Atlas 48' Well Cars

[dlobmwm3]

Does anyone know the turning radius required for these cars. I have an inner and outter loop (24" and 22" radius) repectively and they have a hard time turning. What other brands will make the turns? Any help is appreciated.

 

[UP2CSX]

Due to the trucks being so close to the well car underframe, these cars do require larger curves. 22" is too small. Atlas recommends a 24" minimum but that assumes a perfectly laid curve and that the cars are weighted correctly. If yours aren't making it around 24" curves, I suggest you check the trackwork for any kinks, low, or high spots. One half to one ounce of extra weight will also help. It's obviously better if you have 26" or larger curves but you should be able to make these cars run reliably around a 24" curve.

 

[dlobmwm3]

What about the Kato Gunderson well cars that come in a pack of 3? Will they make the turn?

 

[jbaakko]

Kato says 22". The Kato cars are cast metal, thus weighing more, thus they might be better off. Maybe.
http://modelrailroadtips.com/index.php?op=Articles;article=216

 

[UP2CSX]

I forgot to add that you should also check the wheels to make sure they are all centered and in gauge. Atlas has had a real problem with out of gauge wheels on their freight cars.

 

[Larry]

I made all my well cars to turn on shorter curves. You might not want to do what I did.
I ground off the coupler pockets on each side w/a Dremel tool & a small metal grinding wheel. That way the trucks have more space to turn. You have to be real careful when doing this to not grind off tooo much. I've been doing this on a lot of my cars lately. Some of the axels were way out of gauge before I got started. I pressed some back in place & some I had to spread the wheels a little w/my Micro-Mark wheel puller.
Some people don't like to change the appearance of the underside of their cars because of the appearance of not being prototype. I also had to add weights to some of the cars by adding a strip of sheetmetal under the body of the cars & glueing it on. Only did that to the cars w/solid bottoms. On the open bottom cars I added weights to the containers.

Larry