# Question: Athearn HO RTR Husky Stack Well Car



## igmuska (Nov 21, 2009)

Recently I bought one of these well cars along with some separately purchased containers. My question is if anyone else has considered adding more weight to their lower level container, lowering the center of gravity to increase stability.
My layout uses 18" radius curves and noticed that the double stacked well car will exhibit an odd wobble through the curves. If I roll the well car slow enough through the curves, the well car will tip over.
I tightened the trucks as well as tested the curves with a bubble level to see if one rail is higher than the other. Both are OK.
Has anyone else encountered this issue? I was thinking that buying and installing 4oz weight will help? I will also probably get some Kadee metal trucks with wheelsets to add additional weight to lower the center of gravity further.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Adding weight to the bottom container is a very good idea, just keep it as low as possible. The NMRA standard is 1 ounce plus a 1/2 oz. per inch of car length for best performance.


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

I had the same issue with Athern 56" grain cars. They were to light with only the stock weight. Adding weight fixed the issue.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

igmuska said:


> ... lowering the center of gravity to increase stability.


Entirely appropriate, with physics on your side.

Without getting too geekie, when a car goes around a turn, a centrifugal force is created, with the "force vector" passing through the car's center of gravity (CG). If the CG is high, then that force creates a strong tipping moment. As the CG is lowered, the force stays the same, but the tipping moment is reduced. More stability.

Cheers,

TJ


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Are they tipping towards the outside of the corner or the inside? If to the outside - I'd say the weight would help....although my opinion is that heavier cars always run better. I've run some of the older (70's-80's) cars that are my son's (so he can break them without me freaking out.) and they derail very often compared to my newer/nicer/heavier cars (Athearn RTR, Walthers Gold, etc)

If it tips to the inside - I think it could be a turn radius issue. I've got some well cars (holds up to 53' container) and they don't like anything less than 20" (tip to the inside.) The trucks start to bind up through the corner, then the wheels jump the inside rail) 

I just reworked the (2) tightest corners on my layout (wye) to get them around 22" so that those cars work reliably. (Those same corners also caused problems for my new SD60M)

I HATE derailments.


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