A couple of simple improvements...

[doctorwayne]

...for Accurail cars. I'm not sure if these will apply to all Accurail cars, but they work for the various 40' boxcars, in all styles.
If you don't use the Accumate couplers supplied with these kits, you'll find that the coupler pockets are not quite deep enough to accommodate the bronze centering spring used with Kadee couplers:

   

Attaching the coupler cover snugly will crush or distort the protruding parts shown, resulting in poor coupler performance. The solution is to build-up the sides of the coupler pocket, using strips of Evergreen .010"x.020" styrene, as illustrated:

   

I cut the strips a little longer than necessary, then trim them to length after the cement has hardened.

   

Another area that can be improved is the weight. Some folks glue them in, using solvent cements which continue to "work" after the car is in service, eventually resulting in deformed (and sometimes un-useable) floors. Silicone sealant will work for a while, but, eventually, the bond will give way, especially if the car is stored in its box, laying on its side. My solution is to hold the weights in place, using commercially-available strip styrene.
Since the weights are .080" thick, .080"x.080" strip works well. First, ensure that the weight is flat by attempting to rock it, with each side up in-turn, on a flat surface. Straighten as required. Next, centre the weight side-to-side on the floor:

   

Now, add short lengths of strip, as shown, "trapping" the weight in place ( the ends of the car will prevent any movement lengthwise):

   

Use more of the same strip, cemented in place with solvent cement, as shown. I clamp it until the cement has set:

   

   

For some cars, such as reefers and single sheathed boxcars, the floor is not wide enough to allow the method used above. For these, simply cement the short pieces in place as shown below. Make sure that they're .080" below the ledge upon which the floor sits:

   

When the cement had dried, drop the weight in position, as shown, then snap the floor in place:

   

Wayne

[MasonJar]

I like using double-sided foam tape. Fast, cheap, sticks forever (also a disadvantage ) However, you need to have (vertical) room, since the tape is about 1/8" thick...

Andrew

[nomad]

All great ideas and I have a bunch of Accurails. Thanks

Loren

[Trucklover]

Hmmmm interesting improvements for the cars Wayne, i like the ideas, thanks for sharing :mrgreen:

[Fluesheet]

...for Accurail cars. I'm not sure if these will apply to all Accurail cars, but they work for the various 40' boxcars, in all styles.
If you don't use the Accumate couplers supplied with these kits, you'll find that the coupler pockets are not quite deep enough to accommodate the bronze centering spring used with Kadee couplers:

Attaching the coupler cover snugly will crush or distort the protruding parts shown, resulting in poor coupler performance. The solution is to build-up the sides of the coupler pocket, using strips of Evergreen .010"x.020" styrene, as illustrated:

Wayne, you use styrene like the rest of us use duct tape!

That's a good bit of advice on the spring. I solved the same problem by cutting down the centering spring until it fit in the box - it worked, but was somewhat tedious.

Matt

[doctorwayne]

Yeah, Matt, I've cut down the springs, too, but I thought that this might be a faster solution, as I had almost 40 cars to do. Using a Chopper to cut the strips, and with all the parts prepared and laid out, it went pretty quickly, and it was certainly easier than trying to line up the knife blade to trim the springs.

Wayne

[LynnB]

Thanks Wayne, great tip. I have a large selection of cars, how do I know which are accurail cars?

[Herc Driver]

That is a smart, neat, tip! I have a few cars that wobble side to side as they go down the rails and I bet it's from an off-centered weight. Those particular cars lean ever so slightly as well. I'll put this "fix" on my list of things to do and get rid of my "leaning wobbles". Thanks!

[doctorwayne]

Lynn, as far as I know, all Accurail cars have the name moulded inside the body shells and also on the coupler cover plates. However, any car with an interior weight should have the weight secured in place. While my method is a bit more work than simply gluing it in place, I've bought a lot of otherwise perfectly good used rolling stock where the use of the wrong glue has damaged the floor so severely as to make the car inoperable.
Athearn blue box cars generally "trap" the weight between the frame and floor, and MDC used either the cast metal floor/frame as the weight, or held the interior flat sheet steel weight in place with plastic washers.

