*** SPOILER ALERT *** New Ore Cars From Menards

Too bad not yet available.....roadnames?

Maybe M was not going to get to pay dirt with them.

Dang, the word got out....

Dad, you need to look into why secrets were leaked to the press. 

I just got the December issue of CTT in the mail and page 32 shows the ore cars.  

Nice to see the 4 different roadname ore car offering.  I hope if/when the 2nd run is made @Menards considers a painted (oxide red/black/gray) version with numbers/data info but without a roadname to appeal to a much wider market.  Weathered versions would be nice too...

Hey Guys, here’s the deal:

We have two shipping containers, each bursting at the seams with brand new train cars! Included in this shipment is an assortment of new boxcars, hoppers (coal and covered), gondolas, and yes, ORE cars!

Unfortunately, the shipping gods have not been kind to us.

Based on the tracking information I have, these containers arrived at the port in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) nearly one month ago (September 28th to be exact). They were unloaded from the shipping vessel and seemingly forgotten about or lost.

An update as of 10/26: One of the containers started moving over the weekend! It is currently on the rails making its way through Canada en route to Minneapolis, Minnesota. From there, it’s only a short ride to our headquarters in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. These are on track to be here very soon. Unfortunately, the second container still has not moved.

I hope you find this information helpful. I put the new items on our website so you can take a look. As per our policy, we do not take preorders but at least you can start a list for Santa.

If you’d like to be notified when these items arrive, sign up for our O Gauge Train Emails at menards.com/email.

Thank you,
Mark the Menards Train Guy

I think the new ore cars and selections of new road names and private owner cars-paint schemes look great, Mark!

I appreciate what Menards produces for the hobby, and I'm purchasing new rolling stock, as funds permit. Keep up the great work and ideas, for it is appreciated!

Rusty

Thanks for posting the COMING SOON cars Mark!   It's easier for me to make a list of what I want instead of waiting for your obscure clues to new releases on here! lol.  The clues drag on so long that I end up forgetting to check back up on the forum to see what was released.

Mark, I think the ore cars look super!  Of course being from Western Pennsylvania, I would like to see Bessemer & Lake Erie since I remember seeing them on the B&LE.  However, I realize Menards isn't going to produce B&LE or M&IR regional railroads on a first run.  Excellent job once again!!!  Yes, I understand completely the dilemma of getting items shipped to your warehouse.  Sometimes a container or a trailer gets parked somewhere by accident and has to be tracked down. 

Dad, another super job!!

Where does one see what ore cars are coming?

@Menards posted:

Hey Guys, here’s the deal:

We have two shipping containers, each bursting at the seams with brand new train cars! Included in this shipment is an assortment of new boxcars, hoppers (coal and covered), gondolas, and yes, ORE cars!

Unfortunately, the shipping gods have not been kind to us.

Based on the tracking information I have, these containers arrived at the port in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) nearly one month ago (September 28th to be exact). They were unloaded from the shipping vessel and seemingly forgotten about or lost.

An update as of 10/26: One of the containers started moving over the weekend! It is currently on the rails making its way through Canada en route to Minneapolis, Minnesota. From there, it’s only a short ride to our headquarters in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. These are on track to be here very soon. Unfortunately, the second container still has not moved.

I hope you find this information helpful. I put the new items on our website so you can take a look. As per our policy, we do not take preorders but at least you can start a list for Santa.

If you’d like to be notified when these items arrive, sign up for our O Gauge Train Emails at menards.com/email.

Thank you,
Mark the Menards Train Guy

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Where does one see what ore cars are coming?

John, It is in Mark's link I highlighted in yellow.  I know, I missed it first go round too.

It will be interesting to see what these ore cars were patterned from.

Photo Minards Ore car AT&SF

@mustang posted:

So, I recently received a new Menards "Christmas Catalog" for trains, ...

How did you get on the real USPS mailing list for the menards train catalog? [insert jealous noises here]

@Menards posted:

Hey Guys, here’s the deal:

We have two shipping containers, each bursting at the seams with brand new train cars! Included in this shipment is an assortment of new boxcars, hoppers (coal and covered), gondolas, and yes, ORE cars!
Mark the Menards Train Guy

What about new cabooses?  I missed out on buying one by literally a day.  I saw it on Sunday, but it was too late to think straight.  By the time I got online on Monday, they were sold out....

