Light Weight Intermodal Well Cars

[D&J RailRoad]

I've been running long intermodal cars on the empire, i.e. 50 wells and more. They have been working great as long as ya have a weighted container in the well. Running them empty, ya have to put the plastic bodies on the end so the train doesn't straight line on the 48" radii curves I have.
Try to back a train up with any empty wells near the loco and you can count on derailments as the feather weight cars just can't stay on the rails. Sorta like tryin to push a wet string.
Plastic is OK for when ya have just the single 5 unit well cars being pulled by the Thomas Tank. Real cute for the kiddies.
I recently decided I'm gonna glean all these lightweight cars out of the roster and replace them with metal bodied well cars. Walthers sells em and I thought Atlas had some.
I placed an order with TrainWorld last week for 7 sets of the metal bodied cars. The box arrived today. In there was a 5 unit Athearn set, but they were plastic bodied. Not sure how I missed the absence of the detail of metal body in the description.

 

[CambriaArea51]

Never had good luck with the Athearn well cars. The 3 car spine are good. Most of my well cars are Walthers and Kato. I haven't had a chance to get any Atlas, that's one I like to get.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

The Atlas won't have their three unit metal body intermodals out till Dec 2024 which actually means, Jun 2025.

 

[Rico]

I have a few light well cars too. My solution although not pretty is to add sheet weights when running empty.

 

[GGNInNScale]

I take my containers, drill a small hole in the bottom toward one end. Enlarge the hole carefully until it will pass a BB. The walls are brittle, so be patient. Then, add BBs, and TiteBond glue (it has a much higher viscosity than white glue). Add BBs until the combined weight of the well car and the container(s) are correct for NMRA standards. Shake the container to spread out the glue (the BBs stop rattling). For me, a 20 foot container is about 14.5 grams, and a 40 foot container is about 29 grams. Then I fill the hole with plastic putty, smooth with a thin spatula and a really light mist of water. Paint if needed.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

We're talkin about empty well cars and their ability to track well when backing a long intermodal.

 

[Smudge617]

I thought about putting a painted lead or metal plate in the bottom of the empty car, but then it would look like a gondola

 

[D&J RailRoad]

I thought about putting a painted lead or metal plate in the bottom of the empty car, but then it would look like a gondola

Yeah, the view of the tracks below is part of the deal.

 

[GGNInNScale]

I missed the "empty', sorry. Yep, I gave up trying to back empties into the yard. There is really no place to put any weight in the well or under the frame ends. Hence- I only run them loaded.

 

[D&J RailRoad]