New Menards Track Inspection Set - Unboxing And Review

Episode 117: Unboxing the new Menards Track Inspection Set. What is it? How does it work? Is it worth it?
***Post-production Note:
After further inspection, it appears that the turnout/crossover issue is the guardrails on these pieces. I think these trucks will operate fine on frogless turnouts such as the Postwar Marx metal type O27 turnouts, the Pre-1952 Lionel O27 turnouts, or Prewar American Flyer O gauge turnouts.
Toy Train Tips And Tricks is a channel devoted to the operation, repair, history, and collecting of classic 3-rail O and O27 gauge trains made by Lionel, Marx, K-Line, Menards, and other manufacturers.
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[@markslioneltrains]

Great Review Mike.! 👍 "Variable Speed" would be my key words for Menards on this one. All and All for the fun factor for like you say Halloween or under the tree especially the small car. (I Like way better) BIG time fun factor with the lights and it's much slower. I guess with the track it may be worth it however I would not buy one. I was just at Menards after work today picking up another Intermodal Car (Black) I ordered and they have everything trains back out on the Main Floor here as well. BIG👍On your Menards Short. Thanks for saving me the $50 bucks on this one.! Have a great weekend.! 😊

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Thanks for the comments. I guess I bought this one so you don't have to! :-)

[@MESA-East-Model-RR]

We have to give Menards some credit for trying something new and being aggressive getting into the hobby. A few tweaks and they might have something there.

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Yeah - a good start. They could ditch the track and "bonus car" and make an improved truck for the same price and have a real hit on their hands.

[@MESA-East-Model-RR]

@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Good thinking and agreed completely that one solid car is better than two mediocre ones. BTW, speed control was also an issue on their BETA1 of the SF F Unit. They did improve on that, so I suspect they will do the same here.

[@railchief74]

I would also like to see some realistic road names next time

[@mdkiriazis2210]

I found that Menards sells Tech Trax roadway sets with battery powered cars that look compatible with the red Track Inspection car. They are in the Tech Trax ($9) and the Tech Trax Deluxe Glow see ($18). I posted photos in the Menards O/HO Train Stuff group. The roadway can be used to guid car traffic on a layout or for a holiday display.

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

That's an excellent tip! Thanks for sharing!

[@paulbervid1610]

Great review

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Thank you!

[@DENVERRIOGRANDEMAN21]

Look like those knock off toys at dollar store

[@johnhawthorne9717]

Got one , looking to get flatcar with "REA" (railway express agency ) truck , and swap bodies, maybe add resistor , to slow it down.

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Nice idea!

[@johnknippenberg-LandmarkYards]

Probably 100mph scale speed on the M&M truck! Maybe used batteries would tone it down some? Excellent review, thanks.

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

I've thought about that. I think the remote circuit probably requires 4.5 volts (3 batteries). It MAY be possible to add a resistor between the board and the motor. I haven't opened it up yet.

[@OldIronVideo]

If they sold just the truck in normal paint by itself id buy it

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Agreed.

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

Instead of a pack of track and a cheap remote control both of the cars should be track powered and you can control the speed with the Transformer so it's not going 100 miles an hour until it goes flying off the train table. You could have like two Bridges representing to freeways with the curves connecting the two of them and they go over the layout and they go into a tunnel and come out the other side

[@brandtfj]

this product is totally to market buying tons of batteries

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

:-)

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

Look how ridiculously tall the 031 track is compared to the truck. The rail is almost as tall as the wheel on the truck. After facing out standard gauge Lionel would use standard gauge Rail and ties and make 031 radius track out of it. O27 profile track from any manufacturer looks better because it's more into scale. These vehicles should be track powered. They should come as regular painted car and truck as well it would make good background scenery to have running traffic

[@chicagolandrailroader]

Very weird little set, my only problem aside from the switch derailments would be the fact you can't control the speed very well. Still looks fun.

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

I think they will run okay on Marx switches. The flanges are too shallow to catch the guardrails. I agree about the speed.

[@ronalddevine9587]

I don't think this is worth much. They should have put more into it, put a LionChief type of remote control and metal wheels. Menard's seems to be messing up quite a lot. I've seen complaints about the F units, freight cars with poor trucks, and track not gauged properly.

