Loading & Weighting Rolling Stock

[TrinityJayOne]

A little while back I found some posts where someone had made a great picture tutorial on adding loads to open cars such as hoppers. I searched & searched & searched but for the life of me I can't find them again. It involved creating a mini table-like platform out of balsa that sits in the car, which you then cover in the material of choice. It looks like a full load but is actually hollow underneath, and is removable.

Now, I have a set of five NP hoppers that I'd like to do this with-

(You'll have to ask the yard crew how the D&RGW one got in there )

Top view taken from the Atlas website-

The problem with the system described above is that it doesn't really add any weight, which is something these cars could do with. They still track ok as they are, but if they're going to look loaded they should feel loaded as well. In the tutorial they lined the car with cling wrap before fixing the load to the table, and it occured to me that you could potentially do this to the entire car then fill it with ore and glue it, creating a heavier, moulded load that can still be removed. There's a park in my area that has very fine gravel I could borrow and crush down as necessary so cost wouldn't be a concern.

Another option I thought of is to line the car with cling wrap again but fill it part way up with acryllic, possibly with a weight suspended in there, and then put the thin layer of ore on top of that. The idea is that you have a moulded weight that won't rattle around, rather than using just a weight that would need to be permanently glued in.

What do you guys generally do for this sort of thing? Does anyone actually use loose materials?

 

[NH Mike]

Easy with a hopper car. Just drop in whatever you want to use for weight like some 1/4 inch or 5/16 steel hex nuts or anything else that will fit down into each bay section until you get the car up to the recommended NMRA weight. A small dob if silicone sealer will hold them in place if you're worried about them moving around and you'll be able to pull them back out at a later date if needed. Chooch and others make plastic and resin "loads" that are only the top and fit into the hoppers. These just drop in and I've never found a reason to glue them. They're made for specific brand and type of models like Walthers and Athearn, etc.

A piece of sheet styrene cut to fit the top of a hopper can be a base for a ballast or stone load when you glue that material down on it. This is also a good way to simulate a partially empty hopper instead of the usual peaked load inserts.

 

[TrinityJayOne]

Hmmm nuts hey...that could work!

What do these pre-made loads look like? I also have two small 70T ore cars that came with pre-installed plastic loads that look pretty cheap.

 

[waltr]

I've seen articles where they glued a steel weight under the 'load' for simulating the effects of loaded hoppers. By using steel the 'load' its easy to lifted off the hopper with a magnet.

 

[santafewillie]

In HO, I use pennies and Walthers Goo. About 11 pennies/oz...a lot cheaper than A-Line weights.
Willie

 

[irocinblue89]

I ended up using plexi glass as the base and building up the material until I got the desired look. What I ended up with was a Bethgon in the 6 - 7 oz. range and my 14 panel in the low 6 to upper 5 oz range. I have 144 bethgons and even at 7 oz. some of the ones in the front of the train could use more.

Seann

 

[TrinityJayOne]

I was researching this lastnight and just happened to stumble on that post I originally mentioned. No wonder I couldn't find it with the search function, it's not on this website, or even a forum for that matter!

http://www.elthammrc.org.au/index.p...-wagon-loads&catid=59:rollstockinfo&Itemid=91

My concern with this one is that the nail is a bit high and could imbalance the centre of gravity. I might try this but with a weight as low as possible, and with a bolt instead of a nail so that I can screw on some nuts if the weight isn't quite enough.

 

[NH Mike]

Hmmm nuts hey...that could work!

What do these pre-made loads look like? I also have two small 70T ore cars that came with pre-installed plastic loads that look pretty cheap.

My concern with this one is that the nail is a bit high and could imbalance the centre of gravity.

You could give them a light even coat of spray adhesive and then sprinkle on some scale coal or ballast or sand or whatever. That will get rid of the one piece molded toyish looks some loads have.

I also prefer to add weight as low as possible to hold down the center of gravity for a more stable ride and less of a pendulum effect on cars that have loose trucks.