Time for another maker of scale cars? Menards Or somebody else.

Gunrunnerjohn’s signature line comes to mind. Most won’t jump into a void unless they know how far it is to the bottom. 

david1 posted:

I think somebody like Menards could contact their builder of O gauge train stuff and have them build some scale cars. They already have a scale flat car with wood deck so why not other freight cars. If they sold these between $30-$45 they could capture a hefty part of the market that the other mfg's have left behind. 

I know many other guys that have stopped buying scale cars because of the price. I think it is time for somebody else to jump in the void.

Dave

 

 

I'm sure if you would back their investment, they would be glad to jump into it!  If it were highly profitable, you couldn't count the scale cars available : )   

Jim 

I always hear the crickets singing when the subject of starting your own company or your own train show comes up.  

You have to find a unique freight car that nobody has produced before in O scale.

Which one would you choose? 

What company built it? 

Andrew

I think it would be better, if another one of our sponsors other than Menards to pick up the ball and run with it. I'm sure this company would build the cars for anyone that has money. This would be a great opportunity for any Train Shop to take their business to a higher notch.  

aussteve posted:

I always hear the crickets singing when the subject of starting your own company or your own train show comes up.  

Seems funny how all the critics come out when somebody makes a suggestion. I'm not going to start my own company, don't have the funds and I am 71.

I would appreciate it if the likes of you  and a few others would myob and skip the posts that you have no positive comments to add to the op. 

Dave

Please do not subject Menards (or at least its train line) to the fate that awaited K-Line when it tried to do scale.

Andrew, 

I say for a unique o scale car that hasn't been mass produced but would be highly successful if it was would be the PRR, PC, CR G39 ore jennies! You could even paint it Up and SP and Quebec, North Shore and Labrador too ( although A shy too short)

AMCDave posted:

The Menard's box car is a near dead on PRR X-29 SCALE box car.

This IS a scale car.....

Near dead on... really?  It's hard to see a lot of details in your photo, but for one thing X29's had straight bottom sills and underframes.  What is that stuff hanging down from the middle of the blue car?  Is that a fishbelly underframe?

Here is a real X29:

I’m fine with the current manufacturers. It is what it is. You can pick up plenty of scale size cars dirt cheap right here at OGR or any show.

I'm in.  Competition is great for the consumer.

I buy mostly used but would consider new if price was reasonable.  $100 freight cars...no thanks. 

Bob posted:

AMCDave posted:

The Menard's box car is a near dead on PRR X-29 SCALE box car.

This IS a scale car.....

Near dead on... really?  It's hard to see a lot of details in your photo, but for one thing X29's had straight bottom sills and underframes.  What is that stuff hanging down from the middle of the blue car?  Is that a fishbelly underframe?

Here is a real X29:

 

You are correct. It's NOT a X-29 .....in the past I'd always say'the size of a X-29' which is why I buy them and run them in a scale train. I have yet to find a real X-29 box car for under $20 so until I do....these work.

We all are in the hobby for different reasons and we all get our enjoyment out of different aspects. I respect the scalers as well as the super detailers and the over the top weathering. I'm just happy to have an extra $20 a month to buy another Menards car...I always smile when someone runs scale anything on train track with three rails... That's not a dig by any means, it's just my own uneducated reaction/preferences.

On the subject of Menards, I would be first in line for some reefer cars. However, the cars need to strike a balance of too much detail- case in point, the opening ice hatches on my KLine operating milk car are broken, and three are missing. It's a cool detail, but one that serves no real purpose. I would probably repaint the reefers for my own custom dairy cars or vegetable haulers. I was lucky enough to pick up a couple cases of Atlas 40' plug door undecorated cars a few years ago, but I haven't found any undecorated reefers in any quantity recently. While building the Atlas 40's, I often leave the brake detail off the underside, since in my application no one notices it. 

Going down a rabbit trail, any thoughts of what I can use to replace the three missing ice doors? They don't have to function, I would put just a kiss of hot glue to keep them secure. Halfway thought of doing a resin casting. Would the covers on the Menards gondola work?

86TA355SR posted:

I'm in.  Competition is great for the consumer.

I buy mostly used but would consider new if price was reasonable.  $100 freight cars...no thanks. 

Tell it to Maury Klein.

palallin posted:

86TA355SR posted:

I'm in.  Competition is great for the consumer.

I buy mostly used but would consider new if price was reasonable.  $100 freight cars...no thanks. 

Tell it to Maury Klein.

The only problem with K-Line was with Maury Klein.

Dave

david1 posted:

palallin posted:

86TA355SR posted:

I'm in.  Competition is great for the consumer.

I buy mostly used but would consider new if price was reasonable.  $100 freight cars...no thanks. 

Tell it to Maury Klein.

The only problem with K-Line was with Maury Klein.

Dave

K-Lines demise had many factors......it wasn't scale cars or one person.....many things combined.....

AMCDave posted:

david1 posted:

palallin posted:

86TA355SR posted:

I'm in.  Competition is great for the consumer.

I buy mostly used but would consider new if price was reasonable.  $100 freight cars...no thanks. 

Tell it to Maury Klein.

The only problem with K-Line was with Maury Klein.

Dave

K-Lines demise had many factors......it wasn't scale cars or one person.....many things combined.....

Don't normally use the quote button, as a matter of fact, I hate it and wish it was removed from the forum...however....

ahhh...capitalism at work! 

