A few years ago (2008-2011) I lived in Sheboygan, Wisconsin while managing a Little Caesar’s restaurant. During my stay there, I went to a Menards store that had been built either right outside the city or on its outskirts. Anyway, when Christmas approached, I found they sold a few trains and accessories there. To me, it looked like they had ordered a few specially-made items from Lionel. I don’t know if I imagined it or not, but I could have sworn all the cars had Built by Lionel (or Blt by Lionel) on them. When I started seeing ads in CTT for Menards trains, I assumed they were all made by Lionel.
Here’s the reason for my post:
While reading “Editor’s Desk with Carl Swanson” in the January 2016 issue, I noticed Mr. Swanson states, “When you include the contributions of Atlas O, Williams by Bachmann, M.T.H. Electric Trains, and recently Menards, it’s clear we enjoy an almost infinite variety of locomotives, rolling stock, and accessories.”
Does Menards now manufacture locomotives, rolling stock, and accessories themselves? Do they not just contract Lionel to do it all like I thought they did?
I have some of the Menards stuff. Although they do sell Lionel package trains and use the Lionel sign on some of their buildings,. The cars I have got from them are not Lionel. I do not think that Menards manufactures any of the O scale product they sell but do have them special made by someone for their offerings. (maybe Lionel,but I don’t think so) Some of the buildings are Woodland Scenics products changed for the Menards offer some are someone else.
As far as I know they sell only rolling stock, Never seen any motive power units from them.
100% are NOT Lionel? I guess my memory is getting faulty in my old age.
What do you mean by, “Golden Wheel Die Cast”? Is that the name of a company?
When Bachmann bought out Williams, wouldn’t Bachmann own all of Williams’ assets?..or did Williams sell off their molds to Golden Wheel Die Cast first?
They are of Chinese(Hong Kong) manufacture by Golden Wheel Die Castand are clones of Williams, as well as what appears to be clones of several other brands and rolling stock.
KADER owns the Williams tooling. It has obviously been copied.
Speaking of what I have seen in years past at our store, there was some Lionel, both cars and a starter set, along with Woodland Scenics buildings. I know they started producing thier own tubular track since Lionel discontinued it. The owners of Menards are O gauge modelers, thus the trains and the rise of a new line of track. Mike
Lionel stopped producing tubular track? I’m amazed! I’d noticed all their sets had FasTrack, but I hadn’t realized they’d stopped making O27 and O track altogether.
Your memory is not faulty Frank. Back when Menards first started dabbling in trains during the winter season, well more than a decade ago, 100% of the items stocked were manufactured by Lionel. They did try to feature Midwestern railroads like the Soo Line and the C&NW, but they were Lionel sets. After awhile Menards moved to adding special Menard’s themed cars to the Lionel sets. Now they seem to have launched a line of their own. If I weren’t a Flyer guy, I’d be excited.
For sure, you have no memory issues if you are thinking of the older sets and years past offerings, the Lionel branded sets & equipment were made by Lionel, but the recent Menards branded stuff is not. The “O” items made by Lionel were clearly marked or identified as such.
Thanks guys! I thought I’d stepped into the Twilight Zone for a moment, because I was so sure I’d seen the Lionel name on the train stuff at Menards when I first visited their store in (or near) Sheboygan. I’d never expected to see trains, magazines, nor DVDs at a store that I thought was going to be just like The Home Depot or Lowes—yet that stuff was all being sold there!
Though my interest has switched primarily to tinplate trains and accessories, I have to say that the Lionel starter sets Menard’s sold five years ago were responsible for renewing my interest (and my son’s) in O-27 layout building. The Woodland Scenic’s buildings offered by Menard’s the last few years adorn my layout. This year my wife purchased all their military rolling stock in honor of our two sons who serve as infantrymen for our nation. I have been conditioned now to make special trips to Menard’s at the end of October to see what the new holiday season’s train related items are for sale. A blessed Christmas everyone!
