Weaver rolling stock

They are scale size with less detail. Good paint. Most came with plastic trucks but they also made all metal trucks and couplers. They pass the six foot rule. There are hundreds on the auction sites. Just look at them closely to compare with say Atlas.

Pete

I’m sorry, but what’s the six foot rule??

I’ve seen where extra weight is sometimes added to the cars. How would they do in a 70 or 80 car consist??

Love my weaver, wish they were still in business

@Geojr posted:

I’m sorry, but what’s the six foot rule??

He means they look good from 6 feet away but up close not as good as Lionel or MTH.

Yes, most of their rolling stock needs to have weight added for good performance. Very easy to do with stick on weights you can get at the LHS (if there is one local to you).

From six feet away the deficiencies are less obvious.

Not a great photo but left to right, Weaver, Atlas, K-Line.

Pete

has anyone tried fishing weights or tire/wheel weights? Some of them have adhesive backing

Any kind of weight works. I have used large washers, 1” hex nuts, scrap steel. Whatever is in the scrap box with hot glue. This in boxcars and reefers.

Pete

Very interesting. Any ideas on amount of weight added

@superwarp1 posted:

Love my weaver, wish they were still in business

So do I !

Geojr....in regards to your question on the amount of weight to use, I follow the NMRA recommendations and it works well.

In "O" - start with 5oz. of initial weight and add 1 oz. of weight per inch of body length.

I weigh the car I want to put weight into, then calculate the additional weight needed to bring it up to the NMRA standard. Ex. A 10" Boxcar would require a weight of 15 ounces. If the car weighs 6 oz. before the weights, I add 9 oz. of weight to bring it up to 15 oz. I use the adhesive 1/2 oz. tire weights from HF.

I do this on my Weaver Boxcars and similar cars. However, on Tank cars, Cylindrical hoppers, etc. where it is harder to get to the insides to conceal the weights, I just change the plastic trucks to the  MTH die-cast trucks for Weaver cars. Then I put those cars further back in the consist to prevent any possibility of string-lining going through curves.

In my experience, earlier releases of Weaver cars had plastic trucks with metal wheels. The more recent releases had Die-cast (metal) trucks and I believe it was noted in the item number on the box, which ended in a "D". Guys & Gals, if I'm wrong on this, let me know.

As others have stated, Weaver cars are a very good value and the company is definitely missed these days.

I think of the Weaver cars as the Athearn "Blue Box" kits of the O scale world. A friend and I went up to Northumberland to try to visit the factory. We walked in and were made quite welcome and I said to Mr. Weaver that his two-bay open hopper reminded me very much of the Athearn ho product. He said replied something to the effect of "That is how I designed it." At the time he had not produced his own trucks or couplers and the cars were designed to use Athearn O scale trucks and KD couplers.

As an aside, at an O scale show some time back a seller had complete rtr used Weaver two-bay open hoppers for ONE!! dollar each; and they were not selling?? Anyway, I bought all that he had. Once in a while one gets lucky!

Weaver evolved over the years.    The first plastic scale car was the 2 bay hopper I think.    And this car was a revolution for O scale modelers.    It was a one piece body with a few add-on parts like the Athearn blue box.    Up until then, to get a scale hopper you had to buy brass or build a craftsman kit.     While a hopper seems like a simple car - it is not in my opinion.    I built 2 Quality Craft hopper kits for a planned coal train. They were fun to build, but not an easy build.    Hoppers have all kinds of angles and shapes to fit together.     A boxcar or reefer is much easier. 

As mentioned the original plastic weaver cars came without trucks and couplers but were built to NMRA standards.   Any O Scale truck built to the same standards set them at the proper height to the NMRA gauge.    Walthers, All Nation, and Auel to name a few, made Metal O scale trucks.   Athearn plastic trucks were used most often because they are relatively cheap compared to metal trucks, and they roll really well.    Most metal trucks up until that time did not roll well at all.    it was hard to pull more than a 10 car train.   Weaver eventually made his own trucks and couplers and included them with the "kits".    These kits were referred to as "shake the box" kits implying that if you just shook the box a little, the pieces would fall together and give you completed model.    The Weaver trucks were also plastic and although not sprung are equalized like the sprung Athearn trucks which means the sideframes are not rigid on the bolster and can rotate up and down along the plane of the rail to adjust to slight bumps and humps in the track as the real ones do.    Weaver eventually started offering the cars assembled and moved away from the kits.    They also then moved into offering the cars with 3 rail trucks and couplers.

the "Plastic Trucks" from both Weaver and Athearn were "engineering plastic" which is a very slippery nylon like compound that is often used in bearings of all kinds.    Delrin is one brand.    I have not yet found a glue that will stick to them reliably.     I don't think you should dismiss them out of hand.

Weaver also imported a number of cars that are totally different from the ones made in the USA.     These included the B60 Baggage car, 60 ft Mail car, H30 Covered hopper, Milwaukee road rib side boxcar, and B&O wagon top boxcar.     There are probably some others in this group that I don't remember.     These cars are about same level of detail as the Atlas Master line with all the add-on detail rather than cast on.    They are quite nice models.     At this time, they also started importing diecast trucks for the cars made here.

All the Weaver cars as far as I know are based on specific prototypes (ie are scale cars) - even if the paint schemes are not.    The 2 bay hopper and PS-1 boxcar are both based on Pullman Standard designs.    The boxcar mold they got from Crown models represents a 1923 ARA boxcar.

So there are the weaver cars with cast on detail that also have diecast trucks.    They were probably done this way for the last 8-10 years the firm sold them.

Here are some of the various cars by Weaver set within the context of railroad scenes.  Various boxcars, some open top hoppers, and a RPO car is shown.  Some cars are weathered while others are not.  I happen to like the Weaver cars a lot.  All of the cars shown have metal trucks and couplers.  The boxcars and hoppers all have weights added.  

On a lark, I just bought 11 of them at an auction. With the exception of one with a broken truck, I am very impressed with the cars. They are reefer cars and definitely pass the 6 foot test. They are quite lite and I will likely add some weight to them so they can be run in a consist. They appear to be new and never run in original packaging.

As of now, I would purchase again - time will tell.

I have had dozens of weaver cars over the years and I did not weight very many.    As long as the wheels roll and have a slight taper to handle curves, I had not problems.     I never put metal trucks on any of the USA made cars.    I used Athearn trucks until Weaver supplied them and then kept the Weaver trucks.

I run 2 rail and I could run 20-25 car trains with those cars mixed in with heavier other brands and have no derailments.     My curves are 52 inch radius.

My theory is that if the wheels roll wll in the in the trucks and have a smooth tread to allow them to move preperly on the rails, the cars do not need much or any weight.

I have a kitchen scale that was retired from the kitchen. I put the car on the scale and then pile on old nails, wood screws, bolts, etc until the NMRA recommended weight of 5oz plus 1oz per inch is reached. The hardware goes in a plastic sandwich bag and then inside the car.

Light coal hoppers have their weights covered with loads. Hoppers that meet NMRA standard constitute the MTY fleet.

Some of my Weavers.

@coach joe, none of your pictures show up.

Chuck

I have and run a bunch of Weaver freight cars. I have many more that haven't made it to the layout yet. They are all scale in size and have diecast trucks and couplers. Their quality is excellent and they track very well. I have run many large consists with Weaver freight cars and have never had an issue. Some of their freight cars are magnificent. A good example is their TOFCs. I have over 100 of them.

Pat