Engines with lots of space would be easier to add weight to, but my 8161 LASER engine doesn’t have much space inside to add weights. I remember my mom having little 1 ounce lead weights for draperies back in the 80s. She being a decorator can get them for me cheap but she doesn’t know if they are still made of lead now or if they are zinc.
BOYD,
I have used lead that I have flattened out and taped to the top of the front trucks.
laz57
I have some 3/8" dia. plumber’s solder, pure lead, that I acquired years ago, who knows where. It can fit into the corner of two sides. I don’t know of a standard for engines but for rolling stock its 5 oz + 1 oz / inch of length. On some cars this takes a pretty good chunk of lead.
I have used blocks of wood or fishing weights (the latter I glue together in a sort of blob that would fit in the space) - I’m a little leery of lead.
Go to a tire shop and they will give you old wheel weights.
Stick on tire weights. I noticed that Bass Pro Shops has flat bars of lead. Cheap so I picked up a pack.
I have boxes of old screws with nuts & washers. Find short ones to place on lead engine trucks, which are usually the problem ones. Especially when the motors stick out the cab at the other end. You should see the size of the weight Lionel used to put on the front of its early 671/681.
Also, if there is an R/C plane hobby shop nearby, they should have some nice stick-on weights.
I don’t know how available they are but another source are the weights used for balancing ceiling fans.
I like to use railroad spikes, whole or cut up as necessary. Somehow they seem appropriate.
Boyd, there’s loads of space inside the LASER. This is the same exact chassis/motor assembly used in the later issued 1993 through 1995 Industrial Switchers, minus the electronic reverse unit circuit board. The shell on your LASER is a little different from the Industrial Switcher in that you only have a hood with the cab in back. The Ind. Switcher has a hood, cab and short hood behind the cab.
I have pulled the circuit board reverse unit from my Industrial Switchers and run them on DC current. They now are little little bricks on wheels with all the weight I’ve added. I talked to a Lionel tech years ago and this is the same DC can motor that is in all the basic single and dual non-flywheel DC can motored locos. Unless you have custom added a light in the cab, you can use self-adhesive lead auto tire weights attached in layers to the shell itself. You can also add some to the plastic frame assembly itself. You’ll have to play around a little bit to see where to place the weights - and you do want to balance them in their placement. In other words, you want to try to have the weights as equal over the front end of the loco as the rear end - and as much over the motor as can be.
My Industrial Switcher can pull over 20 cars should I want them too. Certainly they have absolutely no trouble pulling a dozen cars with modern fast angle wheeled cars with die cast trucks.
The self-sticking adhesive is enough usually to hold several layers of weights. You do want to wash your hands after handling the weights. And if you are really worried about this, buy them and then give them a spray of flat black spray paint before you remove the adhesive backing tape. Or cover them with masking tape or electrical tape.
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This is one of my redone Industrial Switchers. The Lionel LTI versions were made in a cheap molded non-opague plastic that were not painted. After prepping th