I gotta say, I've seen people talk about adding weight to tenders, but I never would have believed the difference it makes. my 2-10-0 (my only sound loco) would stall all too often, especially over turnouts, from power loss. I added a tiny bit of weight by gluing some old pinewood derby weights to the upper part of the shell, couldn't have been more than .5 oz, and the thing runs so much better now, even smoother somehow. I also shoved some weight onto the cab roof, scraps so it would have been around .1 oz.
Yep. It's why adding some weight, is also a big help with sorely under-weighted freight cars.
Yes, weight is often a good thing. The wire harness between the loco and tender can sometimes lift the tender just a little bit - maybe not really visible - but it can reduce contact. I have an old brass Ma and Pa 4-4-0 that had the motor in the front of the boiler (so they could do a detailed cab interior), which made the loco front-heavy. I too put weight in the underside of the cab roof. I think I used a slug of "Shape-a-Weight" formed to the contour and ACC'd in place. Made a big difference.
You found the advantages of adding weight to tenders and locomotives, welcome to the dark side.
Roger T.
Once upon a time, I experimented around with weight and found some interesting stuff out. Not being a scientist, but having a rather inquisitive mind (My go-to idol was Les Paul) I loaded up a few Athearn stainless pax cars-and I mean loaded! These cars had this very pronounced "KLUNK", heard while negotiating every joint, turnout, etc. Six of these cars would negotiate my old layout, skulking behind a (ready??) Athearn Pacific-on level track! The first time it smelled an incline of any stripe, the Pacific would go into this hard groan and start spinning. I toyed with the idea of using sand (my back yard is full of it), but side-stepped that nonsense for somewhat obvious reasoning, only recently acquired.
So, as the Lilliputian express could only negotiate the "water level " route, I ruefully deep-sixed (get it??) the whole idea. The one thing which made its way to the "now" was the idea of using bird sh(Oh yes-I am tempted, Jim...)ot. Now, birdshot mixed in a slurry of armalite mould-making compound and poured into any and every nook and cranny I could find seems to work admirably; you just have to be careful; keep it from touching electrical stuff, or any manner of drive components. OK, time to do more "customizing of that "former" "SY MIKE"!!
Rich C.