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Try a search on the forum for "zinc pest" or "zinc rot".  This metallurgical failure can affect any brand of trains, but usually several items in a batch are affected and the problem surfaces a few to several years after manufacture.

At one point I suggested a Forum thread, or even an external Google sheet with a listing of items widely known to suffer from zinc pest.  I'm not sure if that ever happened, but it could be a credible resource if folks posted photos (i.e., instead of just "smearing" a manufacturer they didn't like.)  I don't personally remember reading about the K-Line 21" cars, but I might have glossed over the posts because I don't own any of those cars myself.

As I said, there are too many cases to remember them all.  I still advocate a permanent list, i.e., products widely known to be affected.  My $.02.

Last edited by Ted S

I don't know about 21" K-Line cars (I don't have any) but the problem is common to specific batches of the K-Line 18" Heavy Weight Cars. I've had several disintegrate in my hands, and fully expect there to be more. This does NOT imply that K-Line is alone with this problem! Rather, it is ubiquitous to all brands, again, typically by batches of product. As Ted mentioned above, the issue has been discussed many times. Do a search of this Forum for more detailed information. I can tell you that some manufacturers have acknowledged the problem and have issued replacement parts.

But to answer your question, you cannot stop it, as it is an internal self destructive mechanism on the molecular level. Anecdotal evidence has suggested that coating the affected part with the water thin version of ACC may slow it down. I've not tried this, so you are on your own here.

Chris

LVHR

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