, I think $400 for an engine and $70 for a boxcar is vastly overpriced.)
PS: the more I recall, I have to partially reassess, as we have more "decent" quality old Lionel than I recall, at least one lumber flat car (16347) and a few good boxcars. But I still think that over half of our Lionel stuff is on the lower end of things. The two (0-4-0 & 2-4-0) steam engines we have are iffy at best.
@jim sutter posted:You have good taste breezinup. Right now I'm waiting to see RMT freight cars. According to Walter they are to be the cats meow.
Walter is quite the salesman, as were you Jim. I bought stuff from both of you that I never knew I needed. Be well.
I received an email reply from Ray about the three tank cars with coupler/truck issues. I was sent a prepaid FedEx ground label to send them back with. FedEx came to my door and they are on the way back to Menards for replacements. You can't ask for more than that. Hopefully the replacements are defect-free.
At this point in my collecting "career", I have to control the urge to buy things that I really don't need. As we all know, that is easier said than done.
Trainman52,
Glad to hear Menards took care of your problem. Now we need to get somebody to take care of Menards problems. I think they could use a new manufacture.
One with quality control and good inspectors. That way, no product will come off the assembly line not being perfect.
@jim sutter posted:Trainman52,
Glad to hear Menards took care of your problem. Now we need to get somebody to take care of Menards problems. I think they could use a new manufacture.
One with quality control and good inspectors. That way, no product will come off the assembly line not being perfect.
When that company is found please let Lionel know who they are - they may want to use them as well.
@jim sutter posted:Trainman52,
Glad to hear Menards took care of your problem. Now we need to get somebody to take care of Menards problems. I think they could use a new manufacture.
One with quality control and good inspectors. That way, no product will come off the assembly line not being perfect.
They'd probably have a hard time finding one to meet Menards price points.
Rusty
Allegheny,
I am a soon to be a 76 year old retired Train Shop owner. For the last forty one years I have watched Lionel raise it prices every year. Even when they moved to China. Lionel continues to push the price up. The only way it will stop, is the consumers quit buying their products.
@jim sutter posted:Allegheny,
I am a soon to be a 76 year old retired Train Shop owner. For the last forty one years I have watched Lionel raise it prices every year. Even when they moved to China. Lionel continues to push the price up. The only way it will stop, is the consumers quit buying their products.
I agree with you 100%.
I have been saying / advocating that sentiment for many years. The prices have become unfathomable for what is being delivered.
When I read the issues folks have with their new engines - I simply shake my head and wonder where in the heck Lionel is and why they don't address the quality concern better than what they do.
Otherwise they have fine and interesting products.
Up until just a few years ago, my best friend had a shop that also sold Lionel trains as well. He was very nervous whenever a customer would complain about a product that didn't perform to expectations.
Because of the quality concerns, he didn't stock engines but if a customer special ordered one he'd make it happen. But then if an issue arose the customer would have to deal with Lionel directly as he didn't have the means for any repair work. For small stuff and older equipment he had a man that could handle it - but not the newer control equipment.
@jim sutter posted:Allegheny,
I am a soon to be a 76 year old retired Train Shop owner. For the last forty one years I have watched Lionel raise it prices every year. Even when they moved to China. Lionel continues to push the price up. The only way it will stop, is the consumers quit buying their products.
Jim.
I hear ya, but ...
In case it's not obvious every manufacturer raises prices.
Lionel has done this far longer than 41 years. Try 122.
And has survived.
The public will not stop buying. They're too in love with the product.
Yes there are those that aren't. But not nearly enough of them.
Mike
Got my set of 4 tankers, the grandkids like them and will be popular at the train shows. I really like these for the price and color. I have not had any issues with the set that I got and all of the other Menards rolling stock picked up occasionally.
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Mello Hudson Mike,
Glad to hear you have had no problems. That's great news. Those Life Saver tank cars are very attractive. Real eye catchers.
@jim sutter posted:Mello Hudson Mike,
Glad to hear you have had no problems. That's great news. Those Life Saver tank cars are very attractive. Real eye catchers.
Jim,
I don't. Then again I haven't bought anything new from Lionel since 2008.
Mike
Thanks for the comparative photos.
@kj356 posted:Got my set of 4 tankers, the grandkids like them and will be popular at the train shows. I really like these for the price and color. I have not had any issues with the set that I got and all of the other Menards rolling stock picked up occasionally.
Those are great looking cars, the painted silver looks good too. Enjoy them!!
@Trainman52 posted:I just opened my order. The Lifesaver cars are NOT chrome plated, they are painted silver as is the Hershey tank car. Out of 5 cars ordered (4 tank cars and one flatbed with a tank), 2 of them have issues with the couplers and 1 has an issue with both the coupler and the truck being warped. I'll be sending them an email. I thought that these looked like something unique for my collection. That being said, I like most of you have more than enough trains. I'll see what reply I get back.
Here's the "rest of the story". Menards replaced the Hershey and Life Savers cars. They didn't have any Texaco cars left in stock. I originally ordered the number of cars that I did in order to lessen the shipping cost per car. Well, that plan went out the window. To Menards' credit, they did pay the return shipping and refunded the excess processing fee. At this point, absent anything that really strikes my fancy, I will just be living vicariously through you all. Have a great weekend.
Well I just had to join this discussion as I LOVE tank cars and have quite a few. I have the Lionel "Life Savers" tank cars so did not purchase the Menards version however I could not resist the "Tide" tank car. I just received it the other day and it was like $38 including shipping and fees etc. Most (NIB) Lionel tank cars these days run around $90 including the same charges (there are no local train shops were we live and we have had only 1 train show within driving distance in 2 years). My car was just perfect, everything worked and was fine. It was packaged really well and protected from shipping damage by a very robust carton and a hard plastic fitted sleeve. No damage at all. So I am a very happy customer.
Here is the car : The livery and lettering plus the paint job is flawless. The level of detail is great including the "truss rod" type frame and the rod supports. The ladder is an add on detail as is the top platform.
Now we have had discussions about comparison with Lionel tank cars. Well here is a side by side with the Lionel White Pass tank car from 2009. This car came, at the time, in a 3 car "add on" pack to the White Pass and Yukon set. Note the Lionel car is visibly smaller and the trim is somewhat different, having horizontal hand rails but no lower rods for the frame. It has true sprung trucks which the Menards car does not have but the truck facade on the Menards car is a deep and detailed plastic facade. The Menards car is clearly based on a larger tanker. The Tide car data states Lt Wt 69,300 lbs while the White Pass data is Lt Wt 35,600 lbs.
So below are some side by side pictures, so I guess you can draw your own conclusions. Since Lionel never produced a "Tide" car with as colorful a livery, I am very pleased with the Mendards version. I am also pleased that Menards has entered the 0 gauge market with some really neat and affordable items.
Well that's my input on the subject. Best wishes to all
Don
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