# How important is Car Weight?



## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

Some of my cars are as light as a feather and others seem to be very heavy and some in the middle somewhere. 
I am wondering why things happen, like derails in a turn, or cars just flopping over on their side in turns, or one axle on a truck suddenly coming off the rail and clickity clacking on of course the furthest point away from my reach on the layout.

A little help and guidance here would help.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

Weight is quite important and is th emost likely cause of your cars flopping over on their side in a curve. There is a suggested weight for freight cars determined by weight ahich I don't happen to have at the moment. 

I have a number of cars, such as Intermountain tank cars which are extremely light and I added weight to them and have no problems with them. 

You can buy weights with adhesive backing on then in half and quarter ounce sized. Mine came in a strip and can break off one, two or more pieces to give you the desired weight. I'm sure someone here can come up with the NMRA standards.


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

Chet said:


> Weight is quite important and is th emost likely cause of your cars flopping over on their side in a curve. There is a suggested weight for freight cars determined by weight ahich I don't happen to have at the moment.
> 
> I have a number of cars, such as Intermountain tank cars which are extremely light and I added weight to them and have no problems with them.
> 
> You can buy weights with adhesive backing on then in half and quarter ounce sized. Mine came in a strip and can break off one, two or more pieces to give you the desired weight. I'm sure someone here can come up with the NMRA standards.


You must be a mind reader, it is my tank cars that flop over, probably top heavy and they are as light as a feather


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

I don't know what kind of tank cars you have. The Intermountain cars are kits and really can't be opened up once they are assembled. The weight were installed prior to completing the kit. I know that some tank cars can be opened up. 

NMRA suggests weight of a car should be one ounce per half inch of length. 

Here are the weights I normally use.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

There is one sneaky way to add weight to Tank cars
that you can't open:
Drill a hole UNDER the tank, soak BBs in glue and
while wet, pop 'em in one at a time, they'll stick together, won't
rattle, and will add the weight you want.

Don


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

Weight is one of the most important factors in derailments, but not the only one. I find that wheelsets are frequently out of spec (too wide or too narrow). Get an NMRA gauge (if you don't already have one) and check the wheels of all of your cars. Wheelsets that are out of spec should be replaced.


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## Davidfd85 (Jul 4, 2011)

This should explain everything about weight for you. 

http://www.nmra.org/beginner/weight


But along with the weight get the gauges and check couplers and wheel sets too. They will all play a part of preventing derailments. But first and fore most is good track work too.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

The standard for HO car weights is 1 oz plus 1/2 oz for each inch of car length.

I have a 1x3 board with a piece of track with wheel stops at each end. It has the lengths and weights marked on it. I just put this on a postal scale, tare out the board, and weigh the car. It should be close to the marked weight for it's length.

Whenever I have a car that won't behave, weight is the first thing I check.


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## ggnlars (Aug 6, 2013)

Car weight has a lot of impact. Generally it should follow the NMRA RP or more. There are some very knowledgable people who are promoting at least 50 to 100% more than the RP. 
The idea is to go beyond just reducing derailments. It makes the heft of the car more like the real thing. It will also require multiple engines, depending on your track resistance. 

It really comes down to what your looking for. When weighting cars, the variation in car weights may cause problems. Location on the train of heavy and light cars starts to matter. 

You can get car wheel weights pretty cheap. People talk about using sand and glue in tank cars. Flat cars and open hoppers become a challenge to add weight. Metal trucks can help. 

Larry
www.llxlocomotives.com


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## dchartier (Jan 29, 2015)

My club requires all cars to meet at least the NMRA standard weights, which as others have pointed out depend on the length of the car. Accordingly, I add weights as necessary to my own rolling stock. I can't say one way or the other if doing so has reduced derailments, but I can say that I hardly ever have derailments on my flat (cheap), EZ-track at home. Aside from that, I prefer the heavier weight of cars that follow the NMRA standards and find them a little easier to place on the track.


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## Bkubiak (Oct 20, 2013)

CTValleyRR said:


> The standard for HO car weights is 1 oz plus 1/2 oz for each inch of car length.
> 
> I have a 1x3 board with a piece of track with wheel stops at each end. It has the lengths and weights marked on it. I just put this on a postal scale, tare out the board, and weigh the car. It should be close to the marked weight for it's length.
> 
> Whenever I have a car that won't behave, weight is the first thing I check.


Let's see if I have this right, Assuming I have a car that is 4 inch long, it should weigh 1 oz plus 1/2 oz for each inch or a total of 3 Oz, is that correct??

MY tank cars made in Slovenia feel almost the same in weight as a AA battery and the tank is 5 inch long with a 5 1/2 inch long frame.

I don't have a scale to measure that, guess I need to have a small electronic postal type scale like the drug dealers use. Any suggestion as to what to look for on eBay?


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

ggnlars said:


> Car weight has a lot of impact. Generally it should follow the NMRA RP or more. There are some very knowledgable people who are promoting at least 50 to 100% more than the RP.
> The idea is to go beyond just reducing derailments. It makes the heft of the car more like the real thing. It will also require multiple engines, depending on your track resistance.
> 
> It really comes down to what your looking for. When weighting cars, the variation in car weights may cause problems. Location on the train of heavy and light cars starts to matter.
> ...


The one problem with adding weight is that if you have grades, weight is your enemy. As Larry points out, you can use multiple locos to counteract this. This is why I don't add weight unless i have a problem, or unless the car is clearly underweight,.

