Weight

DWR · Post by **DWR** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 5:13 pm

Hi, all
I have a 4 wheel open coach, which has been scratch built by previous owner, it is far to light and likes to come off, due to lack of weight. (There are pictures and vids of the coach in question on my website). It has a underneath space of 45 x43 mm with a depth of 18mm, there is plenty of room on top but the weight will need to be hidden somehow.
Thankyou

Sir Clothem Cap · Post by **Sir Clothem Cap** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 5:29 pm

Thats a coincedence I have one on load to the DWR :lol
you could stick some old batterys underneath and paint them black or cram in some plastercine.

DWR · Post by **DWR** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 5:45 pm

haha yeah, thats a good idea ill try that thanks, oh by the way check out my channel on youtube in a hour or so theres a suprise new video about the DWR

Sir Clothem Cap · Post by **Sir Clothem Cap** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 8:02 pm

Hello WPSR rolling stock nice to see you running

Dr. Bond of the DVLR · Post by **Dr. Bond of the DVLR** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 9:38 pm

Make sure any wieght you do add is low down, otherwise the carriage will become more topply. If your adding batteries why not install lights and run them off the batteries?

GTB · Post by **GTB** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 8:38 am

A cheap source of weights is a tyre shop. When they fit new tyres and rebalance the wheels they usually throw the old ones in a bucket. If you ask nicely, they will usually give you a few.

They are lead, so if they are a little too thick, just hammer them a bit to reduce the thickness.

Regards,
Graeme

JMORG · Post by **JMORG** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 9:22 am

B&Q usually sell sheets of lead. Cut out a sizable peace and mount it under the floor. I had an IP freelanced brake comp. and a SAR Bike wagon that used to be really bad (the SAR wagon especially, due to it being run behind an NGG16). The addition of lead has cured them completely.
All the best.

invicta280 · Post by **invicta280** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 10:21 am

If you hear of any one chucking out an old piano ask if you can have the weights under the keys. I've salvaged a few hundred of these -
I have sometimes had old pianos given to me in the course of my work- and the weights are small so can be useful for weighting even small scale stock.

IrishPeter · Post by **IrishPeter** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 3:12 pm

Ballasting rolling stock has become something of a science with me as I use chopper couplers and have steep grades. I need to have my stock heavy enough to stay on the track, but not so heavy that my locos cannot hold a realistically "long" train. I quickly found out that there are fewer 'earth faults' if I have my rolling stock ballasted to something like scale weight.

It is a matter of simple maths. To get the magic number you multiply the scale converter by itself, and then the product by the scale again. So for my line that is 20.3x20.3x20.3 = 8365. If you work in 16mm then the magic number is 6968.

In the case of my 15mm stuff a ton equals 4.28oz - which for the sake of may sanity becomes 4.25oz. I generally ballast flat wagons to the equivelent of 2T 15cwt, and closed wagons to about 3T 5cwt - 12 oz and 14oz respectively and this seems to keep them on the track just fine.

A 3' gauge four wheel passenger coach (compartment stock; saloons are usually lighter) weights about 3T 15cwt empty, which is a little over 18oz in 15mm and 19.3oz in 16mm. For two-foot gauge the vehicle weights are a little lower, but not much. It is usually worth finding out what the tare weight of a particular vehicle was, and then ballasting u to that.

I know that all sounds a bit complex, but it is not because I can do it!

Peter in AZ

GTB · Post by **GTB** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:58 am

Just as important as the actual weight is that everything is weighted consistently. Sharp curves and a mixture of light and heavy rollingstock is not a happy mixture in any scale. Even the prototype had problems mixing loaded and empty wagons.

The NMRA RP 20.1 on weighting rolling stock is simpler to calculate and apply. They haven't updated it to include the garden scales, but for narrow gauge in 16mm or 15 mm/ft, their O scale numbers would be a reasonable starting point.

http://www.nmra.org/standards/sandrp/rp-20_1.html

For those that are challenged by Imperial units of measure, rounding off the conversion for the O scale chart gives an initial weight of 140g, plus an additional 28g for every 25mm of vehicle length.

Regards,
Graeme

DWR · Post by **DWR** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 12:51 pm

thankyou all very much

IrishPeter · Post by **IrishPeter** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 7:58 pm

I am t'other way about - I am hit and miss with metric. I was taught it at school, but it was irrelevant for most purposes. The 'O' gauge weights are pretty close to what I use. My typical 13'6" wagon is eight inches long, so that becomes 4 oz, plus one oz for each inch of length which makes 12oz, which is about the ballasted weight of my open wagons.

Peter in AZ

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