How much should a freight car weigh?

Jeff Noll posted:

I recently got a beautiful Weaver 50 ft. steel boxcar.  Unfortunately, it is ALL plastic except for the wheels/axles and consequently very light.  The spring tension on from the couplers will derail the car on a curve.  It will be easy to add weight over the trucks but how much?   Is there an ideal weight?

I do not know how to provide a link, but visit the NMRA website as they have published recommended standards for car weights, for pretty much all scales.

NMRA weight for O gauge is 5 ounces plus 1 ounce for every inch of car length. More details here.

I used to have stringing issues on curves. But after weighing in all my rolling stock to the NMRA specs posted above, those issues of stringing, jumping track, picking switch points have severely diminished. There are few exceptions. My MTH auto racks are overweighted to 30 oz in the frame. The car tracks much better and doesn't tip as easily.

Also my die cast hopper cars from K-Line are naturally overweighted from the start.

I always thought the NMRA O scale weight standards to be way to much at 5 ounces per inch. My ten inch Weaver box cars have been weighted at an average of 14 to 16 ounces per car total weight and pull curves and switches perfectly. So my cars average weighing just over a pound each total weight. I would suggest weighting them 2 ounces per inch and work your way up on weight after some test runs until you arrive in weight where you need to be. 

If you weight a 10 inch car to NMRA standards it will weigh well over 3 pounds. When you string ten or twelve cars together like this it's really hard on the engine, coupler's, trucks, track, switches and everything else.

Uh rustyrail, your math is a bit off.  For a 10 inch car the weight should be 5oz plus 10oz (1oz for every inch) for a total of 15oz. That's less than a lb (16oz) and a far cry from 3lbs (48oz)

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Uh rustyrail, your math is a bit off.  For a 10 inch car the weight should be 5oz plus 10oz (1oz for every inch) for a total of 15oz. That's less than a lb (16oz) and a far cry from 3lbs (48oz)

Glad you pointed that out. I somehow read they're scale the wrong way so my cars would be right close to what they're calling for in weight.

Hello guys and gals......

I would believe that the 3 rail cars should weigh more due to sharper curves and fast angle wheel sets.  Those NMRA specs. seems to apply to 2 rail cars but the 2 rail tracks and wheel sets finer flanges appeals to be more refine and more carefully constructed from what I seen on youtube "O" scale 2 rail club layouts videos.  My Premier 3 rail 50 foot boxcar weighs 25 OZ. or 1.562 pounds and rolls really well for such a long car.

"Then Mary said, 'I praise the Lord with all my heart. I am very happy because God is my savior." Luke 1:46-47 ERV (Easy to Read Version)

Tiffany

Should the weights be placed directly over trucks or can you place them in the center of the cars?  I'm assuming as long as you keep the weights as low as possible it shouldn't matter right?  Or am I wrong here?

Just curious because I'm about to add a bunch of weight to all my cars and want to make sure I get it right.

A few of my cars are filled with about 85 pennies spread out over the inside. I forget about them until one derails and everything shifts inside. I guess some glue would have been a good idea!

TrainGuyMcGee posted:

Should the weights be placed directly over trucks or can you place them in the center of the cars?  I'm assuming as long as you keep the weights as low as possible it shouldn't matter right?  Or am I wrong here?

Just curious because I'm about to add a bunch of weight to all my cars and want to make sure I get it right.

Right, you'll want the weight low and also distributed evenly over the wheels.

Brendan

I remember seeing an article about adding weight to freight cars, and one of the suggestions was to wrap rosin-core wire solder around the axles. I've never tried it. Not sure how easy it would be to do, or how it would affect performance. But it would place the weight low to the track.

Stick on wheel weights are cheap, by em by the box. 

How do i go at weight my polar express o gauge cars they are passenger they weight 1.34 lbs roughly 21 onces which is more that the nmra 5once + 1oncs per inch so do i not add weight

To further add to this conversation, you can purchase a  cheap scale from Micro-Mart to weigh your cars. They also have some very easy to mount flat weights. The aggravation saved from derailments is worth the price of admission.

@Francostrains posted:

How do i go at weight my polar express o gauge cars they are passenger they weight 1.34 lbs roughly 21 onces which is more that the nmra 5once + 1oncs per inch so do i not add weight

You did not say the length of your PE cars, but it sounds like they do not need anymore weight.  Are your cars derailing?

If you are using individual weights, do NOT put them in the center of the car! You will cause the plastic frame to sag. BTDT. Instead, put them as close to the trucks as practical. My preference is for bars that run almost the full length of the car. No sag, and keeps the center of gravity as low as possible.

Chris

LVHR

Some other things to consider is do all the track pins insert into the next track? Is the track level? Can you slow down a little? Is the weight of the car next to one derailing significantly different? Should the derailer be placed in the back of the consist?

I know the question was a passenger train but all these things cause derailing too.

They are 12” long if i reverse they tend to also they kinda shaky on the rails, they are the o gauge ones the smaller ones baby madisons as they are only 12” long

I have the set PE cars (12" long)  in a 10-car consist, I don't have any derailment issues and I haven't added any weight to any of them.  What kind of track are you using and what is the tightest curve?

I bought tire wheel weights with double sided tape on them to easily position them over the wheelsets on ebay.  I bought the 1oz, but you can get them in 1/4 and 1/2 oz also.  I try to get as close as possible to the correct weight.  If it is 1/2 oz light or heavy I am OK with that.

EBAY LINK REMOVED per OGR terms of service.

I use left over 230gr .45ACP lead bullets, they're about 1/2oz each.  I just use RTV or the like to glue them in place.  I have about 40 pounds of them, so I'm set for quite a few cars.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I use left over 230gr .45ACP lead bullets, they're about 1/2oz each.  I just use RTV or the like to glue them in place.  I have about 40 pounds of them, so I'm set for quite a few cars.

I have a Tommy, no such thing as left over .45ACP!

@Darrell posted:

I have a Tommy, no such thing as left over .45ACP!

There were bare lead bullets, and I didn't like the accuracy or the excessive smoke, so I went back to jacketed bullets.

Im using mth realtrax

@TrainGuyMcGee posted:

Should the weights be placed directly over trucks or can you place them in the center of the cars?  I'm assuming as long as you keep the weights as low as possible it shouldn't matter right?  Or am I wrong here?

Just curious because I'm about to add a bunch of weight to all my cars and want to make sure I get it right.

The weight should be around the trucks/truck king pin so the force of gravity keeps the trucks down on the tracks.