[@clerenyvald8385]

Think of it this way; it's an attempt to blend Mike's Train House Super Streets style vehicles, where one can be controlled with a traditional transformer for constant traffic patterns, and a blend of Lionel's Lionchief radio control so you can interact with traffic at your leisure. Maybe to some it's not perfect, but we're hobbists right? If we have some Super streets track that would make it more realistic and stable, or some paint and decals to change the appearance of the Jeep to a Railroad Police inspection vehicle, or want to live out some Evil Kanevil with the MPC-era draw bridge, it's what we do. I would buy just to have some real action to go along with all the parked Menard's die-cast cars to keep it interesting. Menard's, can we get a Jack Links boxtruck in the same style please?

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Excellent points. Thanks for watching!

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

The new track is made i n 0-3 6 so you can use ho track plans. It's a shame they don't make their track in the smaller o27 profile and just have different radius of that track. Marks had various diameters of their track and Jer track also had five ties p e r he's making it look more realistic. My smartphone is very stupid pardon the grammar

[@scpvrr]

Thanks for the review. Doesn’t look like a go for me.

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Thanks for watching!

[@Flyingscotproductions]

You could probably fit it with a knuckle coupler and have it pull a boxcar

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Doubtful. If I add any more weight it won't pull itself.

[@Shipwright1918]

Kitbashing material, methinks.

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Could be. Disassembly of the truck is quite simple.

[@Shipwright1918]

@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Off the top of my head, I'd redo the back end to make it look more like a hirail truck, throw a little crane boom and maybe a stack of ties on the bed.

[@Engine1988]

Every now and then one of my trains just gets crabby at a turnout.

[@plunkervillerr1529]

For layout autos and trucks of O gage, what is the best scale to use? I`ve used matchbox and hot wheels 1/64 scale.

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

It depends. If you run Marx or Lionel's smaller O27 equipment (Scout and Semi-scout, etc) then 1/64 works well. If you run mostly larger stuff (Traditional Lionel 6464 boxcars, Menards, MTH, etc) 1/48 or even 1/43 works well. I run a mix of both. When my new layout is completed, the bottom level will feature mainly 1/48 structures and vehicles and O42 curves, while the upper level will feature O27 curves and 1/64 structures and vehicles. As long as similar-size items are near each other, the brain blends everything together into a single reality.

[@conraillock1299]

The truck is runs with the remote the car runs by itself

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Correct.

[@dansledepot107]

Not a fan of the battery power. When I saw this video pop up, I was hoping they revived the Superstreets electric vehicles.

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Williams by Bachmann makes the Super Streets items - now called EZ Street shop.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=491_599

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

It is a shame they did not put a driver in the cab of the truck or in the driver seat of the car. On my way out all of the cars that are on the road or stopped at a railroad crossing have a driver and passengers. After all cars don't drive themselves except for Christine.

[@dacfile275]

do both trucks work off remote. only our yellow one. the red one just goes full speed no remote control. also zero instructions

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Yes. Only the yellow one is remote. The small car just turns on and runs.

[@MarkNieting]

Looks like the car doesn’t handle facing point turnouts set to curve..

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

The flanges are too shallow to catch the guardrails. It WILL work on Marx metal "frogless" turnouts.

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

It is a shame instead of regular track they should have had Super Street track

[@davidjenkins1484]

Nothing good to say so won't say anything. Price would be right at ~ $15.00.

[@dennisneo1608]

$49 is too much?? You come to Australia to check our ludicrous prices.

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

:-o

[@jodysmith8048]

The box truck looks ok but the Jeep looks like a cheap Chinese toy from Dollar General I get what Menards was trying to do here and it's all about keeping them affordable but if affordable means we get something like this from Menards that's borderline a cheap Chinese toy that you'd find from Dollar General that doesn't give anyone high hopes for anything else that Menards would release like this I think Menards did this set to try to pacify people because I think they might be having problems getting the F7 to full 100% production and that I think that this inspection vehicle set might have been their excuse to kind of sweep F7 under the rug which to me if that is the case one has to wonder about Menards with what's actually going on

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Good comments. It's hard to say what's going on with supplies and production. Maybe the chip shortage is impacting F7 production. Thanks for watching!

[@jodysmith8048]

@@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks Your welcome

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

You're going to need lots of batteries. It wasn't for nothing that the first words I read off the television we're Batteries Not Included. That's life in a nutshell Batteries Not Included.

[@magnuswettermark8293]

Looks like toys for 4 years old kids..👎

[@ToyTrainTipsAndTricks]

Well, the title of the channel IS "toy" trains. Everyone has their taste. Thanks for watching.

[@billschultz7459]

No thanks Menard's.

[@mikeashely8198]

Looks a little cheap to me hope you didn't pay a lot besides I quit eating M&M's I going to the other brand