Herc, I'm sure that off-centre weights would cause even more problems in N scale, but another cause of wobbling is out-of-round wheels or wheels not concentric to their axles - in HO, some Train Miniature (and later versions of the same cars from Walthers suffered from this malady. I generally run my cars with the wheels that come with the kits, but I had to change out more than a few on these cars, which are still among my favourites. Of course, being a cheapskate, most got Athearn or MDC plastic wheelsets as replacements.
Also, if the truck is too loosely mounted, it can allow the body to rock from side-to-side - many cars that have their trucks mounted with friction-fit plastic pins can suffer from this. The best solution is to replace the pin with a screw, and on many cars, it's simply a matter of finding a suitable-sized screw, then installing it in the existing hole. Use a self-tapping screw in metal floors, but a regular machine screw will cut its own threads in most plastics. In some instances, though, you'll need to first plug the existing hole (plastic sprues from many kits work well for this, or you can buy various diameters of styrene rod from Evergreen for the same purpose). I use lacquer thinner to cement it in place, then let it harden for a day or so before drilling it for the screw. Most trucks and coupler covers, at least in HO, are held in place by 2-56 screws, so if you're doing any appreciable amount of these upgrades, invest in a decent quality pin vise, a #50 drill bit (for drilling the screw holes), a 2-56 tap, and a #42 drill bit (for drilling clearance holes for the screws in the coupler covers). While I have a complete set (#1-#80) of numbered drill bits, I keep additional ones with my stock of various screw sizes for these kind of jobs. For cars that rely on separate plastic pins to hold the trucks in place or on pins moulded as an integral part of the coupler cover, replacement with screws is a simple procedure that can improve operation and make car maintenance easier.

Wayne

[LynnB]

Thanks Wayne

[Squidbait]

Wayne,

I noticed you weren't adding any extra weight to those Accurail cars... do you not weight your cars to the NMRA spec (1oz + 0.5oz/inch of length)? I found once I started getting my cars to consistent weight my operating reliability increased sharply.

To add the extra weight, I use the A-Line adhesive weights, and haven't had any come loose in nearly 20 years of use.

[doctorwayne]

Wayne,

I noticed you weren't adding any extra weight to those Accurail cars... do you not weight your cars to the NMRA spec (1oz + 0.5oz/inch of length)? I found once I started getting my cars to consistent weight my operating reliability increased sharply.

To add the extra weight, I use the A-Line adhesive weights, and haven't had any come loose in nearly 20 years of use.

I just grabbed, at random, an Accurail car off the layout and weighed it. At 5.5" long, it weighed 3.75 oz., dead-on to NMRA specs. I also grabbed a Train Miniature car that has, for some reason had extra weight added - it tipped the scales at 5.75 oz. My cars generally range from the NMRA weight standards all the way up to 8 or 9oz. for loaded hoppers. The only cars that seem to cause problems are empty hoppers, (which are 1.25oz. under spec at only 2oz.) and then only if they're near the front of a train of heavier cars. A train of all empty hoppers seems to be no problem. Of course, a long train of loaded hoppers behind one or two regulation weight cars could cause trouble, too, but the only trains with more than 2 or 3 loaded hoppers are those destined for the power plant. These are run like unit trains, and are the only regularly scheduled freights that I plan to run. If a train has empty hoppers in the consist, they're blocked towards the rear of the train, which adds some operating interest.
All of my 50' revenue-service flatcars weigh in at 6oz. empty (most of the removeable loads which I use are fairly light), and I have some 50' gondolas that tip the scales at 7.25oz. empty, or 10.75 when loaded with loose scrap metal. Again, attention to train make-up seems to negate any problems.
If I want to add weight to a car, I have a box of 1 and 2 ounce weights that I've cast from used wheel-balancing weights, plus some sheet lead for special situations. For cars like those flatcars, with few options for hiding the weight, I cast lead weight to fit in the cavities between the frame members - these are the Walthers GSC flats, so four different moulds were required to do each car. There's still room under these cars for probably another 2 ounces, too.

You are correct about the consistent weights contributing to more trouble-free operation, though. Because I favour "live" loads for my open cars, I'm willing to tinker with the standards. For most operators, they're a good point of reference - the key word is "consistent".

Wayne