Severely warped Walthers steel coil car

[cjm413]

Anyone seen warping like this on the Walthers N coil cars before?

This particular car was from a lot of various pre-owned freight cars I bought a few years ago.

I don't recall that it was warped at that time, but it admittedly wasn't a high priority where I can't rule out putting it straight in my parts box without noticing...

[wazzou]

If it has a metal weight, I’d bet that has something to do with it.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I came across this a few times, mostly with the Thrall well car. Both are cast zinc and both can be susceptible to zinc craze like early engine frames.

I vividly remember getting a blue (CSX? APL?) well car in a batch of used stuff. It was so comically warped that  I was able to break it in my hand without much force at all. It turned into nothing more than splinters and power.

[cjm413]

I came across this a few times, mostly with the Thrall well car. Both are cast zinc and both can be susceptible to zinc craze like early engine frames.

I vividly remember getting a blue (CSX? APL?) well car in a batch of used stuff. It was so comically warped that  I was able to break it in my hand without much force at all. It turned into nothing more than splinters and power.

If this isn't the only Walthers car that had this problem, I may hold off on upgrading them and move on to the Red Caboose Type IV cars...

[nickelplate759]

The Walthers cars always struck me as grossly oversized.  Are their prototypes really that much larger than the prototypes of the Red Caboose models?

[cjm413]

The Walthers cars always struck me as grossly oversized.  Are their prototypes really that much larger than the prototypes of the Red Caboose models?

The Walthers model is based on the Evans Type III with fishbelly sills, Red Caboose is Evans Type IV with straight sills.   Most Type III and IV had a 48' IL, but there were some longer and higher capacity versions of both.   I don't have a non-warped Walthers car right in front of me to measure the inside length, but it does appear that it is much closer to 48' than the 53'6" 118T Type III cars.

Also, the hoods on the Walthers model are too tall.  Cutting them down may be an option if all or most of the extra height is in the vertical sides of the hoods rather than the curved top of the hoods.

[Atlas Paul]

I shot this recently - there are different sized hoods on this car.  The hoods on the Walthers (now Atlas) car may not be the most common but they may not be wrong either.

[jpec]

Much like the Atlas SD35 frame that disintegrated when I was finally able to get the body shell of it because I needed to check it for contact issues. I still haven't been able to find a replacement.  Sad because it was a damn good locomotive.

Jeff

I came across this a few times, mostly with the Thrall well car. Both are cast zinc and both can be susceptible to zinc craze like early engine frames.

I vividly remember getting a blue (CSX? APL?) well car in a batch of used stuff. It was so comically warped that  I was able to break it in my hand without much force at all. It turned into nothing more than splinters and power.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Much like the Atlas SD35 frame that disintegrated when I was finally able to get the body shell of it because I needed to check it for contact issues. I still haven't been able to find a replacement.  Sad because it was a damn good locomotive.

Jeff

I think it's just a an inherent risk of using a zinc alloy. I would love to know a little more about the metallurgy of it and what contamination caused zinc to craze like this. I wonder if it's like  gallium and aluminum.

[davefoxx]

Well, if you can't fix it (and if there's no warranty in sight), throw some trucks and couplers on it and throw it on the RIP track.  Perhaps with the overweight load still onboard.   

DFF

[peteski]

I think it's just a an inherent risk of using a zinc alloy. I would love to know a little more about the metallurgy of it and what contamination caused zinc to craze like this. I wonder if it's like  gallium and aluminum.

The problem is poorly chosen alloy using inferior materials.  White metal can be more stable if pure metals are used. There are plenty of white metal products out there which are stable.  It seems that the mere recent Chinese product are again exhibiting symptoms of the "zinc pest".  Probably due to lead contamination.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_pest

[cjm413]

Well, if you can't fix it (and if there's no warranty in sight), throw some trucks and couplers on it and throw it on the RIP track.  Perhaps with the overweight load still onboard.   

DFF

I already wrote this one off as FUBAR.   My concern is that I go through the trouble of upgrading another one, just to have this happen again...

[Missaberoad]

I already wrote this one off as FUBAR.   My concern is that I go through the trouble of upgrading another one, just to have this happen again...

FWIW I have two sitting in a parts box that I've owned since the late 1990s that show no sign of warping... I feel like this is rare...

Well, if you can't fix it (and if there's no warranty in sight), throw some trucks and couplers on it and throw it on the RIP track.  Perhaps with the overweight load still onboard.   

DFF

John Allen did a "heavy load" somewhat like that 

[cjm413]

I shot this recently - there are different sized hoods on this car.  The hoods on the Walthers (now Atlas) car may not be the most common but they may not be wrong either.

Walthers vs (broken) Red Caboose hoods on Red Caboose car.   The appearance that the Walthers cover sits higher is due to the fact that it is wider than the Red Caboose cover.

[url=https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=17750]

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Walthers vs (broken) Red Caboose hoods on Red Caboose car.   The appearance that the Walthers cover sits higher is due to the fact that it is wider than the Red Caboose cover.

[url=https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=17750]

Yeah, they are just insanely big.