Rail car weight


maczimb

Member
Is there a standard / recommended rail car weight?
I note that some of my cars are weighted and others fall off the track when the A/C blows on them.
Mac
 
"when the A/C blows on them"
Man either them're some light cars or one heavy duty blower all right! :)
 
Some cars, Life-Like standard line in particular, are very light, sometimes weighing barely more than an ounce. Flat cars can also be a source of low weight irritation. On them I add weight to the load, same goes for gondolas and open hoppers.
 
Average railcar weight is total tons transported divided by total carloads transported. Rail cars can weigh anywhere from 30 tons (empty) to 140 tons (loaded) each. Special cars designed to carry extra heavy loads can weigh well in excess of 200 tons. Generally speaking, these loads are special moves, given their heavy weight, and usually require special handling.
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Willis
 
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this is a debated issue. NMRA says "X" amount of weight per length.

what I have found is it really depends on the layout. a flat, wide radius, large turnouts etc.. will all help the wheels track better. A small layout with tight radius will make it harder for wheels to track. This is where more weight would help keep the wheels tracking on the rails. I keep the stock car weights installed and I dont add any weight to them unless its a very light car.

just my .02
 
Another thing to consider is if you don't want to worry about adding weight to light cars, simply put your heavier cars towards the front and lighter ones towards the back. Problems arise when light cars in the front have to drag a heavy train around turns and turnouts.
 
..... which is the reason you should strive to keep some standardized weighting of the cars. Modeling the 1900-1905 era I am shooting for about 75% of NMRA standard.

There are creative ways to add weight to any kit. The RTR cars are more of a problem.
 
"Annie" is a spambot, Willis. It's been showing up on several other forums. Apparently it uses some sort of artifical inteligence to post answers drawn directly from wikipedia that have some relationship to key words in a post. I'd whack "her" membership now rather than leaving the door open.
 
..... which is the reason you should strive to keep some standardized weighting of the cars. Modeling the 1900-1905 era I am shooting for about 75% of NMRA standard.

There are creative ways to add weight to any kit. The RTR cars are more of a problem.

I agree that you need to keep some sort of set weight for your rolling stock. each layout is diffrent. I can attest that you can pull 90 stock weight BB Athearn cars on a large club layout 100% fine. put those same cars on my small home layout and I cant pull more than 25 without some sort of issue. We have some club members who have reduced weight so that their smaller locos can pull a longer train. It really all depends on the layout the cars will be used on. I like to keep weights slightly under the NMRA standards as I use metal wheels and so small locos can pull more than 10 cars.

Trent
 
"Annie" is a spambot, Willis
Thank's Jim I'll put an end to it now. The signature links had to do with cosmetics so I guess the filter knew better than I did.
Cheers
Willis
 
"when the A/C blows on them"
Man either them're some light cars or one heavy duty blower all right! :)

When I was a kid, I remember laughing hysterically when my dad huffed and puffed and blew an AHM Pullman completely off the track. I was complaining that it was derailing - while mixed in with some old Walthers wood & metal cars when he made the observation "Well no wonder - this Pullman is so light I can blow it over", which he then did.

Years later I had complete trains of AHM passenger cars. I found that goo-ing the worthless couplers together, as well as adding some sand bags, made them almost usable.

I always wondered if the Rivarossi/AHM stuff was ultralight (the only metal in the passenger cars were the axle tips and coupler springs) just to save on the shipping from Europe.

I recently did some weight comparisons between various passenger cars of various vintages. I had an old undec (paint adds a few milligrams :) Rivarossi 12-1 Pullman. It managed to be the lightest of the entire sampling - and that was weighing it *in* the box.

Heaviest passenger cars I own are OMI/Ajin Santa Fe high-level cars. IIRC they tip in at about a pound each. I also have some E&B Valley cars I built up; one coach has lead slab floor weight (linotype actually) and then has metal seats. I think it's 12.5 ounces.

IMO most passenger car models are a smidge underweight. Walthers cars track visibly better just by the addition of their lighting unit. I don't really have a standard weight, but I'm guessing my best fleet passenger cars are about 50% over NMRA standards.

Andy
 
weighting tank cars

We are just getting back into the hobby after 30 years.
Hopefully there is a simple answer to this question.
What is the best way to weight a tank car? I want to add about 1 oz.
We have 1/4 oz. lead weights that there is just no place to stick them on a tank car.
I was thinking of drilling a small hole in the car and filling it with about an ounce of some sort of gel or sand or something. We are just wondering if anyone out there has done this before.
 
Some cars, Life-Like standard line in particular, are very light, sometimes weighing barely more than an ounce. Flat cars can also be a source of low weight irritation. On them I add weight to the load, same goes for gondolas and open hoppers.

Don't forget your higher end units from Tangent. Apparently $43 for a covered hopper isn't enough to cover the cost of some weight.:confused:
 
We are just getting back into the hobby after 30 years.
Hopefully there is a simple answer to this question.
What is the best way to weight a tank car? I want to add about 1 oz.
We have 1/4 oz. lead weights that there is just no place to stick them on a tank car.
I was thinking of drilling a small hole in the car and filling it with about an ounce of some sort of gel or sand or something. We are just wondering if anyone out there has done this before.

Who makes your tank car? Most manufacturers have the tank car ends seperate from the body as it is easier to mold that way. If it's a Walthers, MDC, or Atlas, carefully pop the ends off the tank car and put weights in.

The Walthers tank cars are really bad. For the price that you pay for them, you'd expect them to be properly weighted and run well, but they are 2 ounces underweight, and need wheel replacements as the wheel treads are a bit too wide and tend to catch switch points (or in my case, diamonds) The plastic axles on the wheels are also not that great as the trucks generally have a lot of flash to them (metal needlepoint axles will ream them out over time)
 
Thanx diburning.
They are made by Atlas and are about 1 1/2 ounces light.
I will take your advice when I get out of work today.
Mike
 
Another good idea.
I have to go to the hobby shop today anyway...I'll check on the weight of the trucks.
Thanx
Mike
 
Atlas cars shouldn't be underweight at all. Mine are exactly at NMRA weight. Do they have issues with derailments? If not, I'd just leave them be. Some of the older Athearn RTR cars were an ounce and a half underweight, but didn't have any operational problems.
 



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