Allagash tonnage philosophy - add LOTS of lead!
Bill,
Glad to hear you are a super-weight convert! Here is my philosophy on the matter, taken right from the Allagash Ebook Volume 3.
In book 2, I discussed the planning and building of the AGR’s freight car fleet. Now let’s talk about freight car performance in general. What are the keys to excellent freight car performance? Aside from the obvious answers of metal wheels and metal Kadee-type couplers, there is only one word you need to remember. Lead.
Most freight cars come from the factory far too light. I realized early on that if I wanted not only reliable, but prototypical performance from my freight cars, I would need to think big, think heavy. The AGR freight car fleet is large, numbering somewhere near 300 cars or more. Over time, I’ve added a significant amount of lead weight to each freight car. I buy lead wheel weights by the box at the local auto parts store. These are the adhesive-backed ¼ or ½ oz. stick-on weights used for wheel balancing.
Most ready to roll boxcars are easy to deal with. The roof usually pops right off. Same for covered hoppers. I typically add lead weight to each car until the total weight reaches somewhere between 9 and 13 oz. No, that’s not a typo! My freight cars are extremely heavy. For tank cars, it’s a bit more troublesome. I drill a hole in the bottom of the car, and fill the car with fine sand, then plug the hole with construction adhesive. For the wood chip hoppers, I put lead in the belly of the car and paint the lead the color of the car so it blends in. Flat cars are pretty much impossible. I generally block empty flat cars at the end of trains in order to avoid operational trouble.
Bringing the weight up to this level accomplishes several things. First and foremost, derailments are virtually non-existent on the Allagash. We have the occasional car come off, but it is rare, and there is usually some other mechanical problem with the car that needs to be addressed, or it is a car that I was not able to get sufficient weight into. Second, the performance of the freight cars in switching is most evident. When drilling cars in a yard, the cars don’t bounce around and jerk all over the place. There is a naturally-occurring inertia battle between the locomotive and the heavy freight cars. The switching shove and pull moves smooth out, and occur more naturally. To put it in perspective, a typical 10-car cut in a yard may weigh 7 lbs or more! A single unit can handle this on mostly level track, but what happens when you introduce grades? Well, things get interesting!
Another advantage to adding serious weight is that the tonnage ratings of locomotives are now closer to what a prototypical tonnage rating would be for that locomotive. As it is, most model locomotives can pull far too many freight cars, especially up a grade. The tractive effort/tonnage ratio is askew because model railroad freight cars are feather light out of the box. Adding lots of weight brings this ratio back in line and enables me to practice prototypical power management practices. Yes, I could simulate the tonnage by going slow and using manual notching, but I prefer to have real tonnage onboard and plan accordingly to get the train over the hill. If we stall, we double the hill. Or we shove if we know the tonnage is too high. These practices are not only prototypical, but they add operational interest.
Mike Confalone
