Hiya!
Last year I acquired what I can only assume is the shell and roof of a 186(? The version without metal number and name plates) Wide Gauge Buffet car. It had been stripped and the trucks and couplers were missing. The underside of the roof had been chromed, and there were faint traces of olive or grass green paint in some of the corners. I finished the stripping and primed and painted it with the same 2-done blue paint scheme I used on my Lionel #8, 2 #35's and a #36 obs (also junkers). I installed 100 series Lionel trucks, interior lighting and latch couplers.
The problem is this car with 2 #35's and a #36 behind it likes to tip on the standard O-42 size Standard Gauge curves. I run the 4 car train as a fixed consist since I'm using a terminal post installed on my #8 for the positive end of the car lighting. I have wires running between each car and they ground through their frames, similar to the way the early Lionel lighting kits did. Breaking the consist requires replacing one of the in-line plug jacks I have between cars with a spade connector on the head end car, and I'm trying to avoid that.
So, would it be better to widen the wheelbase by a 1/2 inch on each end, or just add weight to this car? I'd like to keep it in the consist but if I don't find a way to keep it on the rail I'll have to set it out.
Thanks, Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Try adding some weight to the bottom of the car, a magnet or an old fishing weight should work. You may need about two ounces of weight for that size car.
Lee F.
Not a bad idea. Maybe I could get a fishbelly pan like the ones on the 1690 series cars and fill it with sinkers.
Thanks!
Becky
I use the triangle casting leads found in the fishing dept at Wal-Mart. Flat bottom on the lead allows for a dab of rubber cement that will hold the lead in place but is easily removed.
Bill T.
Seayakbill I use the triangle casting leads found in the fishing dept at Wal-Mart. Flat bottom on the lead allows for a dab of rubber cement that will hold the lead in place but is easily removed.
Good to know! I'll be at wally mart tommow and I'll check it out. The types of sinkers I'm used to seeing are the old classic "bomb shaped" versions that my dad used, I didn't know there were flat ones these days.
What I'll probably do is take either thin sheet brass or aluminum and make an underbody pan rather than sacrificing an original or repro part that may or may not fit. I suspect the state and comet pans of that type would be too long for an ives buffet and the O gauge versions might look too hinky. Since this car was a junker to begin with I don't have too many reservations about boring a couple of holes in the floor to attach the pan with nuts and bolts. If I'd had a motor on hand I would have turned it into an interurban.
The only other option I could come up with was adding seats and hiding weights under them. But I like the idea of moving the center of gravity closer to the rails. Makes a lot of sense now that I think about it.
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