Maury Klein was owner and CEO , the buck stops at the top.

Dave

rogerpete posted:

Going down a rabbit trail, any thoughts of what I can use to replace the three missing ice doors? They don't have to function, I would put just a kiss of hot glue to keep them secure. Halfway thought of doing a resin casting. Would the covers on the Menards gondola work?

Menards hasn't made a gondola yet. Maybe you're thinking of their covered hopper?

If Brasseur's doesn't have the hatches, I would definitely look into cloning the remaining hatch with a resin casting.  (example)

I picked this as an example. There are numerous tutorials on YouTube, and for something flat like a hatch cover that (presumably) has detail on only one side, the process is even simpler since the second half of the mold is not necessary.

---PCJ

HobbyKing is the only one who can pull off what you're suggesting.

Look at the prices on their 40' HO Scale Containers. Nobody can beat that price.

I have also been wanting new scale rolling stock on the market.  Since Broadway Limited made that water tower in  O, which people seem to like, I shot them an email regarding this specific topic: any thought of making three rail stuff, like more structures and rolling stock? They responded with , " we will look into it, it's a possibility." Never know I suppose?

Regards,

Greg

www.youtube.com/trainbros89 

Trainbros89 posted:

I have also been wanting new scale rolling stock on the market.  Since Broadway Limited made that water tower in  O, which people seem to like, I shot them an email regarding this specific topic: any thought of making three rail stuff, like more structures and rolling stock? They responded with , " we will look into it, it's a possibility." Never know I suppose?

Regards,

Greg

www.youtube.com/trainbros89 

What makes you think they will be any cheaper than what’s already out there. They go through distributors and dealers just like everyone else except Menards. 

romiller49 posted:

Trainbros89 posted:

I have also been wanting new scale rolling stock on the market.  Since Broadway Limited made that water tower in  O, which people seem to like, I shot them an email regarding this specific topic: any thought of making three rail stuff, like more structures and rolling stock? They responded with , " we will look into it, it's a possibility." Never know I suppose?

Regards,

Greg

www.youtube.com/trainbros89 

What makes you think they will be any cheaper than what’s already out there. They go through distributors and dealers just like everyone else except Menards. 

I am not sure I would consider what they have produced in HO, N and the little ON30 they have produced to be bargains. Loaded with detail and features but not what I consider Menards cheap. Although many of the principles involved have experience with O gauge from their time with Williams, Lionel and K-Line 

Go with RMT, they make some scale cars  for less than the big 3.

The problem with K=Line was the expensive STEAM LOCOMOTIVES, not the reasonably priced freight cars.

Take a look at the current prices of Bachmann's new production runs of former K-Line cars in the Williams line. They are charging twice as much as they were charging 10 to 15 years ago. 

Andrew 

There are Insulated box cars and Refrigerator cars built by FRUIT GROWERS EXPRESS that were common for years on railroads, but have only been produced in N and HO scales not O scale. 

Andrew

AMCDAVE, that car looks great!

Dave,

GREAT work!  There are O scale PFE reefers out there for us less skilled folks to buy, but a FGE reefer would be different.  I never realized none were made on O.

CAPPilot posted:

Dave,

GREAT work!  There are O scale PFE reefers out there for us less skilled folks to buy, but a FGE reefer would be different.  I never realized none were made on O.

Thanks.....your sample photo would be perfect reefer for Menard's to produce....produce...get it???

It is true that no Fruit Growers Express reefers have been made by the 3-rail manufacturers, but they are out there in O-scale if you look for them.  Consider attending a 2-rail O-scale show if there is one close enough to you.  In the East/Midwest, these shows are in Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland and Strasburg at least.

Here are two kit-built, formerly 2-rail O-scale FGEX cars.

The one on the left is an Athearn kit.  I added Atlas trucks/couplers and weathered it.

The one on the right is a Westbrook kit with Weaver trucks/couplers and weathering also added by me.

Two-rail O-scale shows are a great source of freight cars that not everybody else has in 3-rail.  I paid $15 each for the two cars above.  Nicely done kit-built cars usually sell for less than the price of the kits.  I don't understand why, but they do.

I have owned the pictured O-gauge Fruit Growers Express reefers for several years but never put them to work. They are sub-lettered for the ACL. But Fruit Growers Express, (located in Alexandria) manufactured and leased cars for several Eastern Roads including Pennsylvania, Seaboard , ACL and Southern RY. If I recall my history correctly all were joint owners of the MFG. Plant. MTH 40' models detailed pretty well and sprung trucks. Ice block hatches at 4 corners, insulated. 

I am talking about the Fruit Growers Express built cars ATHEARN and WALTHERS had produced in N and HO scale. 

Those were common for years, but have not been made in O scale. 

Andrew

The train forums went crazy for Menards when they offered KMT boxcars for $25.00! Really? Now we think it would be impossible for Menards to offer a scale DETAILED car for $45.00? 

I never thought the O-gauge hobby would accept fiberboard buildings with LED lighting that required a seperate power source, but we did. Why wouldn't Menards move to scale-detailed rolling stock, even if made from fiberboard or wood? Wood has been used for craftsman kits since the beginning of the hobby. I think Menards could make it happen if they wanted to. 

Looks like RMT is now into Menards freight car market. Why couldn't Menards get into the scale market? Seems like the right direction for them to go.