@Menards posted:

[snip]

Thank you,
Mark the Menards Train Guy

just a heads-up for you: the ore car descriptions say,
"The Basics: ... The cars have metal wheels and operating. ... The cars come with an easy to remove ore insert that allows you to run ?full? loads to the mill, and ?empties? returning to the mine."
I'm not trying to nit-pick, but finishing the one sentence and fixing the formatting in the other might help sales and I really want Menards to continue to sell and make O-gauge train cars!

@rail posted:

It will be interesting to see what these ore cars were patterned from.

Standard Lake Superior type ore cars as used by the Missabe, Lake Superior & Ishpeming, and others.  They look like the same molds as were used on the RMT/ K-Line/ Atlas (1970s) cars.

These will be big sellers. Ore cars look good on any layout. I like the industrial look of the paints schemes too. Well done!!

Well, at least ONE road name, the Sandy Fay, got posted here (of four).  I have no plans to run out and buy CTT to find out what the other three secret ones are.

Thinking out loud...

Among my several preorders in the pipeline is one of the Lionel LC 2.0 0-6-0T switchers. Have already wondered about what I'll pull behind this. Curious if these ore cars would work? Or will they not look right, size-wise? Not sure of the length on the switcher but I'll bet that and these cars are close.

Anyway, I guess this is also an open-ended question on what will look good behind these soon-to-arrive little switchers.

Thanks Menards!! Ore cars have been on the list for a while, there goes my Christmas budget💥

Roger

@johnstrains posted:

Thinking out loud...

Among my several preorders in the pipeline is one of the Lionel LC 2.0 0-6-0T switchers. Have already wondered about what I'll pull behind this. Curious if these ore cars would work? Or will they not look right, size-wise? Not sure of the length on the switcher but I'll bet that and these cars are close.

Anyway, I guess this is also an open-ended question on what will look good behind these soon-to-arrive little switchers.

John, The Menards write up is 7 inches over the couplers. That is the same as my Lionel and RMT ore cars. Hope that helps.

Sorry for this question, but do the new Menards cars have a coupler that matches up well with the standard Lionel  coupler?  I have one beautiful Menards caboose, with flashing lights, and there is only one Lionel car that can tow it without a derailment.  (A old, all metal, long, Lionel coal car.)

Thanks for any info.

Mannyrock

@colorado hirailer posted:

Well, at least ONE road name, the Sandy Fay, got posted here (of four).  I have no plans to run out and buy CTT to find out what the other three secret ones are.

If you take a moment to read Mark From Menard's post, you will see the link that takes you to the page on Menard's site that show all the road names, with pictures.  There's no secret.  There's just a need to use a modicum of effort to find the information of which you seek.

@ChiTown Steve posted:

John, The Menards write up is 7 inches over the couplers. That is the same as my Lionel and RMT ore cars. Hope that helps.

Thanks, Steve. Will continue to look at options for what to pull behind the 0-6-0 T.

Menard's has a 32 page supplement catalog in the latest issue (Dec) of CTT.  About a third of the pages in the issue.  Just FYI.  Hope they have one in OGR in an issue soon, as the magazines can certainly do with the revenue.

Mark are there any new cabooses coming out?

Terrance

My Menards boxcars are exactly the same construction/dimensions as my RMT boxcars. I would bet the Menards ore cars are exactly like the RMT cars also.

Jeff

Can't wait to get a few sets.

Gondolas too!

Their site says that each pair has different road numbers. That's a nice touch. By the way, those look like the old K-Line molds which were pretty close to scale sized. They look like they'd make a neat 3RS/2-rail conversion project. Too bad they don't ship to California.

Their website does not state that their is no Calif. Shipping. At least from what I just read. You might want to check on that. Maybe Mark can let us know about that?

jeff

I've tried to order several items but as a result of prop 65 a lot of there stuff can't be shipped to Cali, including some of the Lemax items that they carried.

Love these. My dad and I used to collect the Kline cars back when they were $5-$10 a car. They look like the same molds but look almost like Lionel's version that are just a little narrower.

I have bought a few of there other cars and have a problem with them going through my switches. I  use gargoyles and Ross. Can anyone shed some light on this ?

It suppose to be  Gar Graves

I am interested in the KCS boxcar.  They had some painted that for head end service on passenger trains.

If you redo the UP Challenger cars, do this:  paint the trucks red.  But for the price they are OK for an O27/31 type car.

@AGHRMatt posted:

Their site says that each pair has different road numbers. That's a nice touch. By the way, those look like the old K-Line molds which were pretty close to scale sized. They look like they'd make a neat 3RS/2-rail conversion project. Too bad they don't ship to California.

All train cars and buildings produced after the mandate have been labeled in accordance to Prop 65.

