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There are so many cars Menards makes that look great  Unfortunately they never make it around the layout once   The gauge on their wheels is too close   We have gaurd rail on all of our elevated track that those wheels hit , ride up on and derail.    They are the only cars that do this  Wish they would redesign those trucks  All of our Menards cars are on sidings

@bluelinec4 posted:

There are so many cars Menards makes that look great  Unfortunately they never make it around the layout once   The gauge on their wheels is too close

Exactly!  That and the couplers make them pretty unusable for reliable running!  I'd like to come up with some method to simply regauge the wheel-set on the trucks.  It would have to be a spreader that could carefully spread them about .05" to make them correct.  I can fix them if I take the trucks apart, but that's too time consuming for a bunch of cars, so a simple "on the car" solution is what is needed.

Not sure if I am just lucky, but my smallest curves are 072 and i don’t seem to have an issue.  I do have to cut off the thing on the bottom of the box cars so they don’t mess with my Ross switches.  I have has to take an axel out of the frame and take a tiny bit off the end so they roll freely.  Some of the axels have been just a little long so they press on the frame.

@bluelinec4 posted:

There are so many cars Menards makes that look great  Unfortunately they never make it around the layout once   The gauge on their wheels is too close   We have gaurd rail on all of our elevated track that those wheels hit , ride up on and derail.    They are the only cars that do this  Wish they would redesign those trucks  All of our Menards cars are on sidings

I respect what Menards has tried to do to bring affordable trains to the marketplace, but isn't this just a case of you get what you pay for? 

" It would have to be a spreader that could carefully spread them about .05" to make them correct.  I can fix them if I take the trucks apart, but that's too time-consuming for a bunch of cars, so a simple "on the car" solution is what is needed."

I regauged some of my Manard's wheelsets but it is difficult, to say the least without some kind of jig.

@Hartman posted:

" It would have to be a spreader that could carefully spread them about .05" to make them correct.  I can fix them if I take the trucks apart, but that's too time-consuming for a bunch of cars, so a simple "on the car" solution is what is needed."

I regauged some of my Manard's wheelsets but it is difficult, to say the least without some kind of jig.

Yep, I think that would solve the rolling issues, especially over my double-slip switches.

@GG1 4877 posted:

I respect what Menards has tried to do to bring affordable trains to the marketplace, but isn't this just a case of you get what you pay for?

I think you are And it rigbt. Producing costs seem to go into paint my and decoration such look great. Last priority is the trucks, which are marginally passable. Cost is low but quality as a result is mixed.

Last edited by Madockawando
@cabinet Bob posted:

Here's  a video showing the Menards  engine pulling 11 tankcars, 6 which are new. The other photos show the design and the gauge of the wheels. I ran these around my layout 18 times with no problem. I do have a mix of Lionel and Menards track to verify. 20211126_133825

If you look at the wheel on the left you can see a large gap from the flange to the web of the rail   The wheel gauge is too tight   In other words the wheels are too close to each other   You can get away with it on tubular track or lionel fastrack but when you use Ross, Gargraves or Atlas it is a problem.  Those trucks don't like the frogs,  gaurd rail or crossovers.  Forget about trying to traverse a double slip switch or a large switch like a number 6 or 7.5

@bluelinec4 posted:

If you look at the wheel on the left you can see a large gap from the flange to the web of the rail   The wheel gauge is too tight   In other words the wheels are too close to each other   You can get away with it on tubular track or lionel fastrack but when you use Ross, Gargraves or Atlas it is a problem.  Those trucks don't like the frogs,  gaurd rail or crossovers.  Forget about trying to traverse a double slip switch or a large switch like a number 6 or 7.5

Please  help me out here. I measured  inside flange to inside of flange on a Lionel  and Menards,  they both measured 1 1/16 inch. What am I missing here ?

Bob, you're missing that these simply don't run well on Gargraves/Ross or Atlas track.  I've measured a number of them, and the wheel gauge is .04 to .05 too tight on all of them when compared to my MTH Premier or Lionel cars.  A string of Menards boxcars will rarely make it more than two-three times over the double-slip switches, and they also derail on the curved O96/O72 switch at my service track.  I can't remember any MTH or Lionel cars having either of these issues.

@cabinet Bob posted:

Here's  a video showing the Menards  engine pulling 11 tankcars, 6 which are new. The other photos show the design and the gauge of the wheels. I ran these around my layout 18 times with no problem. I do have a mix of Lionel and Menards track to verify.

Thank you very very much, Bob!  I really appreciate this information.  We only ever run Lionel, Menards or the occasional bit of American Flyer O-31 tubular track (and an odd mix of AF O-40-something and Lionel 022 switches).

The fact that you had no issues is a great relief.

How weighty are the cars?

So, we received and unpacked our three new 2021 Menards Tanks yesterday--Sinclair, Texaco, and Pepsi.

The decks are, as Cabinet Bob said, 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch higher than the problematic Lifesaver cars.  The trucks are much simpler to access and service, making it easier to treat any bent axles.  However, of the 3 cars, the only even slightly defective axle was right over where the shipping box had been punctured--understandable, then, that that axle was slightly bent.  The other 11 axles (and 23 of the 24 wheels) spun straight and true, without any noticeable wobble, as I recall it.
The springs in the couplers are solid.  The uncoupling pin now seems flat instead of curved--this is an improvement, as it will get hung up on track irregularities less often (hopefully not at all!) compared to the older Menards cars.
The wheels remain filled.

