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Post by santafe49 on May 29, 2015 17:07:03 GMT -8
We all know the formula for weighting HO cars, 1 oz + 1/2 oz per inch of car length. But how would you figure the amount of weight to add to a 40', 45', 48' or 53' container in the lower position in a well car? Or a container or trailer on a spine car? By my way of thinking, it would mean weighing each well car separately with the two containers that would be in the well to obtain the lite weight. Then add enough weight to the bottom container to bring the whole thing up to the required amount. Does anyone have a different system to figure the required weight? I am asking to try and resolve a problem i am having with the well cars tipping over as they round a curve. They then dump the top container off the car. I also was wondering if permanently attaching each stack of containers together might also help?
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Post by atsfan on May 29, 2015 17:21:51 GMT -8
I would put at least an ounce of weight in some and try it. I have some containers which I glued together and that works well also.
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Post by Christian on May 30, 2015 2:35:17 GMT -8
Load up your wells with pennies until they track ok. Then divy between containers.
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Post by lajrmdlr on May 30, 2015 7:06:34 GMT -8
The trick to adding weight to well cars, spine cars & pig flats is to do it so any weight added has the lowest center of gravity possible. I.e. if using pennies to containers, don't stack them but spread them across the floor. Don't ever add weight to trailers because they WILL tip over on curves!
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Post by SantaFeSammy on May 30, 2015 7:15:39 GMT -8
I've used all sorts of methods. I've even used 2 or 3 ounces of lead shot followed by some diluted white glue. That was for some containers that live in an old Athearn gunderson 5 pack since those are light to begin with.
But, like Andy said, the lower - the better.
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Post by riogrande on May 30, 2015 8:17:49 GMT -8
The trick to adding weight to well cars, spine cars & pig flats is to do it so any weight added has the lowest center of gravity possible. I.e. if using pennies to containers, don't stack them but spread them across the floor. Don't ever add weight to trailers because they WILL tip over on curves! So with the "don't add weight to trailers" idea in mind, I've got a puzzler for you. I bought one of those Front Range Southern 50' flat cars at a train show, the kind that Southern converted from box cars to TOFC flat cars. They look a bit like the Walthers 53' GSC flat cars that are set up for TOFC service although there are no guard rails on the sides. These flat cars were converted from 50' box cars by the Southern Rwy shops for TOFC service and appear to have the top removed and just made use of the box car frame and partial floor, part of the floor appears to be just a frame so you can see though to the tracks. The model model imitates that so there isn't really any good place to hide a weight, nor does the model come with one. So if you assemble the flat car it is very light, too light! The F-R kit comes with a 45' Brae trailer and there is a weight, I assume, you can hide inside the body of the trailer as there is no space for it between the body and frame of the flat car that I could see. Of course I added metal wheels, which adds some weight but the body of the flat car is still very light and kind of floats on the trucks without any weight to speak of to hold it down. My guess is the only way to add weight to the body of the flat car is to turn it upsidedown and hide some sort of moldable weight or fill the voids (where possible) with lead shot, and glue it in place maybe with white glue. I could of course weight the trailer that rides on the flat car, but as noted above, thats not recommended, but there isn't a lot of choice here unless a MR company decides to offer the Southern 50' TOFC flat car with a cast metal body.
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Post by santafe49 on May 31, 2015 17:39:54 GMT -8
I have some A-Line 1/4 oz stick on lead weights and some A-Line sheet lead. I have put 1 oz in each container, so we will se how the cars track. Ans a Big and, hope the light container stacked on top will stay put and not lean over and fall off. One question. Why would it be advised NOT to put weight on the trailer floors over the tandems and Kingpin?? Are they sitting to high over the center of gravity to remain stable?
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Post by Dear Leader on May 31, 2015 18:22:03 GMT -8
The trick to adding weight to well cars, spine cars & pig flats is to do it so any weight added has the lowest center of gravity possible. I.e. if using pennies to containers, don't stack them but spread them across the floor. Don't ever add weight to trailers because they WILL tip over on curves! I strongly disagree with not adding weight to trailers. I run my BNSF Z train using Bowser and Athearn spine cars, Athearn and Walthers 89' flats and always put a 1/2 ounce stick of weight on the nose of every trailer. I do this so the trailers don't bounce off the fifth wheel when the cars hit a bad piece of track. Never has any of my cars or trailers tipped over. My trains are over 40' long, carry over forty five plus trailers, pulled by six of Overland's finest. The metal spine cars keep the center of gravity low, and the extra weight is a plus. Add weight to the nose, you'll be better for it. Nothing is as beautiful as a model trailer train winding it's way around a layout. One of life's simple pleasures that makes life worth while. I know of what I speak, and we shall speak of it no more.
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Post by edwardsutorik on May 31, 2015 20:24:21 GMT -8
...and we shall speak of it no more. Yeah. Right. Sure. I have found that "even" weighting throughout a train is a good thing. Light cars at the front--bad. Heavy cars at the back--bad. I have also found that, for a particular train, there is not a "right" weight. I've run a train of Amtrak Superliners with NO weight. Just plastic. Worked great. All by itself. So. I weighed a whole buncha intermodal stuff. I found that there are light cars and heavy cars. The heavy cars tend to be Walthers metal cars. BUT. I also found that even these don't make NMRA weight. So, what I did was decide that the "new improved" weighting plan was that a properly weighted car was a heavy car with an as-is (no added weight) load. If I have a not-heavy car (most of them, really), I add containers or trailers with weight; such that the total weight (load plus car) match the heavy cars (with no-added weight loads) just mentioned. So, what I've got, in a way, is an NMRA-light system for weighting intermodal. Offered for your utility, Ed
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Post by Dear Leader on Jun 1, 2015 16:15:32 GMT -8
For double stack trains I use the following, I weigh the bottom containers, 1.5oz for 40'plus containers and .75oz each, for twenty foot containers. For the plastic Kato Maxi IV's, I use 2oz in bottom containers . I use metal wheels on all my trucks, and use the tool to clean out the axle points on the trucks. I use only KD couplers. Never had a issue with cars derailing or falling over. For me, I have found the NMRA weight tables of no use for articulated intermodal cars. Hope this is of some value.
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