As for tank cars, I don't have any, but I'm suspicious that if you are not careful you could end up with a load that is off center -- all of the glued material sticks to one side of the car. Why couldn't you put in dry sand, then seal the hole? Then just gently shake the car to level the load. You can tell if it gets off by the feel of it.

As for flat cars (and gondolas), you could add a weighted load. I've got a cheap, very under-weight flat car. I'm going to build some crates full of weights to attach to it.

One other idea for weight Many of my cars have a double beam that runs the length of the car. I have been on the look out for pieces of metal that are the right size to glue in between the double beam -- completely out of sight.


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

MtRR75 If you can lead fishing weights you can hammer them into any shape you need. 

Magic


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

Magic said:


> MtRR75 If you can lead fishing weights you can hammer them into any shape you need.
> 
> Magic


Do they still make lead weights? I am not a fisherman, but know that they are trying to reduce lead pollution by changing to steel weights. I browsed Wal-Mart's fishing aisle once and saw mostly steel weights -- or weights that were not labelled as to the material type.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I haven't seen lead weights for fishing in a while. You can still buy it for reloading shotgun shells, though.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I would think that weight is weight.....you could use the steel weights too....


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## lajrmdlr (Apr 25, 2014)

If adding weigh in loads keep them as close as possible to the cars center of gravity. If it's too high the car WILL tip over going around curves!


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

If you have a hobby shop nearby they should have the strip lead weights 
mentioned. You cut off whatever weight you need. It comes with self
stick backing but it would be best to add glue to that.

Don


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

Old_Hobo said:


> I would think that weight is weight.....you could use the steel weights too....


True, but I don't have the tools to cut steel into the small sizes that I need to fit under my cars.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Bkubiak said:


> Let's see if I have this right, Assuming I have a car that is 4 inch long, it should weigh 1 oz plus 1/2 oz for each inch or a total of 3 Oz, is that correct??
> 
> MY tank cars made in Slovenia feel almost the same in weight as a AA battery and the tank is 5 inch long with a 5 1/2 inch long frame.
> 
> I don't have a scale to measure that, guess I need to have a small electronic postal type scale like the drug dealers use. Any suggestion as to what to look for on eBay?


You're correct on the weight. 

You don't have to break bad for a postal scale. Nor is it necessary to mess with eBay. Try Staples or Amazon.com. They run about $20.


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## Davidfd85 (Jul 4, 2011)

If you go to some place like Bed, Bath, and Beyond or any other place like that, a kitchen supply store and get a digital kitchen scale too. They will weigh in ounces and grams also and don't cost that much either. 

For getting weight in a Tanker try drilling a hole in the bottom the size of BBs. Just drop them in to the correct weight, squirt in some white glue, plug the hole set it up right shifting it to balance them around along the bottom, set it aside to dry over night and done.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Davidfd85 said:


> If you go to some place like Bed, Bath, and Beyond or any other place like that, a kitchen supply store and get a digital kitchen scale too. They will weigh in ounces and grams also and don't cost that much either.


You'll want to be careful with a kitchen scale. They do not have to be that accurate -- some are as bad as + or - an ounce or more. If they say,"Not legal for trade", beware. If you're trying to dial in the accuracy of a car's weight, this is too much fluff.

A postal scale, on the other hand, must be accurate to within 0.05 oz (in other words, within the rounding error of the display). Almost all of them can do English or metric units, too.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I would imagine, and even hope, that a kitchen scale would be fairly accurate, at least accurate enough to weigh model railroad cars.....after all, it is measuring food that we put into our bodies, so it bloody well better be fairly accurate....

The cars don't have to be exactly the NMRA standards; it has been noted here that there is much leeway for the weight of cars: _("There are some very knowledgable people who are promoting at least 50 to 100% more than the RP")_ ....


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## SBRacing (Mar 11, 2015)

On my hopper I place the weight in the bins and just about all my hoppers have a load of coal in them i made from styrafoam and black coras balast. Flat cars if there is a load I place weights in the load. For intermodel car i place the weights in my containers. Most comtainer the top or bottom pop right off.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Old_Hobo said:


> I would imagine, and even hope, that a kitchen scale would be fairly accurate, at least accurate enough to weigh model railroad cars.....after all, it is measuring food that we put into our bodies, so it bloody well better be fairly accurate....


Kind of depends on your definition of accurate. For weighing in the kitchen, + or - an ounce isn't a big deal. My wife is a trained chef, and she does weights and measures by eye and feel, never uses a scale and measuring cups and spoons only rarely. Cooking is really a "close enough" art.

I can tell you, though, that I have been running the Pinewood Derby race for a local cub scout pack for 11 years now. Cars need to weigh in at exactly 5.0 ounces (too high and they're not legal, too low and they are at a disadvantage). I caution people not to use kitchen scales to weigh their cars, but many do. The ones that come in grossly over or under weight either never got weighed at all, or were weighed on a kitchen scale.

When you're talking about trying to dial in car weight, the greater accuracy matters; especally when, as I said earlier, as postal scale can be had for around $20.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I can see that a "more accurate" scale is need in Pine Car racing makes sense, what with racing rules and regulations and such.......but in model railroading, there are no such rules and regulations.....in fact, the NMRA weight recommendations (RP-20.1 Car Weight) are just that.....recommendations, and are not drop dead weight absolutes......even the "RP" only means recommended practice....

So go ahead folks, use the type of scale you what for weighing your trains....heck, a scale is not even needed.....even guessing or experimenting with the weight can get you what you want....and I dare say that weight is only one variable to making cars behave well on the track; proper wheels and couplers are likely just as important, if not more important, for car performance.....


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