Menards New Haven Gondola

Did Menard's say anything?

old_toymaker posted:

I recently purchased the four pack of new haven gondolas and did not really look at the pictured item( my fault), and when they arrived I put them on the track and noticed that the orange NH is inverted (HN) on the side of the car.  I also found that none of the couplers will lock.  The problem seems to be that the bar that the thumb tack and pin are attached to is bent the wrong way so the pin cannot engage the knuckle.  I have e-mailed Menards to see if they can be exchange will see what happens.

 I will say that I already have 8 Menards gondolas and more than 50 other various pcs. of Menards rolling stock and a few buildings and I have never had a problem with any of the cars that minor tweaking has not solved. For the price these are great pcs and their buildings are really nice.

 

The "HN" graphics goof was covered here quite a bit when the gondola was released a month or so ago.  They are all like that.. its not a rare error.. and Menards will continue selling them like that.

Watch out next mystery box, your cars will probably be these. 

Where are the photos of the gondolas on a track layout or model railroad?

Andrew

Brand new cars shouldn't need any tweaking. No matter of the costs.

Member brought in his tonight.

I am a two-railer and I bought one but have not decided whether to two-rail it or not. I probably will just because it is different and I like NH stuff.

Well they can't get sued over copyright on the name

Twenty years from now:   "F/S: Extremely rare and hard to find Menard's New Haven railroad error gondola car." 

Richie C. posted:

Twenty years from now:   "F/S: Extremely rare and hard to find Menard's New Haven railroad error gondola car." 

Twenty years nothing - I want one now! Love it.

"Haven New"?  "Hew Naven"? "Who Knew"?

Notice, too, that Menards made a mistake in the lettering by incorrectly adding a serif to the bottom right leg of the"N."

When you stare for a moment at the Menards lettering, it starts to look like a Chinese letter or something, with two "E" letters on each end, one of them backwards, and it becomes hard to make out a H and a N. Becomes a pretty weird looking logo.

Spray paint the orange with gloss black and redecal with correct decals and location.

Bill T posted:

Spray paint the orange with gloss black and redecal with correct decals and location.

I agree, sort of.  I'd re-spray in black, re-decal, and then an overspray of Testor's Dullcoat  (I don't care for shiny trains unless tinplate).

Where was quality control and/or production sign off?  The reversed letters would be OK, a topic to discuss with the guys, but that font is horrible.

Lionelski posted:

Bill T posted:

Spray paint the orange with gloss black and redecal with correct decals and location.

I agree, sort of.  I'd re-spray in black, re-decal, and then an overspray of Testor's Dullcoat  (I don't care for shiny trains unless tinplate).

Where was quality control and/or production sign off?  The reversed letters would be OK, a topic to discuss with the guys, but that font is horrible.

 

I doubt at the price point the rolling stock is manufactured at there is any QC. My guess Menards is paying around $5 each for the $20 rolling stock if even that much.

The boys on the forum are always entertaining!  Interesting ideas on how things can be corrected.

Love New Haven paint schemes and have many.  Guess what?   With such an egregious error, this one is an easy pass.  Even 20 years from now.   It's only a gondola....

Jerry