As a rule of thumb, the train cars with dates 2019 and 2020 will ship to California.

I hope this helps!
-Mark the Menards Train Guy

as to shed some light on going through your switches. the wheel sets are made poorly and most are always out of gauge. once they are gauged they then work ok. be careful the axle is not a very sturdy material and can bend easily.

Is there a tool that can spread the truck wheels to the right gauge ?

@Menards posted:

All train cars and buildings produced after the mandate have been labeled in accordance to Prop 65.

As a rule of thumb, the train cars with dates 2019 and 2020 will ship to California.

I hope this helps!
-Mark the Menards Train Guy

Thanks Mark. Looks like there could be an ore train in my future.

@Bill Grafmiller posted:

Is there a tool that can spread the truck wheels to the right gauge ?

Well, to make a short story long.........................................

As far as I know, Menard's uses 3 different styles of trucks on their cars.  One style is a plastic truck, and then 2 different styles of metal trucks (Bettendorf and Roller Bearing).  Both of these styles are a combination of die-cast and stamped metal parts.  The plastic trucks have exposed axles, which make them very easy to work on.  Good news for plastic trucks, widening the gauge can usually be done without removing the axle from the truck, or even removing the truck from the car.  And the axles are easy to pop out of the truck if so desired or if need be.

The metal trucks however, are a whole different story.  The axles are partially or almost fully enclosed by stamped sheet metal parts, and the trucks would need to be disassembled in order to re-gauge the wheel-sets, which generally requires removing the trucks from the car, which can be a real pain in the posterior at the very least, and which in turn may be next to impossible for a lot of folks.

So here's my methods, once again the plastic trucks being E-Z Peasy, or if you can somehow manage to get the axles out of the metal trucks.........................................

Under-Gauged Wheel-sets: Get a good pair of pliers and a tack puller (a little pry bar made for pulling tacks or small nails).  Determine which wheel needs to be moved (in most cases, one will have been factory pressed further onto the axle than the other).

Securely grab the axle between the wheels with the pliers.  Insert the tack puller claw between the pliers and the wheel and using the pliers to pry against, pry out the wheel.  Note: Squeeze the pliers extra hard to prevent axle slippage while prying the wheel outwards.  Make sure the end of the claw is in line with the center of the wheel, so as not to bend the axle.

Over-Gauged Wheel-sets: You will need to pop the wheel-set out of the truck.  Clamp the axle good and tight in a small vice, and tap the offending wheel down further onto the axle using a small socket (or similar) to fit over the axle, and a small hammer to tap it with.  Be careful not to bend the axle.  Fortunately, I'm betting that over-gauged wheel sets are pretty rare.  I can't remember if I have encountered an over-gauged set yet, but have had to go in and fix at least a few wheels where I accidentally pried them out a little too far.

That's pretty much it.  But believe it or not, I have also had a few wheels actually come LOOSE on their axles while running the cars on my layout, and had to Loc-Tite them in place (super glue would work good, too).

Hope this helps.

Paul, I have not had to do it, but your descriptions sound very logical.  Thank you for the tutorial!!

Hi Everyone,

The new covered hoppers and gondolas are live! Here's a link to my post.

Update on the second container:
This is now on the rail traveling through Canada! We are hoping this will arrive next week.

Thank you,
Mark the Menards Train Guy

@AGHRMatt posted:

Their site says that each pair has different road numbers. That's a nice touch. By the way, those look like the old K-Line molds which were pretty close to scale sized. They look like they'd make a neat 3RS/2-rail conversion project. Too bad they don't ship to California.

Unfortunately the numbers of the cars in the two-packs are the same - thus breaking with Menards policy of individual numbering.

@John23 posted:

Unfortunately the numbers of the cars in the two-packs are the same - thus breaking with Menards policy of individual numbering.

This was addressed a short time ago. I can't find the post but I believe it was something to do with the paired cars numbered as one, like drawbar connected hoppers.

@Bill S. posted:

This was addressed a short time ago. I can't find the post but I believe it was something to do with the paired cars numbered as one, like drawbar connected hoppers.

The only railroad that I know of that had drawbar connected ore cars was the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range....and they had groups of 4.  I'm planning on acquiring 30 - 40 of the C&NW cars - so half of them will need renumbering,

I second the motion on unlettered cars, but l have rattle cans of flat black and rusty red, as well as a cup of water, a tweezers, and custom decals, so l will gladly baptize them.  What would go nicely with them are shorty logging cars, on archbars, as l'd like these, but that can be shopped here, too.