Questions about athearns Well Cars?

[Jack Doran]

Just curious if they are repackaged roundhouse cars or did they retool them. I was looking at getting some of them but wanted to know a little more about them. I was not a big fan of the roundhouse cars especially the three packs with drawbars on them. I had one 3 pack of them and they were awful light and they derailed constantly. I know i am taking a chance of derailing by running them empty, but I plan on running some baretables if and when I get a layout started. I like the Walthers Articulated well cars and Deluxe innovations and Kato cars. They have a little more weight since they are made from metal. Thanks on the Info you can give me.

[Kisatchie]

I had a number of the cars in question, and indeed they are very light.

Hurricane Katrina prevented me from building a layout to run them on, but here is a suggestion I read somewhere - cut some thin plexiglass to fit in the bottom of the cars when running them empty. The extra all but invisible  weight will keep the cars from derailing.

[Spades]

Yes they are the MDC cars,  but with body mounted couplers and the end platforms enhanced, still very light.  If you want to run them empty, I suggest microscope glass slides.  I tend to run the Athearn/MDC cars at the end of the train. They will tend to string line on my 14" curves.

[SkipGear]

Look good but yes, they are very light.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

FVM wheels do wonders for these cars. The body mount couplers and etched details really enhance the look. If you want to go crazy, you can add some additional weight on the body between the wheels and around the mini weights above the trucks. With these mods they can be run on the front end of trains, but you need PERFECT trackwork using ME C40, C55, Atlas C55 or hand laid rail. There is just too much slop in older C80 track products to keep these things on the rail.

[Jack Doran]

Thanks guys for the info. One more question? How did they do the drawbars for the 3 pack sets? I think the older versions use a T shank drawbar at both ends. Then you attached the T in slot like opening on the truck to held the cars together. Hopefully they did away with this. Judging by your pictures Skipgear I hope they use the holes in the drawbars. Then use the screws in the coupler boxes to hold them together.

[sundowner]

The drawbar set come assemble. I have not taken them appart but it looks like they loop around the coupler box screw. Nice car and an inprovement over the old ones. Like Daniel sugested FVM wheels are a most add.