Distant Cousins...

One of the enjoyable things about modeling railroading is the ability to share tasks and help modeler friends with tasks at hand.  Certain modeling efforts are essentially some form of production work:  adding metal wheelsets to cars, base-coat weathering, and checking coupler heights are good examples.  Each of these requires a bit of a production-line approach which allows for quite a bit of productivity.  I 

Another of these sorts of tasks is adding weight to cars to ensure they match the weight standards set by the National Model Railroading Association, or NMRA.  NMRA membership is optional but sticking to the standards they set helps eliminate variables, which in turn helps delivery of reliable operation.  

Friend and fellow author Jerry Dziedzic recently hosted an operating session where I was running a coal train when a hopper derailed.  It turns out the car was very light, and so I busted Jerry's chops about weight standards.  Jerry smiled and then at the end of the session handed me cardboard box with the entire train lined up on the bottom - and said 'you're such an expert, YOU go ahead a weight them correctly, then!' with a grin.  

I smiled sheepishly and took the invitation.  Jerry gave me some lead shot he uses for weights and I worked to get the entire 20-car train up to standard.  NMRA wants a minimum of 1oz per car, plus 1/2 oz for each inch of length per car.  That means that these little 34' hoppers should come to about 3oz.  I added shot below the car where feasible, filling cavities as I could and securing with canopy glue.  When that didn't get me to the standard, I added some in the bottom off the bays, which once glued in was also painted black.  We can see on the scale above that this one is now ready.

A side note is how nice Jerry's collection is: all these resin cars, built and painted by Jerry.  The variety of cars on his 1947 railroad is amazing.  There were so many different manufacturers that even the unit trains had a large variety of differences car to car.  

Beyond the project, though, the juxtaposition of the 1930's-era hoppers with the 1990's-era doublestacks is striking.  Sure, they are all trains, but that is quite a difference!  Still, while 60 years apart, the equipment can all benefit from the basics:  metal wheels, proper weight, and standard coupler heights. No matter your era, those constants are true.  Distant cousins they may be, but now, they will all run well!