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Rolling Stock Weight
Travis sent in this tip to share:
Weight your cars to avoid derailments. Flat cars and gondolas can be a problem, so you can add a removable load. Use metal nuts, lead shot, and panel box knockouts are some ways to add extra weight. Make certain you glue the weights in firmly to avoid movement. There is nothing worse than having the weight come loose.
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5 Responses to Rolling Stock Weight
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Great tip, I use old nuts glued in, works a treat.
To add wieght to my rolling stock I went to our local tyre dealer and got a bagful of mag wheel wieghts which are flat so easy to glue dowm
Years ago I discovered this myth of adding weight to cars to keep them on the track is bunk! I remove or leave out the weights in most cars. On the C & G I try to have a 40′ car weigh in at 65 grams. Agreed, that’s not always possible where the car floor is cast metal.
Take the time to lay track properly and you’ve eliminated most derailing problems. Throw away the plastic wheelsets that came with most cars and replace them with good metal wheels and keep those wheels as well as the track clean. Set up truck screws for only slight play. You’ll be amazed at the improved performance.
Since I am new at this game is there a Min/Max weight recomended for cars in N scale or is
it trial and error? My tracks are all in good order but my less expensive rolling stock has issues
with de-railments. I have tried replacing the wheels and trucks but still have issues.
What Joe deBy says is correct very accurately laid track and free rolling wheels negates the need for heavier wagons. However one sticky wheel set on a curve with a long train and it all comes unstuck, so I do weight my wagons and have used whell balance wights as a cheap source.