Skip to main content

Replies sorted oldest to newest

They look like a stretched and widened version of the Lionel 027 autoracks. At 17.5" measured over the couplers, according to their site, they're slightly shorter than MTH's Premier-class autoracks.

Just have to make up some railroad logo stickers to place on the blank panels up on the car sides. If Menards treats these the same way as the double-stack cars (only offering the two colors), a sticker pack much like their billboards would be an ideal addition, as there are a number of roadnames that would work with the yellow and brown base color (CSX/UP for the yellow, and NS/Conrail for the brown, for example)

Mark, ya may want to have that line in the website's copy about "metal couplers" edited to "operating couplers", if the provided photos are correct then these have the standard plastic roller-bearing-style trucks. Wouldn't want anyone anyone here fussing over that detail

(adds to his shopping list despite having 50+ of the MTH 'racks)

---PCJ

Last edited by RailRide

It looks like a copy of Lionels traditional line of enclosed auto carriers abeit that the menards cars are sealed...no way to add a load. Another thing is all flat cars are labeled dttx which is a doublestack container car marking instead of ettx [tri level rack] or bttx [bi-level rack]. The good thing is the cars are sold individually or in a 4 pack with 4 different numbers.

The only question remains is performance! Will the cars be top heavy or weighted on the underframe of the flat car.

Last edited by prrhorseshoecurve

After browsing this thread, I went down the rabbit hole of reading about the history of auto-carriers and discovered the Vert-a-PAC, specially designed to transport Chevy Vegas -vertically!  GM must have had high hopes, to have a specific auto transport designed for one specific car model. I don’t imagine we’ll see a scale model of the Vert-a-Pac anytime soon  

https://www.railwayage.com/mec...-pacific-vert-a-pac/

@Crazy Train posted:

After browsing this thread, I went down the rabbit hole of reading about the history of auto-carriers and discovered the Vert-a-PAC, specially designed to transport Chevy Vegas -vertically!  GM must have had high hopes, to have a specific auto transport designed for one specific car model. I don’t imagine we’ll see a scale model of the Vert-a-Pac anytime soon  

https://www.railwayage.com/mec...-pacific-vert-a-pac/

Probably not but maybe a stac-pack.

@Crazy Train posted:

After browsing this thread, I went down the rabbit hole of reading about the history of auto-carriers and discovered the Vert-a-PAC, specially designed to transport Chevy Vegas -vertically!  GM must have had high hopes, to have a specific auto transport designed for one specific car model. I don’t imagine we’ll see a scale model of the Vert-a-Pac anytime soon  

https://www.railwayage.com/mec...-pacific-vert-a-pac/

If someone 3D scans the HO Scale models already produced by EXACT RAIL and uses that data to create a 3D computer file of the Vert-a-Pac in O scale, so they can be 3D printed in O scale, then you can get an O scale model.

Andrew

The cars look nice and are certainly better priced than either the "scale" MTH or Lionel products. Unlike them, however, the trucks are placed too close to the ends of the car. Most likely because correct placement further back would require longer coupler shanks. If one uses Kadees and new holes for the trucks could be drilled further back, this could be fixed. Those who aren't rivet counters probably wouldn't care.

Terry

From photos, looking at the website and not having one to measure in front of me, the Lionel 0-27 autorack is 13 1/2 inches in length. I have no diameter or Height of the car. If anyone can provide it, that would be nice. Depending how these look when people start getting them, I may end up buying 20 for a consist. These are perfect for Railking Es44s and and SD70s

Last edited by SDIV Tim

I agree - good for Menards.  This product is not for me (not my modelling era), but I think it's great that Menards continues to innovate with new products like this.  A win for the hobby.  I also think it's unfortunate Menards did not introduce this product with a Forum announcement.

Which models were those?  All of my Lionel 16xxx and 36xxx screened auto carriers issued in the 1990's have sliding doors at each end.

More like appearance (being shorter than scale) than in function. You might call them a stretched version (length and height) of the Lionel cars, or a compressed version of the MTH Premier cars. Visually, they'd fit better with the latter, being the same height.

@breezinup posted:

The high water look is very noticeable.  It looks like they might tip if speeds aren't limited on curves.

Funny you mention that, a few minutes ago I pulled out one of my MTH premier autoracks to measure its height (in response to SIRT's comment --they also measure 5" tall ), and noticed the styrofoam carries a sticker warning users of this exact same hazard. During my floor-layout days I never had issues with the MPC trilevels tipping over, but I always ran them empty. Fully loaded, these cars were (1) very heavy, and (2) very prone to tipping over if you didn't hold your speed down on those 027 curves. Probably explains why virtually all of the post-MPC reissues of this car were bilevel.

@PRRMP54 posted:

They do sit quite a bit high on the trucks. The wheelsets appear to be about 33"/36"; I suspect that the prototypes were a smaller diameter.

According to a datasheet I found on BNSF's site, the (tri-level) prototype uses 28" wheels.

https://www.bnsf.com/ship-with.../Tri-Level-Specs.pdf

---PCJ

(oh hey, re-discovered how to multi-quote. Doesn't work when you're editing a post tho')

Last edited by RailRide

Add Reply

Post

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×