If your industrial park or big city needs a power boost, Menards has you covered with a three pack of electrical towers.
While doing research, I learned that the industry term for this item is a transmission tower, at least in the United States. The towers are usually made from steel, and support overhead power lines to transmit high-voltage electricity along long distances.
This particular product is a lattice design, suspension tower. It has four feet, three-crossed arms with four insulators each, and an obelisk-shaped peak.
Prototypical towers vary widely in height, from 50 to 150 feet. At 11 inches tall, these scale to 44 feet in 1:48 scale, so they are undersized. Scaling large items can be difficult, even a “smaller” scale item like this can easily dominate a scene. Their smaller size could benefit S scale modelers, as they are closer to scale.
The towers are lightweight and quite detailed, so use caution when handling. It didn’t take much for me to accidentally break off one of the insulators. Because they are fragile, think about their placement on your layout before installing them. You’d want them in a location where you won’t be reaching around them or anywhere they could get bumped.
One of the three towers in the package isn’t quite true as one of the feet isn’t level. This isn’t a big deal. Add a bit of tacky glue or a tiny blob of poster putty to level it out. Most likely, you’d use glue to attach them, and the tiny difference wouldn’t be noticeable.
While I like the fresh-from-the-factory look of these towers, it would be fun to try and weather them a bit with spray can paint. You could add some rust with weathering chalks or Pan Pastel color pigments near the feet or joints. Add a maintenance worker near the scene, perhaps having them look like they’re making a repair.
Prototypical towers are typically spaced between 900-1,500 feet apart (which scales to 18-31 feet apart). When placing these on your layout, you may want to space them closer. Hardly anyone has that kind of real estate, and it would look strange with that kind of gap between them. Experiment and choose a distance that looks right to you.
These towers are a common sight across the U.S,. and could be used in both urban and rural settings. Most any layout owner could find a place for them.
Note: Menards is currently out of stock on the towers, but per an email to me dated November 14, 2025, more are in production, arriving sometime in January 2026. I suggest checking their website and/or signing up for their weekly emails to keep tabs on product information.
Menards electrical towers (275-9485)
MSRP: $24.99
Website: menards.com/trains