I eyeballed them side-by-side with a Menards Australian Gold Classic Tank car, Menards Lifesaver Modern Tank, and an MTH RK CSX Blue & Yellow Modern Tank (30-4224-1C).  Pictures might be attached below.

I ran a train consisting of K-line NYC S-2, MTH Modern, Sinclair, Texaco (or Pepsi), Pepsi (or Texaco), Australian Gold, and then Lifesavers around our layout. This layout is made of tubular Lionel & Menards 3-rail track with several 022 Lionel switches and one AF O-40/42 switch (I'm not sure what radius the AF switch is).  I was hoping for at least 10x around, but after maybe 8X around or more, I increased the speed to 12.5v.

On one of the next S-curves, the engine fell over sideways, causing the train to (hopefully understandably)...stop abruptly. The MTH tank car derailed but the others did not, as I recall. (Maybe the front of the Sinclair derailed?)

Regarding weight, I weighed all of these cars on a kitchen scale.
The MTH car was 12.5 oz
Lifesavers: 9-9.5 oz
Australian Gold 9 oz
2021 Pepsi, Sinclair, Texaco: 7 oz each.

I did not notice any of the paint flaws that were on the Lifesavers last year.

Gripes: the lids do not open, unlike the Menards Classic Tank cars (Australian Gold, Frisco etc.)  This means that you cannot easily add weights, if desired.  Also, it looks nowhere near as cool.

TL;DR: I was very impressed.  If, as a result of the $25 price, all of the new Menards cars have similar improvements to QC and have working trucks, the price increase was well worth it.

Pictures:
01:  3 Tanks--Menards 2020, 2021, MTH (top to bottom)
02:  3 Tanks--MTH (L), Menards 2021 (C) Menards 2020 (R)
03:  Menards 2020 flanked by 2021s
04: MTH CSX & the other Menards tank cars
05: Menards Classic, 2021, MTH, Menards 2021, 2020, 2021
06: Menards Sinclair 2021 truck
07: Menards 2021 Pepsi detail
08: Menards 2021 Pepsi detail 02
09: Menards 2021 Sinclair detail
10: Menards 2021 Texaco detail
11: 2020 Lifesavers -- Nothing like this paint flaw this year!

01 3 Tanks--Menards 2020, 2021, MTH [top to bottom)
02 3 Tanks--MTH [L), Menards 2021 (C) Menards 2020 (R)03 Menards 2020 flanked by 2021s04 MTH CSX & the other Menards tank cars05 Menards Classic, 2021, MTH, MEnards 2021, 2020, 202106 Menards Sinclair 2021 truck 07 Menards 2021 Pepsi detail.jpg08 Menards 2021 Pepsi detail 0209 Menards 2021 Sinclair detail10 Menards 2021 Texaco detail11 2020 Lifesavers -- Nothing like this!

Attachments

Images (11)
  • 01 3 Tanks--Menards 2020, 2021, MTH (top to bottom): 01 3 Tanks--Menards 2020, 2021, MTH (top to bottom)
  • 02 3 Tanks--MTH (L), Menards 2021 (C) Menards 2020 (R): 02 3 Tanks--MTH (L), Menards 2021 (C) Menards 2020 (R)
  • 03 Menards 2020 flanked by 2021s: 03 Menards 2020 flanked by 2021s
  • 04 MTH CSX & the other Menards tank cars: 04 MTH CSX & the other Menards tank cars
  • 05 Menards Classic, 2021, MTH, MEnards 2021, 2020, 2021: 05 Menards Classic, 2021, MTH, MEnards 2021, 2020, 2021
  • 06 Menards Sinclair 2021 truck: 06 Menards Sinclair 2021 truck
  • 07 Menards 2021 Pepsi detail.jpg: 07 Menards 2021 Pepsi detail.jpg
  • 08 Menards 2021 Pepsi detail 02: 08 Menards 2021 Pepsi detail 02
  • 09 Menards 2021 Sinclair detail: 09 Menards 2021 Sinclair detail
  • 10 Menards 2021 Texaco detail: 10 Menards 2021 Texaco detail
  • 11 2020 Lifesavers -- Nothing like this!: 11 2020 Lifesavers -- Nothing like this paint flaw from 2020!

Thank you for posting these! You answered my question. From the pictures it looks like that while the Menards tank cars are larger than the postwar cars they still fit with a postwar/traditional style train. It does look they may be too small for run with scale though.  What is your opinion??

We just took our layout down in order to put up the Christmas tree, but I ran Menards 2020 tank cars quite often (after we fixed the axle issues that were prevalent in that batch) with a few postwar boxcars/flatcars, as well as Modern Era, MPC Lionel, K-Line, Industrial Rail, and MTH RK cars.  I think they match very well with all that I tested them with.

I am not big into scale stuff, and am not a rivet-counter, but I think these look good enough with our few Atlas boxcars.

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