Hi,
This topic has probably been discussed several times, but I have a particular question. I recently purchased a couple of RTR cars from Walther’s. It seems that they are lots lighter than the Atlas / Genesis I already have. Can they be placed in the middle of a long freight train without any problem, or must I place all the Walthers at the end of the train. Adding weight to those cars seems a risky operation to me, since the cars are already assembled. How do you guys combine all those brands in the US [8)]?
If the cars are all fairly close to the NMRA recommendations it should work OK. Walthers cars are usually weighted pretty close to the recommended, maybe a little light but I’ve never had any trouble running them with MDC, Athearn, etc. cars.
People have had different experiences with some claiming to run different weights with no problem and others needing to weight to NMRA recommendations. Factors here seem to be how sharp your curves are, how good your track work is, and how free wheeling your trucks are. Running light cars in the rear is better than the front.
I would try them out, then if you need to, figure out how to add weight. You don’t say what kind of cars they are, but some ways to add weight to RTR are: to superglue it to the bottom, add a load if open top, drill a hole in the bottom and pour in weight like sand and plug the hole, replace plastic trucks/wheels with metal ones.
Good luck
Paul
As a last resort (thin-deck flat car intended to be run empty) try wrapping wire solder around the axles. Just be careful not to create a short between the wheels.
Chuck
truth is the prototype knows this issue and tries to put the lighter cars at the end.
for HO, the club I was in had an ounce per 10 foot of model length.
40 foot cars, 4 ounces.
If your cars have trouble, you can add weight to them.
But if they’re within cetain qualifications, you should be OK.
yehright, I played with O27 as a kid and those flat cars couldnt hack it with big box cars behind going around 27" curves. Thats Diameter…if I recall right…
We used RDC’s to pull freghts, nothing else could pull… :shrug:
Back in the days of gummy plastic wheels, rusty metal axle ends, and lead or styrene sideframes, heavy weight was necessary. But I’ve found that with all nickel silver wheels on acetal plastic axles running in acetal plastic sideframes which have been reamed to proper contour, weight is much less importand. After trying an unweighted string of hoppers to test trackwork and finding that they run perfectly, I’m using much less than NMRA recommendations on new rolling stock. They operate fine mixed in with older equipment with upgraded trucks but still heavy with sealed-in weights as well as with a friend’s ore cars weighted with real ore.
Hi,
Thanks to all of you. The cars I was talking about are tank cars. is is possible to purchase separately 100% metallic wheels to adapt them on the Walther’s cars ? Are they Walther’s wheels, or another brand ?
dinwitty said:
truth is the prototype knows this issue and tries to put the lighter cars at the end.
The real truth of the matter is trains are made up in destination blocks.Those blocks include empties and loads.Closer attention to the prototype will prove that.[:D]
I’ve had cars that seemed a bit light. They would run fine in general service but, when it came time to back into a tight siding, can anybody say instant derailment? After a little weighting with metal plates, bolts, rocks, whatever was handy, they worked well.
Life Like Proto 2000 wheelsets have metal wheels on acteal axles and work well in most Walthers sideframes.
First check that the wheelset is in perfect gauge with an NMRA gauge. Proto 2000 wheel sets are usually gauged very well but not always. If you can’t adjust the gauge by pulling or pushing as you twist, throw that wheelset out. Then roll the wheel set to be sure it doesn’t wobble. Again, if it wobbles, throw it out. Finally, examine the axle tip under magnification. Malformation here is rare but if you see any, discard it.
Then ream the sideframes gently with a Reboxx “Exact Socket”. There is almost always a little bit of flash or improper contour to be reamed away. I’ve had some Walthers truck sideframes that were slightly distorted, as if the were removed from the mold just a little too soon and deformed before the plastic had fully set. If the deformation causes one set of journals to be too close together, pinching the axle, it can be corrected by vigorous reaming. If the deformation causes the sideframe to be skewed - one journal higher than the others - throw it out.
It may appear that you can twist a skewed sideframe back to true but acetal plastic “remembers” and a few days (or hours) later it goers back to its original shape, lifts one wheel off the rail, and causes derailments.
I consider a truck to be “good” if it will start to roll and continue to gain speed on a 34" radius 2% grade both alone and under its car. It is better to scrap questionable trucks to be sure the whole fleet is rolling as smoothly as possible.
I like to use truck styles that are prototypically correct for each car but if I have to choose, free rolling is more important than prototype sideframes. I feel it is more important that trucks track and roll prototypically than look prototypical - especially beacuse in today’s market of trucks and wheelsets, I rarely have to make the choice.