Weighting a Caboose

[ole]

I am nearing completion of a cupola-less Bachmann caboose; yes, I started it before Bachmann came out with their version. NMRA suggested weight for a caboose of this length is 5 ounces but right now, my version is only at 4 ounces. I need to decide now before final assembly: so should I add an ounce of weight? Will I have problems pulling a short (4-5 cars) length of flat cars which will likely be very under-weight? Will the lighting of the caboose be improved? And if I weight the caboose, do I have to the rest of my cars? Thanks, Lee.

[amdaylight]

Ole,

I don't think that I would add weight to the caboose, I have several and have kit bashed several more and have only replaced the weight that came with the caboose if I took it out for some reason (like poor planning). If you have not taken the weight out that is between the floor (the part with the seats and stove) and the under floor (the part with the steps) you should be just fine.

Andre Anderson

[Woody Elmore]

An old trick is to add very tiny shot to the underframe using silicone. I don't have a coboose handy but there should be some room between the sills.

[ole]

I have retained Bachmann's steel sheet metal weight with the caboose rebuild. I would like to keep any additional weight inside the caboose but that is just my preference. But I really didn't want to start re-weighting  the other cars --- especially knowing how hard it is to weight down an empty flat car. I just might weight down the passenger cars as they will always be run together and I like the lighting to be constant. Lee