Menards Q&A

Hi Everyone,

I’m sure many of you have seen our ads in Classic Toy Trains before and we would like to take this opportunity to become invoved in the Classic Toy Trains online community. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask and I will try to respond as soon as I can.

Thank you!
Mark the Menards Train Guy

Visit www.menards.com/trains to see our full selection of O gauge train stuff!

Welcome Mark.

There’s not much traffic here but I will be happy to follow along.

Will you be showing Menards newest offerings as well?

S.J.

Welcome aboard Mark, stop in and “chew the fat” with us anytime, or just look in from time to time, you’ll be amazed what you can learn here.

Thank you, Sir James I!

Currently, we are releasing 1-2 train items each week and there is always an element of excitement that builds for release days. I would love to share that excitement with the CTT community!

I also know Bob Keller does a great job sharing our newest products via his blog as well as Bob’s Train Box. We love watching his videos and reading his articles.

Thank you,
Mark the Menards Train Guy

[#welcome]

[#welcome] aboard!

Any truth to the rumors that Menards is considering opening a store in Brooklyn Ohio? (Suburban Cleveland)

Becky

Hi Becky,

That is a good question. Unfortunately, I dont have an anwer for you.

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

Mark,

Thank you for joining this group as well. I appreciate your ads in CTT. Probably you may or may not be allowed to answer this question, but I will ask anyway. Are there any plans down the road for Menards to sell any motive power or even RTR sets? You have rolling stock, track and buildings. Thank you for whatever attention you can render on this matter.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

Hi Mike,

We appreciate your support!

We typically have a couple O and HO gauge ready-to-run sets in our stores during the holiday season. We’ve been selling train sets from Lionel and other distinguised companies for years and the response has always been great.

I feel you may be asking if we intend to produce RTR sets ourselves. Unfortunately, we do not have plans to produce our own at this time. Thanks for asking though!

-Mark the Menards Train Guy

Hi Mark. Thanks for joining us! I’ve purchased several pieces of rolling stock from Menard’s (even though I work for your “Orange” competitor!) and I look forward to the new releases. Being a Canadian, I especially appreciate the CN items. Aside from the NS and BNSF flatcars, will there be any plans to release more modern era road names to compliment the Fallen Flag ones? Also, I’ve always been curious if the Menard family has a personal interest in toy trains,since it’s a rather unique product for a home improvement retailer to get into.

Thank you, robmcc!

I don’t expect the orange store to make model trains anytime soon but if they do, good luck to them! J

While you are you are correct, trains are a unique item to be sold in a home improvement store, it makes perfect sense when you discover our history. Our owner, John, has been a life-long hobbyist and it’s that passion that drives our endeavors within the model train hobby.

I think we can all agree that this hobby is becoming very expensive for the average person and we aim to provide quality items at a reasonable price and the buying power of Menards helps us accomplish that feat.

We do have a few Canadian items that are close to completion, so keep an eye out! I’m sure you will also see more modern era road names pop up shortly. The Fallen Flag road names have been our bread and butter but I agree that

Hello Mark, I have ordered a few Menard’s cars and they look very good. Maybe you can expand the roadnames some but otherwise you are doing a good job.

Hey Mark, I recently purchased two of your US Army tank cars, the sound effects are a gas! Has me in stitches every time I push the button!

Of course, being a former Marine I have to confess those US Army markings on the products are no more. Gotta root for the home team ya’ know!

Hey Firelock being a retired Navy I also would like to see Navy and Marine Corps markings on some items.

If Menards gets enough feedback I’m sure they’ll get around to it.

Hey, how about a Parris Island boxcar with a push-button that triggers R. Lee Ermey quotes from “Full Metal Jacket?”

Uhhhh, now that I think about it, maybe not.

I would love to see Menards buy out all the RMT stuff and start making Bangs and Beeps. It would be perfect. [Y]

The Beeps will probably show up again sometime, from somebody. RMT was the last outfit to make them, the first was (I think) an outfit called KMT.

I’ve got six Beeps, two of them are the special run Marine Beeps (with caboose) and I have to say RMT did their homework on those two. The first engine was numbered 1775, the second 1798, which correspond to the founding of the Continental Marines during the Revolutionary War, they were disbanded when the war ended, and then the date of the re-establishment of the Marines.

All the Beeps are good pullers. Seem like you put two or more together and they’ll pull anything!

How about push a button and it fires a rocket like the old 3665

How about General Oliver Smith’s statement during the Chosin Reservoir campaign?

“We’re not retreating, we’re attacking in another direction!”

Or, and no-one knows who came up with this one, but it’s deathless…

“WHAT? It wasn’t like that in the Old Corps!”

Or even a riddle…

How many Marines does it take to change a light bulb?

NONE! Marines ain’t afraid of the dark!

I’ll go quietly…

I love the ideas! Keep them coming! -Mark the Menards Train Guy