UNION PACIFIC passenger car #328

[Madjack]

HELP !! can anyone help me identify these cars, i purchased 6 Union Pacific diner  cars from an estate auction recently they have 4 wheel trucks with very long couplers, the window glass & roof come off as one piece, there are no identifying marks or numbers any where . they are yellow W/ gray roof and car# is 328  on all of them. when placed on track& coupled the cars are almost 1 1/2 inches apart and lean to the side then then fall over! what is wrong? wrong trucks&couplers? 

[Bucksco]

Try wider radius curved track - 22" radius minimum (the larger the better).

[Madjack]

the track is not the problem all my Amtrak trains work fine on them,and the radius is over 22 on all my curves, it is how the trucks are mounted or just plain wrong!

[ACY]

Nothing is wrong with the passenger cars with the potential exception of them being underweight. Try adding some lead weight to the cars following the NMRA recommended weight. If they are IHC/AHM/Rivarossi passenger cars then each car will need at least 3 or 4 ounces of lead weight added.

[Madjack]

but they lean and fall of track before even moving something is wrong with trucks or mounting?and way too far apart!! i know about weighing down the cars i had to add weight to my Amtraks

[Jerrys HO]

but they lean and fall of track before even moving something is wrong with trucks or mounting?and way too far apart!! i know about weighing down the cars i had to add weight to my Amtraks

Post a pic and maybe someone will see the problem! I can not see it from here.

[Len]

What scale are these cars?

If HO, check how the trucks are mounted.

If there is a plastic peg, as used by AHM/IHC/Con-Cor, holding it on, it may not be pushed in all the way. Allowing too much slop between the truck and chassis. If one end has a peg, and the other a screw, a peg probably got lost and the wrong type of screw used to replace it. If they are designed to be screw mounted, the screws may need to be tightened on one or both ends.

If the couplers pull straight out from the end, they can be replaced with McHenry knuckle couplers that are a bit shorter.

And like someone else said, a picture would really help figure out the problem.

Len

[ebtnut]

Going back to what the Yardmaster said - Just because your Amtrak cars go around doesn't necessarily mean other cars will also.  You need to see if the trucks are binding on part of the underframe and limiting the turning radius.  Many full-length passenger cars just won't go around an 18" curve.

[Len]

The OP already said his curves are larger than 22", so it doesn't sound like curve size is the problem.

Wobbling and falling off the track when the car's just sitting there sounds more like a truck mounting problem. Or possibly wheels not installed in the truck properly.

Len

[Jerrys HO]

I have a set just like you described, wish I never bought them. Since then I purchased the Bachmann Spectrum line complete set off EBay

[Len]

So what kind were they? It might help come up with a way to fix them.

Len

[Jerrys HO]

So what kind were they? It might help come up with a way to fix them.

Len

Who are you asking the OP or me?

[Len]

Sorry, I was asking you Jerry.

Len

[Jerrys HO]

Len,
I bought them in a package deal (so I thought), it is a mixture of Rivarossi,ConCor and AHM/IHC. They look to be of all the same manufacturer except the Rivarossi (more detail on the underside). Long talgo truck arms and plastic pin holding the trucks on.
The Bachmann Spectrum set I actually have is better detail, body mounted knuckles and metal wheel sets. I paid $10.00 more for that set than the other junk.
When I first got into HO I was buying just about anything that looked good  . Not anymore.
Jerry

[Len]

That helps Jerry.

As can be seen in the picture here: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/223-970019 flash on the pin ends and the trucks themselves (just behind mounting hole) is a problem with these cars. The cars have a similar bulge around it's mounting hole, so the car is pretty much balancing on that small circle of plastic. If the pin isn't in all the way due to the flash, it wobbles really bad instead of just bad. So making sure all of the flash is removed on the pins, trucks, and underframe is important. Checking to make sure the soft plastic used in the trucks didn't warp coming out of the mold is also important.

The obvious solution is replacing the trucks. IHC had a replacement metal truck, that screw mounted, that worked well. But IHC is gone now. Most other replacement passenger trucks are intended for cars with real bolsters, not what's essentially two thick washers stacked on each other.

So the possible fixes are:

1. Using an adapter like this http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/247-313 to mount a better truck

2. Do some underframe surgery to add a real bolster http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/521-802 and mount a better truck

3. Clean up all of the flash, fill in the car mounting hole with 4-minute epoxy, drill and tap for a 4-40 screw and mount the truck with a flathead 4-40 screw. In this case the cone of the flathead allows necessary, but not excessive, movement. There will still be some wobble, but nothing like using the plastic pins.

4. When the budget allows, get some better cars.

And McHenry 50 series couplers will shorten the space between cars considerably.

Len