As many of us know, as early as in the '90s when manufacturers began using plastic under frames on cars, their light weight caused tracking problems. Over the years, I've gone to adding tire balancing stick on weights to add weight over the trucks in too light cars. So when this last couple of weeks I finally received my 2013 orders of the Lionel 30,000 gallon tank cars and this year's 89' auto carriers, I was at first delighted. But I soon found out the tank cars were way too light and derailed in several spots. So, the solution was pretty simple, unscrew the trucks and the cast under frame so I could carefully ease out the end cap of the tank. The weights come in strips of 12, each weighing 1/2 ounce. Into each tank car, above the trucks I set three sections or 1 1/2 ounce for a total of 3 ounces per car. Problem solved, they run fine now.
But in looking at the auto carrier, there was no obvious place for the weights as the interior is fully detailed. I had not any problems with the two I bought last year, but that was probably because I ran them at the end of a train. So, now it was time to give them some more weight and flexibility. Looking at the underbody, it looked like the center beam might be hollow, so I unscrewed the bottom of the car and fortunately it was. There is a channel along the center, but it looked too shallow for my weights. So, I scored them along their centerline and that worked fine. The length of the slot allowed me to place ten half, or five full pieces for an added 2 1/2 ounces of weight. Each piece was placed along alternating sides and stuck in place by wedging with the blade of a screw driver. Each car took all of ten minutes and now I can run my auto carriers even ahead of those heavy Atlas articulated auto carriers.
Here is a stip of 12 lead weights for a total of six ounces.
When disassembling the auto carrier, in addition to four screws at the corners, there is one in the center. To access it, use the flat blade of a screw driver to pop off the cover.
These are the weights after separating the halves.
Here are the sliced weights inserted into the center beam channel
The finished car, looking just a bit heftier.
