NEB&W Guide to Scale Test Cars

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Last Update: 2008-01-04

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A scale test car, as the name implies, was used to test the accuracy of a railroad's track scales. A scale test car didn't even have brakes as the brake shoes and wheels would wear just that much to throw off the known weight. For that reason, a scale test car was always run at the end of the train, just before the caboose.