Depends on the railroad and the era. Back in the late 60’s I worked for the CB&Q. EB trains from St Paul to Chicago had the long ‘Trailer Train’ cars at the end of the train. There was also some ‘shorts’ for PDC that needed to be pulled at La Crosse for the local. Usually these were TTX stuff as well for the 3M plant in Prairie du Chien. At the same time, the Milwaukee ran a seperate train98/98(the Roaring 90’s) between Chicago and the Twin Cities.
As an aside, the local yard crews at Dayton Bluff(St Paul) usually tried to put a ‘low’ car like an empty TTX flat just ahead of the waycar(caboose) on all the through freights - Made ‘seeing’ ahead from the cupola better.
Jim,Let me give you a example of what I was talking about.When I worked on the C&O under Chessie I transferred to the Cincinnati Div.
One of the trains I was routinely called for was a mixed train with set outs for Maysville,Ky yard.
Our train consist would look like this when we left Russel Ky.
1.The Mayville block(loads and empties)
2.The Cincinnati block(loads and empties)
3.Cars bound for other places to include Chicago(loads and empties).
We would set out (say) 12 loads and 5 empties at Mayville.These cares would be next to the engine consist.The pickups would go next to the engines.We would pickup both empties and loads bound for Cincinnati and points west.
So arrival at Queensgate our train would look like this…
1.The Maysville pickups(loads and empties)
2.The Cincinnati block(loads and empties)
3.The westbound block.(loads and empties)
The terminal man would rearrange the train consist by removing the Cincinnati cut and adding more westbound cars to include any west bound cars from the Maysville block.The placement of the empties would be in their correct cut regardless of how many loads was between the empties.
I started my short railroad career(91/2 years) on the PRR as a yard brakie at the Cleveland Ave yards in Columbus(Oh).The same held true back then.Empties and loads was mixed together according to the preblocked destination of the train’s consist…
Even today you see empty stack and pig cars next to the locomotives and loads trailing behind those empties.I know this has to be done by preblocking the train.I see this daily on the NS as well as the CSX when I go to Willard or Marion.
Now,I know nothing of how the Burlington did things and of course I like to know how things was done on other railroad compared the the PRR and Chessie(C&O).[8D][:D]
I read on another post, using wire soder wrapped around the axles. This sounds to me the way to go on at least flat cars.
Also from just reading the above post, my conclusion could be a general weight for all cars, sounds like it doesnt matter if lighter or heavey, as long as they are uniform in weight and wheels.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Bingo! We have a winner!
Absolutely correct! This can not be achieve by using RP20.1 because different car lengths requires different weight. .Now by using a uniform weight for all cars and metal wheels we can accompli***hat goal.A 86’ boxcar should not weigh any more then a 50’ boxcar.You see the weight would be equal and the cars will run together regardless of where they are placed in the train consist without the needless worry of where the lighter RP20.1 weighted cars should be placed in the train regardless if the car is “loaded” or “empty” in our minds eye.After all our cars are always empty or always loaded with air [;)] since we do not haul real freight…
As far as “string lining” this can be eliminated by a more study hand on the throttle and no sudden change of speed while rounding tight curves.
I just finished my project of weighting my Athearn boxcars to 4 ounces with pennies. Some of the cars did not require many pennies while others to my surprise seemed to need alot of pennies. Once metal wheels are installed they will be certified for service.
I even found one mantua boxcar with small screws in the corners to unscrew the whole underframe away. I wonder how long that car has been around.
The intermountains are a mystery to me. I could not get inside them but three weights about 3.5 ounces and the one at 4 even so I think they would be ok.
Hey all just wading in with my take.When I was a club member we treid to follow the nmra specs to the letter and we had alot of derailment problems some track related but most car related so we took the best from the nmra and made up our own specs which I use on my homelayout today. 1metal wheels on all cars P2K was the favorite! 2 we were a transition era layout so 40 50 65 foot cars only all were weighted 41/2 onces. 3 85 foot passenger cars 8 onces. After all this the layout ran with less snags and we eliminated all the tread goo from the old plastic wheels. Rob
As I have posted, I weight my cars to the NMRA standards. At a recent get-together with some MRR friends, one guy made the comment that most ‘operators’ weighted their cars a little to the ‘heavy’ side. With very free rolling trucks/wheel sets, I can see his point. In my case, I do not have any cars that weigh less than 3.5 oz(36’ meat reefers). The ‘consistant’ point is the weight should be proportional to the length of the car…
It may be tempting to add “Too Much” weight to your freight cars. The realistic “Slack-Action” on heavy freight trains looks impressive, but weighing cars down like miniature bricks can have consequences!
Recently my wife’s cousin, an HO modeler, decided to add even more weight to his freight cars, which were already properly weighted based on the recommended standards. ( 1 ounce plus .5 per inch)
After a month or so, he winded up removing the excess weight from them as for example; the cars on a 20 car freight train were actually straining his Genesis and Atlas locomotives. [:0][:p] Those motors (and powerpack) were actually getting hot!
Humbled me quickly as I had considered “pushing the weight envelope” myself!
What may eventually happen is that your locomotive(s) motor goes belly up in time under excessively heavy loads.
Lesson learned: Stick with the NMRA standard.[:)][:D][8D][;)][8)]
I wonder if anyone has considered trying to make model car weight proportional to the loaded weight of the prototype car? Pretty obviously, a 24 foot ore jimmy loaded with 70 tons of taconite puts more weight on the rails than an 89 foot humongubox loaded with ping-pong balls…
2 addtions to the above. The best way I’ve found to add wt to open hoppers is bird shot in the bays held in place by epoxy and then painted to match the car color. Very unobtrusive.
In my working experience (3 RRs, 20 years) I’ve seen 2 instances where ld/mty influenced car location, both involving piggy back flats. SP required they be in the rear half of the train if loaded w/ only one van and Milw required empties to be in the rear of the train, at least over St Paul Pass between Mt. & Id.
2 addtions to the above. The best way I’ve found to add wt to open hoppers is bird shot in the bays held in place by epoxy and then painted to match the car color. Very unobtrusive.
In my working experience (3 RRs, 20 years) I’ve seen 2 instances where ld/mty influenced car location, both involving piggy back flats. SP required they be in the rear half of the train if loaded w/ only one van and Milw required empties to be in the rear of the train, at least over St Paul Pass between Mt. & Id.
I agree a standard weeght works well. I use self adhesive wheel weights. Bought a box of them years ago and still have a few left. Generally I add an ounce to all the cars. 1/2 ounce to trailers and containers. The cars track well but I super elevate curves. I do have a postal scale and I’m meaning to actually weight the cars…on of these days.