I recently put onto my layout a couple of Atlas 17,360 gal. tank cars. They look great but need additional weight to track properly. I was wondering if anyone has done this? It would be nice to get some advise before I tear into one of them. Thanks all.
which scale are you in my kind sir?
One method is to turn the car over and drill a hole a little larger than a BB in the bottom. Put a small container (medicine cup) on your scales and zero the scales or note the weight of the container. Put your car on the scales with the container and add BB’s to the cup until you have the proper weight. Carefully put the BB’s in the car, then squirt in some Elmer’s glue. Make a plug for the hole from an old piece of sprue, glue in place and shake the car gently to distrubute the glue all over the BB’s and then, with the car right side up. gently shake it to get the load spread evenly over the bottom. Once the glue has had time to set up you can smooth the plug you put in. The Elmer’s may never set solid in the closed environment, but it will thicken up and not move much with your car right side up.
Good luck,
Richard
Those tankers are fairly heavy and you can’t beat the Atlas truck.Mine has hundreds of hours of run time at the club with zero problems.
My advice would be to not fool with them at all…If they’re derailing check your track work.
The risk with the “BBs in the hole plus glue” method is that if the BBs do not settle down evenly, you might create a permanent leaning to right or left. I am facing a similar issue with a car I bought used, and i can hear that the weight has come loose. I have yet to explore what I can do about it.
One old trick that may not add all that much weight but may aid tracking, is to wrap slender lead solder around the axles of the trucks. If done with care you won’t interfere with tracking. But you may find that the tracking issue has to do with the bolster or coupler as much as the weight.
Dave Nelson
Have you actually weighed the car to see how close to correct weight for its length it is using the NMRA recommended practice? MR did a review of an HO Atlas 17,600 gallon tank car in the August 2005 issue and that car was actually a bit over the recommended weight.
I can’t speak with 100% certainty, but my recollection of other Atlas cars that have been reviewed is that they are generally close to NMRA suggested weight.
If your speaking N scale, then that might be a different story.
I haven’t weighed them. I usually weigh every new car put on the layout and add weight accordingly. These I didn’t because there was no assembly and no way to add weight. But the previous advise is valid-I forgot to check the wheel guage. Thanks all.
Thanks Larry, you were correct-there is nothing wrong with my Atlas cars. Weight is spot on as should be. I checked wheel gauge and also spot on. So guess what, gauged the flange on the turnout and it was off, causing truck to hit and roll up the point of the frog. Strange thing is this turnout has been installed for years without any problem-then again, maybe I had issues before and thought it was the car. Anyway, thanks for the advise and leading me to look for the real issue. Much appreciate it.