ScubaTerry…
Great idea about drilling a hole in the bottom of tank cars and filling them with weight! I’m going to do that with mine.
Thanks!
(BTW: Pennies are too valueable. Recently my wife cashed in pennies she’d been tossing in a box for over a year. To our shock the amount came up to $28.00!! …I’ll stick to BBs!
I use #9 Chilled Leadshot and a 25 pound bag is like a life time supply.
I am not concerned with hazards, if there was a fire in the house I would either die inside or get out alive one way or the other. The amount of chemicals (Cleaning supplies etc) in the home is already enough as it is.
I did try pennies but they did bulk up in the wrong places and raised the center of gravity too much.
I get old wheel balancing weights from a local tire shop, if I arrive before the diving crew. I make moulds, using sheet aluminum, to suit individual cars or in predetermined dimensions to yield specific weights, then melt the lead using a propane torch. As noted previously, the main immediate hazard with lead is ingestion. The temperatures required to liquify lead do not release a significant amount of lead vapour: even so, I always wear an appropriate two-stage respirator. I spoke with several employees at a shop that produces ornamental items, such as planters and jardinieres, from molten lead, and none wore respirators, as health and safety rules deemed them unnecessary in those conditions. I also worked in a steel plant that on occasion rolled what we called leaded steel. Significant amounts of lead were used in the steelmaking process for this particular grade. When rolling of this material took place, all were required to wear proper two-stage respirators. I can assure you, the smell of lead at 2350 degrees Fahrenheit is very distinctive and noticeable. Not a hint of that smell in the lead casting shop.
I do my weight casting in my garage, a building separate from the house, and wash up thoroughly when I’m finished.
By the way, I went to the local Canadian Tire store to buy some BBs to use for weight in a sealed brass Vanderbilt tender: you know, drill a hole, pour some in, add some glue and seal it up. Well, you’d think I was buying nuclear missiles. They wanted my name, address, social insurance number, reason for buying, employer, blah, blah, blah. The bad guys can run around with rocket launchers but I get the third degree for trying to buy BBs for ballast. And they call me a train nut. Oh, Canada, you stand on guard against me??
Sorry,
Wayne
I don’t know why there’s a fuss about weighting cars with steel. My cars, or at least a substantial percentage of them, ARE steel - real honest-to-Murgatroyd tinplate. They have been fitted with Kadee #6 couplers (fit the mounting pad better than #5,) and work perfectly well over Kadee uncoupling magnets.
What I would like to see is a skeleton flat of proper NMRA weight. I think it would have to be machined out of depleted uranium.
Chuck
that as funny snake
but I dont remeber saying that
now I too find car rim weight and have some shotgun shot
I dont use nickles anymore
K
For the newbie’s,
With added weight, metal wheels will really help those car track a lot better.
The issue about steel weights over uncoupling magnets is a non-issue until it happens to YOU. I’ve learned (don’t ask me how!) the following:
HO scale cars such as Athearn that use steel weights. Rarely a problem. You have to have both very free rolling trucks and a very powerful magnet. Usually, the accidental uncoupling is shrugged off or the magnet removed, unless you hapen to notice that it’s always the same car.
N cars with steel weights. Often a problem as soon as you replace the trucks or wheels with something that is free rolling. My best guess is the distance of steel weight to the magnet is the primary factor, with inertia of the car (related to weight) being a secondary factor.
HOn3. Haven’t run across any cars with steel weights yet. I expect problems similar to N.
Lionel. Once, using a higher than normal voltage on the uncoupling track, I watched a free rollling light weight operating car (with the iron plunger in the center) center itself over the uncoupling magnet.
Cures include:
Not using permanent magnets for uncoupling. However, the problem can foul up delayed uncoupling with electromagnets or pivoting permanent under the track magnets, too.
use something besides iron or steel to weight your cars. But removal after the fact can be quite difficult - tank cars come to mind.
don’t use free rolling trucks. However, this impacts train length and the number of cars a loco can pull.
use rare earth magnets mounted vertically beside and just outside rails, staggered slightly is even better. The increased distance and the non-centerline component of the magnetic force on the car weight seem to cure the problem.
my thoughts, your choices
Fred W