Hi! this may or may not be the right thread but here goes my question. How much a container or semi trailer weigh in HO scale? I know this is a tricky one but I can’t get it using simple logic alone. I’ve used the NMRA chart for car weight but it seems to be too much for containers. Would you have any suggestion? Let’s say, for example, an empty 48 ft container? I know an empty 48ft container weighs a little less than 10 000 lbs. If I transfer this in HO it gives me something like 20 lbs… Using the NMRA chart, I get to 4,3 oz. How about a third of the latter? I would like your input on this question.
The NMRA formula is 1/2 ounce per inch plus one inch per car. You should be combining the weight of the car and the container to get your final number. Or, you can subtract the weight of the car from the NMRA weight to get the projected weight of the container.
Incidentally, the number I get for the weight of a 10,000 pound container in HO is:
1/87 x 1/87 x 1/87 x 10,000 = .017 pound = 1.4 ounce
I thunk it up on my own, although I’ve seen other folks use it, too. It’s based on the idea that every “thing” has volume, and volume scales down on the third order. I figure that mass would scale down the same way, since things with volume also have mass, and the relationship is pretty linear.
And I think we ARE pulling scale weight around, accurate to about an order of magnitude, which is surprisingly close.
For example, let’s take a loaded 40’ boxcar. The load is 100,000 pounds, the light weight is 40,000 pounds.
1/87 x 1/87 x 1/87 x 140,000 pounds = .24 pounds = 4 ounces
The NMRA weight for such a car is 6 inches x 1/2 ounce + 1 ounce = 4 ounces
Well, I’m kinda surprised at the match. I didn’t expect THAT. Though I thought it would be, as I said, within an order of magnitude.