couplers

[Guilford Guy]

They're plastic, and are at least decade old toolings, and are not up to today's weighting standards. For lack of a better car, I took the diner, which I one for $0.99 on ebay, sanded off the lettering, and added new logos, and a window stripe. I then glued pennies inside to weigh it down. Right now its in the shops, waiting for new trucks (preferably Eastern Car Works), and working diaphragms. When I ran it it was sandwiched between 2 Walther's Coaches, which had working diaphragms. With the close couple it managed to negotiate 22" radii curves. I'd recommend if you wish to close couple them, to replace the plastic diaphragms with Train Station Products' or another manufacturers. They can be nice cars with a little work, but by the time you invest the money into new diaphragms, interiors(if desired), etc, you could have bought a set of Walthers' cars for more or less the total price.

Edit: To remove the roof, there are several plastic tabs on the bottom. The Window insert is part of the roof. Squeeze and hold these tabs in with tooth picks, or small screw drivers, then pry off the roof. This will expose to inside of the car, to which you should glue pennies. Don't make them too heavy, but they will track better, especially on curves, and reduce derailments.

[WGL]

 Thanks again Guilford Guy!  At least, your tip of using pennies will save me dollars on special train car weights.

[Yampa Bob]

Visit your local tire dealer, get a bunch of used lead weights for free.  Remember "A penny saved is a penny earned."

[Santa Fe buff]

Lead?

[Guilford Guy]

Yes, its a very dense metal.

[Santa Fe buff]

I know what lead is. I think that Bob may be pulling a leg... After all, I wouldn't like my locomotives or cars weighted by lead, it is poisonous.

[ajp3751]

Lead is only poisonous if ingested. The point was the it was free and since it is a more dense metal, you would in theory need only a little bit per car.

[Santa Fe buff]

I see. Thanks, I'll look out for it.

[grumpy]

Most tire supply stores will give you new ones free or very cheap . The new ones have a tape backing to keep them on the rims.
Don

[WGL]

 I've already glued pennies onto the floors of 3 of my 6 IHC passenger cars
I weighed a car at 3 oz.  The car is 11 1/4" long; using the rule for weight, I calculated the optimum weight at 7.5 oz.  15 pennies will fit the length of the floor & weigh about 1 oz.  I glued 15 more on top of them.  I don't know how much a tire weight weighs or how they might fit to distribute their weight, but you who recommend them must have used them successfully.
  The hardest part for me was getting the tops of the cars off.  On the third car, I found an easier way than wedging all 6 tabs at once.  I pushed 2 on an end with a small screwdriver & began prying the top up.
  Conrail Quality, I searched for McHenry 52 couplers to replace the horn & hook ones on my IHC cars.  modeltrainstuff is out of stock & so is Horizon Hobby.  On eBay, I bid last night for some included with a lot of others but find myself far outbid today.  So I'll keep looking.

[SteamGene]

I have the IHC cars in both streamlined and heavyweight.  It's easy to bodymount #5 couplers.  You may need some plastic shim stock.  Bobymounting will make performance better. 
The inserts are also plastic and add very little weight.  OTOH, it becomes possible to fill the bathrooms and such with lead birdshot to add weight. 
The couplers you have are horn hook and recently discussed.  They are the old standard. 
Gene

[WGL]

 Gene, I'll look for #5 couplers.  I don't have any insert furnishing, but I see that I could get them from IHC at $5 each for the coach & dining car.  I hope they will fit on top of 2 thicknesses of pennies.  When I try to order from IHC online, I receive a warning from Internet Explorer that there is something amiss with the site's certification.  Have you ordered online from IHC without problems?

[Len]

WGL,

Don't hold your breath for the McHenry #52 couplers.

Since Horizon bought McHenry they've been focused on getting the new 'shelf' couplers out, and retooling to make the older (e.g., #52)  McHenry's with metal knuckle springs instead of the plastic finger spring. My LHS doesn't expect to see the new ones before the end of the year.

Also, you can add a bit of weight below the body by converting to metal wheels. A pack of 36 metal wheels with RP-25 flanges is available through Walthers, item number 348-5997.

These are the "31in" diameter used on the IHC cars, not the more typical "36in" size used on passenger cars. You could use the "36in" wheels, but you have to trim off the brake shoes to do so.

Len

[WGL]

 Thanks Len, for the warning about McHenry 52s & for telling me exactly where to find the right wheels.  I placed them in my Walthers Wishlist.  I'd need 48 wheels, which gets expensive.  I am interested in getting insert furnishings for my IHC coach & dining car, but IHC's order page has a security problem with its certification, & my e-mail to IHC's e-mail address was returned as undeliverable.  The one at a hobby store who ordered my IHC passenger cars said it seemed as if he were operating out of his garage.  He has a nice ad in Model Railroader, though.

[Ken S.]

The current stock of IHC cars is very lacking in detail and some of the paint schemes look horrible or are wrong. NJT has a bare window on the coaches and silver trucks, the "Jersey Builders" never had silver trucks, Amtrak (P1) has the black roof (this is a Rivarossi mistake that IHC continues to make) and silver trucks. Of all the new IHC cars I've gotten over the years, the only one still in service is the DL&W HW Obs as a PV for the rear of my Amtraks or "my" business car. I'd rather find the Rivarossi cars at train shows, they look so much nicer.