I have a pre-Walthers P2K 0-8-0. Item number 23303. A fine running little engine but a bit too slippery for my tastes. I am not a fan of traction tires or toad buggers but I would like to improve it’s traction.
Have any of you succesfully added enough weight to one of these to significantly improve it’s traction? If so, would you share what you have learned with me? I am hesitant to disturb the fine details of this locomotive without knowing exactly what I am up against. I don’t know how to begin getting the shell off the running gear, nor do I know what kind of room is inside.
You’re right: these are nice running locomotives, but they’re not much in the pulling department. Mine couldn’t haul more than two cars up the grade between my industrial area and the staging yard, and I was going to get rid of it.
However, I decided to open it up to see if there was room for any additional weight. Mine is DC and the early version, with no tender pick-up, but there’s a circuit board in the boiler (probably for the headlight). I removed that (my road didn’t use headlights during the daytime and I don’t do night operations), and also removed the flywheel - it’s so small that I doubt it adds anything to the operation. I manage to get some lead into the cavity formerly occupied by the flywheel, along with some in the area of the former circuit board and various other small open spaces within the boiler.
This improved the pulling ability enough that I decided to keep the loco, and using photos of the prototype, I re-detailed it to match. This involved lengthening the front of the frame to accommodate the CNR-style front end (number board, headlight and handrails) and re-working the frame at the rear, too. I also re-did the footboards for both loco and tender and altered the cab roof. All of the piping was removed from the loco (it’s all undersize - probably taken from prototype drawings which show pipe sizes as inside diameters). I replaced it with brass wire of various sizes and also replaced the plastic air tanks with ones made from lead-filled brass tubing, the latter placed well inboard of their former location. After adding a few other details, I also found room on the cab floor for a block of lead.
The tender’s cast coal load was removed and an open bunker created from sheet and strip styrene (I use loose coal), and the handrails and ladder were re
Wayne has some good tips there. I can only add a general tip on adding weight that I use with my puny little narrowgauge locos, like my Blackstone C-19s.
Woodland Scenics has a division called PineCar that offers supplies for those who build Pinewood Derby cars for Scouting, etc. You can find it in hobby shops and at places like Hobby Lobby. They offer Tungsten Putty Weight (P3922 is the 1 oz part#) in 1 oz and 2 oz sizes.
The putty is good and heavy. Being putty, it’s also moldable and it sticks where you put it quite well. I’ve not had it fall off and so long as the surface is clean it should stick well.
There’s really no room inside the C-19 to add weight, except inside the cab and too much back there leads to imbalance. But I can stick the putty underneath between the cylinders and around the lead truck. Under the running boards is another good place and is barely visible (the putty is a very dark brown, almost black). Down the stack is another good place. I’m sure with all the real estate on a standard gauge loco, you can probably get another ounce or more aboard.
The putty doesn’t affect the finish as far as I can tell. It also peels off easily if need be.
You can see some of it in this pic under the running boards on #3, where it looks gray, but that’s because of the flash. Under most operating conditions and lighting, it’s really not visible.
Hmmm … After reading this thread, I checked my LLP2K 0-8-0 (first edition, unmodified except for decoder and keep-alive): Latched onto a 9-car freight that included a heavy Tangent tanker and a brass caboose. The loco had no problem hauling these around the layout and appeared to be capable of handling more cars. Admitedly, there are no long grades on my layout, only short 1-1/2% inclines from sidings and spurs to the main, but there was no loss of speed or hesitation or slipping on these slopes (in contrast to my little old 0-4-0 trying to haul more than 4 cars uphill).
Thanks for the info, guys. I think I will just limit this engine’s assignments to things it can handle. I got spoiled years ago by the Kato NW-2’s and RS-2’s. My layout design and operating plan was based on the performance of those engines. In real life the NW-2 had about 20% more starting tractive effort than the USRA 0-8-0 but in HO scale, the difference is somewhat greater.
I have one of these engines and the 0-6-0 as well, both the original DC versions. I applied Bullfrog Snot to one set of drivers on each engine and pulling power increased significantly. On a 2% grade, the 0-8-0 would pull 7 40’ boxcars, properly weighted before applying BF Snot. It pulled 11 afterwards. On the same grade, the 0-6-0 would pull 4 40’ boxcars before and 7 afterwards. This may not seem like much, but we’ re talking about a significant grade, these engines are my yard switchers and they can each pull many, many cars on level ground. Jeff
