I have bought Menards cars mostly as yard fillers, though they do seem to run decently at the slow speed I use. I do have one car that slightly wobbles but I tell visitors the car has a flat wheel and bumps along until crews can repair it 
Menards fills the void left by K-line, Marx and the original Williams. I also think Mark the Menards train guy listens so he can improve future products. Now if they can produce a basic steam and diesel loco, like the old RMT Bangs, they just might have something.
@Mike Wyatt posted:I have given Lionel starter sets (PRR Flyer Sets) to both of my sons, and the grandson and the granddaughters all look forward to setting up the trains at Christmas every year. Saturday, my youngest son took the grandson to Menard's after I told him that would be a good place to go for some accessories. He (my son) was somewhat shocked when I said that Menard's had anything at all. He ended up buying some Christmas village themed buildings.
But Menard's had no FastTrack to make a bigger "layout", only tubular track, and a few HO and Lionel sets. There are no local hobby shops I could send them to. So, my wife and I drove about an hour to take them some new but leftover FastTrack. IF he ever wanted to buy some more then he will find that Menard's has no train stuff at all- other than at Christmas.
If/when the LHS loss is total, then hobbyists (like us) will need retailers (a) that have stock year-round, and (b) that has a relatively high level of quality product available. You can't do those types of purchases all online- Menard's or anyone else- the shipping will kill you financially. (Maybe "ship to store".) But that reality would likely kill the hobby.
In the past, the two main Lionel retailer types selling trains (other than sets year-round) were local hardware stores, and local hobby shops .
Menard's is unique in that they are in the train business at all. The other "big box" stores like Lowes and Home Depot have nothing at all in the way of trains. Is there enough market to support Menard's moving into that role? It would have to be profitable, and a good use of retail space, all year.
But to fill that market, Menard's will either have to expand their own product line, or (easier) move into being a supplier of Lionel stuff on a year-round basis. They will have to be "in" or "out" of supplying Lionel products- but not if they only have tubular track, and lightweight, inexpensive cars.
Menard's is a privately owned company, no stock holders, just the family so they can do what they want with no one to second guess them.
Dick
And Menards makes the tubular track to fill the gap when Lionel stopped making it. Instead of being negative about that, there are many people that are thankful for them doing it.
@Quietman posted:And Menards makes the tubular track to fill the gap when Lionel stopped making it. Instead of being negative about that, there are many people that are thankful for them doing it.
I'm building a layout now with Menards tubular, its a very nice product and very wallet friendly.
Dave
What do you expect for about $18.00 a car. I would have expected all the rolling stock to have plastic wheels and trucks, your lucky to get some metal ones at all.
I am NOT saying that Menard's train products are anything bad at all. They are an outstanding value. Especially for metal wheels and trucks (which seem to be fading away toward more plastic). And their line of buildings is terrific - probably not to be matched by the LHS due to the cost of inventory. And most local Menard's do not have trains for 12 months a year.
But it is impractical for a hobbyist (like I think most OGR people are) to rely on internet sources for the majority of their purchases each year (not dollars- number of transactions). Paint, glue, bags of ballast, bags of foam turf, balsa and basswood, - etc. But w/o the LHS- we are stuck buying these types of things less often than we need them- that $50 purchase would increase to $65 including $ 15 shipping, not to mention the "wait".
We NEED a place locally to go and buy these incidentals. Menard's could be that local place in many areas, not all. And only IF they stock, and if that is 12 months a year.
I just rolled my new tanker with plastic trucks. It rolls VERY freely. I’ve never had a derailing issue with it either.
If it ain’t broke.......
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You want cheap or do you want quality? Sometimes you can't have both!
I've purchased stuff from Menards (box cars in multiple packs) and quality has been reasonable. Lionel sells 6 packs of certain types of rolling stock and time to time Amazon will sell them at a discount. I just bought a 6 pack of gondola cars and the cost was reasonably discounted making them less expensive than Menards. All metal trucks with plastic bodies and operating couplers.
From time to time places like Trainland will discount Lionel engines and rolling stock-brand new stuff though sometimes not the most recent stuff.
John
If the trucks are an issue, buy a set of Lionel or MTH if you can find them, I see them around for less then 10 bucks, so you can have your cake and ...
Three years. 1st year, product in place, all stores. 2nd year, a cost analysis of the product based on the first year. 3rd year, is the space/product worth the investment. IMO.
Then there is the $5 Costco Chicken, isn't marketing a wonderful thing.
I only have Menards buildings (York Hotel, Police Station and soon Parking Garage, strip mall, and Lighting supply company front) and have been EXTREMELY happy with the look, quality, and selection for the reasonable prices (compared to the "major manufacturers"). Keep 'em coming, please!
Maybe next order I'll have to include a piece of rolling stock, just to check it out.
Menards... if you're listening... aluminum display shelves are highly needed at a nice price point! 
Just my $0.02!
I haven't bought anything of Menards, but given what they are manufacturing at the price point it is at, it is designed to be kind of like what Marx was in the day, low cost postwar semi scale equipment, along with some pretty nice buildings and tinplate track. They aren't in the train business per se, this is a side business that someone there wanted to do, and expecting them to be like a hardware store that once carried Lionel trains is not really a fair assumption, from what i know (Menard's sadly doesn't have stores in my area) they only really carry stuff in their stores around the holiday season in any kind of quantity (could be wrong, just my impression). The trains are really more like a way to advertise Menards, to get people to buy things there, rather than a direct bottom line kind of thing. Given what floor space means in a store, they aren't going to dedicate floor space, which is expensive, to carry things outside their product line, floor space is expensive and I doubt carrying stuff a train store would carry would be economically viable for them, the cost of the floor space > revenue. Likewise, given the price points of their products, it is unlikely that quality control/assurance is a major focus, it is like buying a cheap Chinese set of headphones versus buying Senheiser or Bose or the like, you buy it knowing it likely is not going to have the quality of the more expensive ones (though price and quality are not always equated, either, cheap toyotas have often been of better quality then very expensive cars like Mercedes).
If you are expecting scale fidelity, top of the line wheel sets, etc you likely won't see it here, but if you like the whimsy of what they produce, something really more toy like, then it is quite a bargain IMO.
@Mike Wyatt posted:I am NOT saying that Menard's train products are anything bad at all. They are an outstanding value. Especially for metal wheels and trucks (which seem to be fading away toward more plastic).
(emphasis mine)
It isn't that metal wheels and trucks are fading away--everything that was first produced with metal wheels/trucks continues to be equipped with them. New models intended for the $19.99 end of the line are most likely equipped with plastic trucks to keep them comfortably at that price point. Possibly the only reason the Life-Savers tanker has die-cast trucks is that would have been the only way to have them in silver. They undoubtedly cost more to make than the other modern tank cars, if for no other reason than the (seemingly) plated bodies.
---PCJ
@Brad Trout posted:Menards... if you're listening... aluminum display shelves are highly needed at a nice price point!
Now that's a great idea that I could see them doing. Our train shelf options are quickly dwindling.
Thought the Menards Thread was solved when someone succinctly pointed out where else can you get good, inexpensive train cars, NEW, at about $20.00!
Now this thread has some legs!...time to sit back with the bag o' cheetos and watch...afterall....these are toys.
*thinks about making a reply with intelligent points about cost, production and manufacturing concerns that coupled with points about sales and distribution would explain a lot of this*
*realizes none of that would matter because those are things that don’t matter in these sorts of conversations*
*walks away slowly*
