UPGRADING A LIONEL 6-19321 ORE CAR
I recently purchased a Lionel 6-19321 ore car lettered for Bessemer & Lake Erie to add to my B&LE equipment. I am in the process of modifying this model. I will be adding brake gear and extending the wheelbase to match the prototype ore cars more closely.
The photos show the original Lionel model "before" modifications. Other photos to come.
A prototype ore car photo is also attached.
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Needs to be lowered but I have yet to see if it's easy to do.....
Aside from the Lionel car riding too high on its trucks, the other issue is when you relocate the trucks outward you're going to have a car with couplers that stick out too far as well.
Aside from the Lionel car riding too high on its trucks, the other issue is when you relocate the trucks outward you're going to have a car with couplers that stick out too far as well.
That would make them perfect candidates for body-mounted Kadee couplers. They should still be able to take tight curves due to the short wheelbase.
If you wanted to keep the standard 3 rail couplers, you could body mount couplers with a shorter shank to keep the cars close coupled. A little experimenting would show just how short the shank could be to allow operation on your curves.
Lots of different plastic non-operating couplers have been produced by Lionel over the years. Just snip them to length, drill the shank, drill the car body, and install with a screw. No need for a centering spring since they would be non-operating anyway.
Close-coupled cars with flanges on adjacent cars almost touching each other are what a string of ore cars is all about. 
Jim
UPGRADING A LIONEL 6-19321 ORE CAR
There is not much that can be done to lower the body with this Lionel model except to grind down the truck bolster. See photo.
To shorten the coupling distance between cars the existing Lionel couplers could be cut off. Another means for coupling would have to be fabricated.
You could substitute Weaver trucks which have a lower bolster. You could then build up the body bolster just enough to allow the flanges to clear the underbody on curves.
Jim
UPGRADING A LIONEL 6-19321 ORE CAR
The body and frame of the Lionel car have been lowered just enough to allow the trucks to rotate. The main problem is always the oversize flanges on the wheels.
By eyeballing your modification, I think you positioned the trucks a little too far out. Looking at the included prototype pics and some others I found online, the truck ends (the friction bearing journals) should just line up (centering) with the carbody side edges, or only slightly extend beyond that, perhaps lining up with the outermost axles of the trucks.
Jim gave some good suggestions. I personally would ditch the 3-rail couplers and go with Kadees, although they are closer to scale than the Lionel couplers they can still couple to and hold onto the 3-rail couplers. I would go with the 800 series couplers though, not the newer-generation 700 series as I've found that the 700 series are a new design that really doesn't stay together on 3 rail couplers as the 800 series do.
Looks good.......I remember the Ore Jenny's rolling across the Allegheny river in Harmarville that steel bridge and hundreds of wheels were loud.
Some inspiration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF97stXehEY
I don't remeber which iron road this ws, but they took those types of cars, and made 4-pack sets out of them: there waere straight draw bars between three of the cars!
UPGRADING A LIONEL 6-19321 ORE CAR
I can always attach the Lionel trucks in their original position. I paid $15 for the car so that I do not have a lot invested either way.
Note: I used Atlas 50-ton Bettendorf sprung trucks (#6032) on my original Atlas ore car so now the body sets as low as possible without interference with the rims of the wheels.
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