All plastic kit wagons will need weight adding to make them run properly - lead flashing bought from a builders merchants seems to work for me and is cheap enough on the roll.

You've some good-looking wagons there and even if one or two give you trouble (we all get it) then you'll still have the pleasure of saying "I built that" as they run on the layout.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the comment & advice.

One good source for weight are car balance weights, the stick-on type used on alloy wheels.

Often these are in lengths with thinning between sections graded at 5 Gram & 10 Gram.

Any running trouble has been getting couplings to sit straight and at a matching height. That said you will even get problem wagons when using RTR, some Bachmann sit high, whereas

Dapol tend to sag !! While I find RTR easy enough to modify, some of my kit built the NEM pockets are held in home produced sockets ..... but have stuck in - currently trying to

loosen without pulling right off !

Last evening I lost my 'cool' because of couplings riding over oneanother when reversing trains of 13 wagons.

I expect to manage 20 through points without difficulty. Now adding excessive weight just adds to pressure  on the couplings making the problem worse rather than fixing it. I have tried a mixture of straight and drooped

NEM couplings and because of my sticking the NEM pockets into small triangular housings they are not adjustable.

My approach is now that couplings are in a strong and bendable plastic so I am actually bending them to match up

heights. So far it seems to be working much better ........ I'll also lift some of my welding wire tube from the 22 ton long tube wagon load, I think it's now rather too heavy !!

Dad-1