?Menards sets 2009?

[Boyd]

 I would settle for a DM&E engine and anything they would put behind it. Make it a banana shaped car for all I care.

[Seayakbill]

At our local Menards they had the Mernards set and the Enhardt NASCAR set out about a week before Thanksgiving. The Menards set sold out very quickly, the NASCAR set was still on the shelf after Christmas. The limited edition Menards flat with the Menards NASCAR stock car also sold out quickly, I got the last one. I agree that Menards probably does not get many of the limited editions per store and any employees into trains or NASCAR probably grab em before they get out of the backroom.

[rtraincollector]

I also remember this question being asked last year and it seems that the answer to what they had or were going to have should I say didn't come out till thanksgiving or later it seems they broke them out late I guess they didn't have a lot of sets to sell. Like maybe just the minium order amount

[brianel027]

Well Boyd, not to swing a hammer and shatter something, but I do think that would be a dream more appropriate for maybe a Service Station Set and not a department store. Lionel's strategy in placing sets in department stores is to reach newcomers, that is families with children. So that means compromises to keep a affordable price point, and compromises in content for play value.

A set of scale sized PS2 hoppers (unless this was new non-scale tooling) would hardly qualify as either newcomer play value or an affordable price point. Part of that "affordable" price point also means Lionel uses items that have already recouped their investment dollars, ie: usually tradtionally sized non-scale cars**. Though I suppose they could also use the MPC developed Standard 0 rolling stock. Bear in mind the last new rolling stock products developed for the traditionally sized, lower price range was almost 15 years ago, with the Waffle Box Car and the Spine TTUX Cars.

So dream on, but I'd say this is a very improbably dream for a department store kind of train set.

** The new 0-8-0 and Dockside steam engines of course are new tooling, but developed specifically to meet a low price point, and thus I think we will continue to see these items in many more starter sets in years to come so that they have a chance to recoup their investment costs.

[Boyd]

By chance is there any way of finding out what set or sets Menards will be selling this fall? In my dreams there would be a DM&E diesel set with 5 PS2 central discharge high side green CNW hoppers.