Track review - Lionel vs Menards

Adding another note to the Lionel vs Menards, I just purchased a few Menards freight cars to go with my Lionel 2343 set.  They look nice, but have some quality control issues.  I had to remove and loosen at least 1 wheelset on most of the cars before they could even roll, but they do at least roll smoothly now and have metal wheels.  The metal couplers work fine with the classic Lionel, but some of the Menards freight cars instead come with a cheaper plastic coupler.

The plastic couplers are some of the worst I've ever used in any scale, and wouldn't even connect to the metal ones until I filed them down!  The latch system is weak, so freight cars with these plastic couplers should be placed towards the back of the train.  If you're looking to purchase any, make sure to look at them in store first.  The biggest visual difference is that the metal couplers have a large blackened steel plate on the bottom of each truck, which is used for releasing the knuckle, while the plastic ones have a small post with a magnetic disk on the bottom.