Car Weight

[chieffan]

Is there a standard or norm so to speak for G scale freight car weight?  I have three different brand of cars and wide variance in weight between them.

[armorsmith]

Chief,
The standard is......Not to have one.

That said, I have run 30 car consists with a mix of all the different manufacturers with out any issue. I do have all steel wheels which present less drag on the brass rails (especially in curves) than the plastic one, and move the center of gravity down lower.

Keep in mind, the heavier the car, the faster the 'journal box' on the plastic truck side frame will wear out.

Bob C.

[NarrowMinded]

I dont weight my g scale cars unless I get stringlining on curves. At that point I will either move the lighter cars nearer the end of the train or add just enough weight to stop the offending cars from being pull off the rails.

Harbor freight has stick on non-lead tire weights that work well

NM-jeff

[Loco Bill Canelos]

I too do not worry about weight so much and on my more modern layout I do run long trains.  The only cars I have added weight to are flat cars.  I like to run empty flatcars anywhere in a train so metal wheels and a little weight does the job.

The weights mentioned by Jeff are great, and I have stuck them on under flatcars where they cannot be seen.   I have also used lead fishing weights, and have used epoxy putty to glue them into underframe beams.   I don't have any standard for the weight of the cars, I just do what seems right.  I kit bashed some Bachmann flatcars into piggyback flats and put some relatively light New-Ray truck trailers on them.  I added the fifth wheel support and the modern brake wheel stand, and removed the truss rods and added modern truck side frames. I did use fishing weights under these cars and they have been very trouble free runners.

Here is a pic of how they turned out lettered for my Missouri Western modern layout.  Sorry about the not cropped image!

[chieffan]

Thanks for the good information.  I guess I won't worry about car weight until I have a problem.  It is the norm to run your heavy car near the front and the light weight cars at the rear.  Same applies in HO scale.  If I stick around long enough you guys might teach this old codger a thing or town about G scale railroading.

Rog