Ok, I’ve decided that my Bachmann hoppers are a little too light for good operation…they don;t weigh as much as the scratchbuilt wood cars…and have some trouble with tracking through turnouts as a result. So the question…how much weight do I add and how do I add it?
pour some ballast in the hoppers…
Should you use coal?
All my hoppers and ore cars on the bench layout have ballast dumped into them. Makes a nicer sound on the rails, greatly improves tracking and if you get stupid makes for a real rail accident cleanup operation!
Andre’
Andre, broken up Oreo cookies as coal might not be such a disaster. Don’t forget the milk train, behind.
Go for scale weight. Divide the prototypes empty weight by 20.3 x 20.3 x 20.3 (8365 in round numbers). The answer will be weight in pounds
This idea of using the load as the weight of a good tracking piece of rolling stock, is fine for Garden Railroaders that just run in circles.
What about operating pikes where there are loads and emptys’ ?
There should be a good standard range of weight that a piece of rolling stock weighs for good operation, before any load is considdered. Then there is the load after that.
Loading with natural commodities sometimes is a problem, because of overweight, causing cars to be too heavy for most locomotives to haul, more than a few cars.
We have found that if you want a good load, of a natural material; use “Vemiculite”…it looks like an ore of some kind, but is very light and can be mixed into your soil if it gets dumped accidentaly.
It is far easier to add metal wheels to rolling stock, as a start towards acceptable weights of cars, than just loading them.
Experimentation with temporary weights will give you the weight that is best for your rolling stock.
Sometimes there is no need for more weight. The problem isn’t the rolling stock; it’s poor track more often than not…when I say that, it includes the whole track structure including good roadbed.
Check wheel guage, and track before adding much weight.
Flat cars are the exception in most cases. Make sure you have metal wheels; guaged properly, on them for good tracking.
Down here on the desert we have to run metal wheels. Plastic wheels get these funny flat spots!
To keep the cargo holds free of unsightly nuts and bolts, I buy a box of stick-on tyre weights from NAPA and place then under the floor.
I go through a lot of them.
If space to weight is a concern, I take off the tape, silicone them in place, and tag the corners with a hot-glue gun simply to hold them in place while the silicone sets up, and I can work on the rest while waiting.
Which cars?
The new 1:20 jobs, or the old 3-bays?
This here Bachmannn 3 bay…I widen them and put a new frame under them and add side extentions to bring 'em up to a 1:20 appearance.
Another thing that I thought of is some steel rod slipped between the frame members. But putting a layer of fine gravel in the bottom and giving it a shot o paint wouldn’t bother me in the least…as far as looking at loads…eventually I’ll make up removable styrofoam loads that can be lifted out…besides…most train crews didn’t care whats in the cars…just where they went…we don’t load boxcars neither…
Bart Salmons said:I thought we had to load boxcars? Isn't that why they make those operating doors?
.....we don't load boxcars neither......
Dang, now I’ve got to do something with all those tiny boxes I made.
Bruce, you might start with putting doors behind all the doors on your box cars…
Hoppers can carry Oktoberfest!
But then again…a string of tankers… :lol:
No, I’m thinking hoppers. First of all, Bart has a lot of them. So…a bottle of Oktoberfest in each one, covered with some ice.
Makes for a rather pleasant operating session.
ONLY IF YOU CAN FIND FRACKIN OKTOBERFEST!!!
Bart Salmons said:I have some empties you can have...
ONLY IF YOU CAN FIND FRACKIN OKTOBERFEST!!!!!
When I used to shorten those to 2-bay, I made a steel center beam to tie it all together.
I’d have to go and look to see what I did, but the space down the middle, underneath, is just waiting for something heavy.
Doug Arnold said:I thought those funny flat spots were prototypical!
Down here on the desert we have to run metal wheels. Plastic wheels get these funny flat spots!
“Mad fools, the Englishmen…go out in the noon day sun…”…Mad fool the human that tries to live in a desert…