There have been a couple of threads talking about the various cars and buildings Menards is offering this Christmas, so I thought I would start one about the tubular O gauge track they are now manufacturing.
As a quick setup: I went to two local Menards stores in the Chicago suburbs over the past few days – buying about 8 pieces each of straight (retailing for $1.99) and curved (retailing for $2.99) sections. Each store had one box (perhaps 30 pieces to a box) of each. Some pieces had been bought from each box at both stores, but not a lot. I wanted to add a few straight pieces to my layout anyway, so I hooked those into my basement floor layout and have been running with them for about a week. My observations are as follows:
- The straight track seems to be of the same thickness and strength of metal as Lionel’s current tubular track. Although I don’t have a micrometer to verify this, it seems to me that they are made of equivalent sheet metal. The curved pieces seemed to be similarly manufactured– however, in the store I had to sort through some curve pieces that were a bit “loose” in their ties.
- The width of the splayed section at the bottom of each rail is a tad wider than Lionel track. This has the unfortunate side effect of making the “outside of outside rail to inside of middle rail” distance too wide to accept LockOns – they just won’t engage and immediately pop off, even with a bit of finagling and bending of the LockOn’s middle rail clip.
- The surface of the track is significantly rougher than Lionel track. It was true of every piece and at both stores. Even compared to some of my old track that’s been banging around loose in boxes since the Truman administration, the rails have more little scratches and imperfections in them. They’re certainly not big enough to catch on anything and from observation don’t seem to generate any more sparking with collectors than my old track, but over time I imagine they’ll attract dirt and grime more easily.
Given the above, I decided to return the curved sections (which I hadn’t yet used) and keep the straights – but I don’t think I’ll be buying any more of this run. Compared to new Lionel track, the price differential on the curves isn’t that much – and on the straights, it’s not enough to make me want to add more to my layout to save a few dollars.
I sincerely applaud Menards on their getting into the market – but I’ll be more interested next year if they can make a few tweaks to their manufacturing process. What do others think?
IT consultant by day, 3rd generation Lionel guy (raising a 3YO 4th generation Lionel Lil' Man) by night in the suburbs of the greatest city in the world - Chicago. Home of the ever-changing Illinois Concretus Ry.