I stopped by my local Menards a couple of days ago to look at the $7.99 ($4.99 with rebate) flat cars. There was a platsic tray of them - about 20 or so. Clearly the price is very modest - but I was a little disappointed with the quality. A couple of cars had bound trucks - and all of them had wheels that were not smooth / polished. Since the ends of the axle sort of “bounce around” in slots in the plastic truck sides, they had a lot of play in them. I thought about getting a couple for my 2YO but decided to take a pass. I applaud their jumping into this space - but personally I wish they were a bit more expensive but of higher quality.
I didn’t buy any of the sealed one they had (such as the military flatcars) - has anyone found they are of similar quality or are they manufactured differently?
I did buy some of the track they had - will post a separate thread on that in the next few days after a bit more experience with it…
One thing we can all agree on, Menard’s certainly has stepped into the hobby in a big way, filling the void left from the exit of some long time manufacturers. They certainly are not the same-ol-same-ol with the their product line. Are they collector quality? Heck no. Do they have play value? Yep. (Gotta love the military and rocket flats). Do you get what you pay for? Of course. Can you tinker with them and make them better? With a little effort, yes. (And you’ll probably read it on future threads.)
K-Line certainly got better over time. In the meantime, I like Menard’s approach to our hobby.
Completely agree - I commend them for a continuing (and growing) commitment. Perhaps more on the retailing side than even the manufacturing side. Is there a bigger retailer that regularly stocks Lionel / O gauge items around the holidays?
I agree that for the current price point you cannot find anything close. The cost of even “basic” Lionel equipment has more than outpaced inflation and, I would think, keeps (or certainly doesn’t attract) portions of the “next generation” from taking it up. Cheaper alternatives are IMHO a necessary part of this hobby, as not everyone has want (or financial means) for the more superior products. My suggestion is more one of whether the price point of those cars are too low. In aggregate would customers be willing to pay, say, $10 a car (instead of $5) for something that has a bit more fit, finish, and durability.
I think selling a shoddy product for $5 hurts the hobby more than anything. Doubling the cost to $10 is 100% markup, but I think it would be worth it to have good rolling wheels. Back in the early 90s, I got back into the hobby. At the time, I saw ads for K-Line trains. They seemed to offer quite a lot of stuff for very reasonable prices. Upon close inspection, it was obvious their quality wasn’t in the same category as Lionel’s. Basic features weren’t satisfactorily produced. Many of the knuckle couplers simply did NOT work. Some kept opening, some wouldn’t open, and only a handful actually worked well consistently. Some of the trucks didn’t turn smoothly. The gondolas came with crates that had bottoms (unlike Lionel’s bottomless canisters). The crate bottoms were problematic, because they wouldn’t rest flatly on the unrecessed bolt holding the trucks. Duh??? One could balance the end crates on the bolts (as K-Line did in their front, inside cover ads), but the crates would move and rest unevenly as soon as the engine pulled them. Despite my initial disappointment, I took a chance and joined their K-Line Collector’s Club to get the club car. I wanted to find out whether the die-cast, sprung trucks and couplers the club car had were any better. As it turned out, they were. The newsletter, “K-Line Connection” promised improvements were coming soon to their entire line—separately applied ladders, brake wheels, under-carriage detailing, etc. Although I don’t remember them mentioning it, they did improve their couplers too. The superior quality of their club car gave me a good feeling that perhaps they WERE seriously attempting to improve—at least I knew they were capable of doing a good job. Luckily for them, I took a chance when I joined their club. If I hadn’t, I would have stopped buying their products.
I would say of the Menards rolling stock I have, comparing it to the Lionel rolling stock I have and both are made in China the Menards is every bit as good if not better on the cars with the diecast spring trucks. Detail is better in some cases. As for the Menards $7.99 flat cars with the plastic trucks to me Lionel’s MPC were just as bad. Even worse on detail. So I am very pleased with the value of the Manards offers and find it a bright light in my limited cash flow I have to spend on my trains. When I can get two or three cars for the price of one Lionel. I am all in.
Overall in my experience, Lionel through the years has produced plenty of shoddy product and still are in some lines. So best to check before you buy any product.