Adding weight to Weaver Tank Cars

About the only way to add weight to a built-up tank car (especially tank cars without centersills) is to see if you can get a dome hatch off - in one piece.

Then drill a hole down though the dome into the tank.

With a funnel, pour in buckshot until you reach the desired weight.

Best to have a scale under the car while doing this.

One the car has been weighted, level outy the buckshot and squirt a half tube or so of Krazy Glue into the car though the dome. The car must sit level and do NOT move it.

Allow a couple of minutes for the stuff to spread through most of the buckshot to hold it in place.

Then put the dome cover back on.

Some buckshot may still be loose inside but it should not be a problem, as it's contained inside and the bulk of it should be in one piece, stuck to the inside of the tank.

I also weight tank cars as I build them from scratch or kits.

For these, I've cast a long lead weight in a sheet aluminum mold to the approximate radius of the tank.

I hack off pieces to glue inside over the trucks, after checking on how much weight is needed for the finished car.

That's done by weighing all the parts for a car before its finished. Then, making the weights to suit it.

Ed Bommer

Well that is a creative solution.  I might just give it a try since the cars are built up and not kits.  The only thing I would do is pre-weigh the buckshot since I already know I want to add 1 ounce per inch of car length.  Thanks for the reply.

These the modern looking tank cars? The end caps on the tank itself popped off, and I used whatever was around, bolts, nuts, pennies, and coated them in Gorilla glue and threw them in and let it dry sitting upright to make sure the weight was centered.

I did similar to Ed on a few williams tank cars except I used ballast and no glue. Works great.

I have'nt taken a car apart recently, but here is what I use to do.

[Assuming that you still can take the car apart] The car should come apart by removeing the end caps, trucks, dome cap, and very carefully take the car apart. Once you get the tank apart, you can glue weights inside the car. I would flatten out a fishing weight and glue it over the trucks. For centering purposes, you will only be able to get glue on half the weight as only half the weight will be in contact with the car. I used Goo and made sure it was dry and solid before assembling the car again, but I have never had one fall apart afterwards.

Thanks for the responses.  It appears the effort is not worth it.  These 2 cars will revert to 3 rail.  I just picked up 2 weaver short covered hoppers that will substitute for the tank cars on my small under construction switching layout.  The covered hoppers will probably fit the route design better and the covered hoppers lend themselves to proper weighting much easier.

Consider drilling a hole in the bottom of the tank car just large enough to allow whatever you choose to use for weight (sand, gravel, BB's etc..), squirt some glue in there, give it a bit of a shake to distribute weight and glue, fill the hole with whatever you choose (caulk, putty, filler etc), add a touch of paint or even a dab from a colored marker and your good to go. Unless your planning a layout height of 60" or higher, I doubt anyone will ever notice.

You can probably drill the hole in an area where the trucks will pretty much hinder everyones view of the underbelly.

Let us know how things go.

I have a weaver cov hopper that I used self stick lead weights. I added caulk to make sure they stay in place.

 I bought a pair of new tank cars from Weaver. They are also light. I have not weighed them. They track great so I may leave them alone. The metal trucks seem heavy enough to stay on track.