A very basic question about rolling stock weight

You could use the guidelines in NMRA RP-20.1

Theere are seveeral different "standards" for weighing cars.. The NMRA is one of the heavier ones around as it was defined back when trucks didn't roll well as they do today. With short trains, the weighing becomes a lot leess important as the pulling forces are fairly small and thus almost anything will stay on the track. It is when train lengths start going ove4r 40 cars that keeping weights to a standard start becoming much more important On the prototype, the cars weeigh what tey weigh so theyard crew will tend to put the empty (light weight) cars at the back of the train when posible.

-- Bob May

rmay at nethere.com http: slash /nav.to slash bobmay http: slash /bobmay dot astronomy.net

For MRR purposes, the most important principle is consistency. It'sa Ok to weight cars less than NMRA RP if you use the same formula for all cars. BTW, it's easy to set up a small spreadsheet and print it out for taping above your workbench - along with all the other "gotta have it handy" information that clutters that pace... ;-)

Equally important are trucks, wheels, and couplers.

HTH wolf k.