P repping cars for operation by James J. Eager Easy ways to weight ‘difficult’ freight cars ... Ready-to-run is a popular label today, but it isn’t always the case. Between building in reliability for operation and following club rules, some work needs to be done on most cars before putting them on the layout. The steps needed are a short list and some cars need more work than others. Even old cars can be brought up to spec, so don’t give up. The first item, couplers, is mostly taken care of on today’s cars by the vendors. In 1995, I started converting my cars to Kadees (kadee.com). I took a long-term approach as money was tight – I was on disability at the time – and I had a bunch of rolling stock. I started with one passenger train and worked my way the length of the train over a period of time. I finally finished all the cars last year. MRHMAG.COM • TABLE OF CONTENTS • INDEX