The New Menards Train Station Has Arrived... with Pictures

Just when I am on the fence, along comes Cabinet Bob and his Shutterbug skills.

Wow!!

Menards is in a league of its own these days in terms of maximum bang for our dollars.  This offering proves it.

Cabinet Bob,

Thank you, for providing us with these wonderful pictures. This new station is a must have.  

In my opinion they screwed up the looks with these windows. They don't seem to fit the era.

As always Bob, thanks for the excellent pictures! Your opinion means a lot, at least to me! Which may or not be an endorsement LOL Some questions for you, what material is it made of, are there lights inside or just outside? Thanks, Bill

So let me get this right Cabinet Bob. The containers come to your house first for you to unload your items then it goes to the distribution center LOL. Thanks for those pics. No I am anxious for mine to get here............Paul

You're close Paul,actually Bob bought Hanjiin shipping! so he controls all Menards shipping into the US! Bob heard they were bankrupt and he snapped them up! LOL

Thanks for the pics, mine is on order.   I have spent more $$ with Menards last year than on trains!   I am delighted to own such great buildings, really improves my layout.   I don't know yet where the station will go, perhaps I will add an extension to the layout.  I do have the power company on the layout with a siding where cars can be pushed through, I had to extend the layout for that building  (which is gorgeous).

Thanks for the great pictures, Bob. The station is incredible.

That is one sharp looking passenger station. The lighting looks amazing. 

The modern looking windows could have come from a remodel job.  The figures appear to be wearing contemporary clothing.  So it looks like a older station, which had some modifications in its history, in the present.

I have kit bashed Plasticville stations in assorted configurations l think now are too small....l would fix that window, backdating it, and if these show up in future junk boxes, l can see an L-shaped one, a two story with living qtrs., and others.

How about swapping those windows out for sliding doors or double leaf shed doors and converting that end into a freight shed? More appropriate to the era, no?

What is the overall footprint of this thing?

Rod

Thanks for sharing your photos of the Train Station ! 

I agree, Bob, it is a keeper for sure.

Nice job on the pictures, they really show how nice the offering is.

Rod Stewart posted:

How about swapping those windows out for sliding doors or double leaf shed doors and converting that end into a freight shed? More appropriate to the era, no?

What is the overall footprint of this thing?

Rod

That's what they should have done in the first place. This "modern" window looks just plain ugly! Overall, the workmanship appears very poor, unlike other offerings. Windows, doors look cheap. The siding even looks to be printed in one dimension. You boys go on and eat this up, you can have my share!

A proper looking combination station: 

Its a very nice station but I would replace all the windows with scale parts. The window bars look far too heavy . They look like 2" wide in O scale.  Large pane glass on the freight doors was also never used in the era represented.  I would just paint and detail them. For those not concerned with scale its a very nice station for anyone running a 20's-60's themed layout.

cabinet Bob posted:

Okay, now that people are bringing up issues, I took a good look and noticed the following things I'd change if I got one:

• Lower the door knobs. Look how high people have to reach for them.
• Change the big plate-glass window.
• Change the ads on the big board. These things span about 40 years!

These are minor issues, though. I could make those changes in an hour or two, by the looks of it.

Look at the blank interior wall here (right behind the walking-posed figure), it's the perfect place for a train bulletin chalkboard!

It looks fine to me for the price. Did I hear 40 Led Lights?

The large modern windows look like the sort of thing done in the 60's & 70's before preservation movements were a big thing.  It will fit right in to my mid-70's era layout.  Overall a great value for the price!

I have one on order, I will change out the large windows for freight doors and on the other side I will install smaller windows someday.  maybe, 

Interesting station.

Is the construction wood or plastic?

Having the dormer placed over the passage between the two sides of the station seems an architecturally odd thing to do. Would it be difficult to separate the passenger side with the bay window from the freight side by cutting the roof?

I'd start by saying I appreciate that Menard's continues to come to market with various O scale buildings.  And, I am looking for a nice, already built and lighted rural looking station, so I was looking forward to this offering.  Having said that, I will say I'm going to pass as this doesn't look like it is on par with the standard I've come to expect from Menard's.  

Peter

John23 posted:

The large modern windows look like the sort of thing done in the 60's & 70's before preservation movements were a big thing.  It will fit right in to my mid-70's era layout.  Overall a great value for the price!

I think this is absolutely correct.  People are used to seeing perfectly preserved buildings today but forget that many of them only got that way today out of backing out of the poor rehab jobs done a few decades ago.  People never used to care about the historical origins of buildings.  They were just functional, run-down, and were kept going in low budgets.

I just got done watching a video of Harry Heike's Grand Central Terminal base he did for someone who wanted a lot of realism.  Graffiti all over the place, non-standard doors and lights at the shops below.  For that customer, they wanted the non-correct, the realistic, the gritty details of what that terminal once looked liked.  Another customer might instead want a perfect, clean representation showing the grandess of that terminal.

This is the same.  Also, so many of the complaints about this station can be remedied.  Don't like that huge set of windows?  Put a large newspaper kiosk in front of it.  Or storage lockers.  Or turn the station into a station undergoing a remodel so have doors boarded off, etc.

Would a Woodland Scenics version of it look better?  Absolutely.  But it would also likely be pushing $200.  I think their upcoming Feed building is $175!

At 1st I was saying to myself- whats' the big deal, its' just another random station, bla bla bla, whatever, & then I scrolled down to the photos in the dark with what appears to be LED lighting I'm guessing? Wow. Very realistic effect, to me thats' the best feature of the model. 

towdog posted:

John23 posted:

The large modern windows look like the sort of thing done in the 60's & 70's before preservation movements were a big thing.  It will fit right in to my mid-70's era layout.  Overall a great value for the price!

 

Would a Woodland Scenics version of it look better?  Absolutely.  But it would also likely be pushing $200.  I think their upcoming Feed building is $175!

As a wise man once told me: buy the best, you cry once; buy "just ok" based on price, you cry a thousand times.  Note: this is not meant as a comparo between Menard's and WS (I own several Menard's buildings and think the ones I own are great) it's just meant as a principle that guides my decisions.