Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/04/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Craig, Thanks for the further insight about trains. In the early 70's I worked for North American Car ( Chicago Ridge, IL) the successor to Mather Stock Car. My boss had worked on that site for 50 years! Because of my job I was a member of the AAR Car Foreman's group. I tried sustaining my membership after I left NAHX but eventually they dropped my name. It was a great place to work...tons of history. Wish I had the foresight to take pictures. Jon Olympia,WA -------------- Original message -------------- > > On Apr 1, 2005, at 12:57 PM, jon.stanton@comcast.net wrote: > > > "Wow! They really were grinding the rails. Before I looked I > > thought I might see something really rare these days, a hot box. > > Thanks Lee" > > Back in the early 70's I worked for a company that made grain hoppers > > and "slurry' cars....On occasion we would service cars that had "hot > > boxes" aka blown bearings. Timken put an end to that genre of car. > > Back then a car had to be "retired" if it was 50 years old even if the > > "trucks" (wheels) could be upgraded...question is...when was the last > > "hot box" car made? > > Those were 'solid' bearings, ie, not roller bearings. They were big > brass solid sleeve bearing lubricated with oil that was soaked into > 'waste' - basically cotton rags stuffed in the bearing journal boxes. > If the oil wasn't replenished, or if the bearing was simply worn, the > bearing would overheat and run hot...in extreme cases the axle would > wear thru the bearing and then weld itself to the truck. Typical > result there was that the axle would break and everything would go > splat in a derailment. Roller bearings have made this sort of failure > very rare now. Solid bearings were banned from interchange service (ie > when one railroad passes a car to a connecting railroad for forwarding > on) since sometime in the later 1980s. And the 50 year rule is now the > 40 year rule if I'm not mistaken... > > CZ > Traingeek, NC > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information