Most of us like to load up our cars. They look better right![:)]
I have found a real load for those cars. [;)] Go to your local building supply company and buy a 100# bag of sandblasting sand. They only cost around $8.50. a bag. This sand can be black or off white in color. You can load alot of cars with one of these bags. Where I use to work we used alot of this black garnet sand in our sandblaster. It is dust free also.
If you want something a little bigger than find a red ant hill. These little workers bring up alot of little rock. It is usually about 1/8"-3/16"in diameter. Just sift out a coffee can full, leave the ants at their hill, and wash off all the dirt. It makes a neat load.[:D]
Buyer beware. I’ve spent many hours sandblasting using white silica sand. I can tell you the sand gets everywhere. It goes right through clothes and gets into every crack and crevasse in your body. [:0]
I don’t recommend silica sand for model railroad use. Think of spills and derailments, spreading sand everywhare. Do you want to take a chance of getting sand in the works of all your $300 plus locomotives, say nothing of the other rolling stock. [:(!]
Plus live loads really puni***he axles on your hoppers and gons. I’ve heard of axles boring through delrin plastic truck frames after years of hauling hefty loads.
Oh come on now, whats wrong with fire ants? Just think of the possiabilites with the passenger cars ya got! you would have a live load there too! Kevin
Instead of something as heavy as sand, I used ground walnut shell that you can get from a gunsmith, where they use it to polish brass shell casings before reloading. It somes in different sizes, too. To make it go even further, I put a block of balsa wood into the ore car and pour the medium, as it’s called, over the block until the car is filled. Then a saturate it with white glue to seal it down so it won’t spill if there’s a derailment.
Good points there men[:D] It was just a thought.[8)]
I thought that derailments came from cars that were too light or bad track laying to begin with. A little load looks better than none. Maybe some like to highball along.
I took florist foam. (the green stuff you stick fake plants into.) It cuts and sands to shape real EZ. I paint it red primer and glue WS HO ore to it. It looks like a real load without the weight and it doesn’t make the cars top heavy. You still have space under the foam to add bottom weight to the car if needed. The same can be done for coal or ballast loads.
Kevin