Dave, all those Kawasaki KZ 900/1000/1100's & Suzuki GS 1000/1100/1150's all used roller bearing cranks and rods. The Japanese started phasing them out in the late 80's. None of the new bikes today

Dear group: I am looking for the Reading USRA mill gondola drawings that were in Freight Cars Journal issue #8 I would be glad to pay for a scan of them. Please reply to <lrkdbn@...> Thank

Bob, you may have seen the same in a Railway Age article from the 1940 time span. It strikes a familiar note with me also. I cannot be certain however that is only 10 years and twenty large books to

The industry had long time experience with roller bearings applied to passenger cars, both heavy weight and light weight and steam locomotives. Great Northern, a paragon of thrift, started installing

Todd, "Solid bearings have less drag than roller bearings at speed." Not true for freight cars. I can't comment on the HP difference for motorcycle engines, but the cost of a RB equipped motorcycle

Very close. but there is a wedge above the brass/babbate bearing that needs to be removed before the bearing can be removed. Howard (son of a...carman) Garner

Bob, What is the date of that volume? Specific to the "over-35" claim - the early roller bearings were also oil filled - an appeasement to the old concept that oil immersion in bearings was critically

Solid bearings have less drag than roller bearings at speed. The initial start up from a dead stop might favor roller bearings but the mechanical drag of metal against metal in a roller bearing

Bob, This doesn't answer your question, but many railroads recognized the advantages of roller bearings on freight cars at least by the end of WWII. I have read that railroad

As a side bar, the under frame from caboose 354 was used for transfer caboose 176. http://freight.railfan.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=cgw176&o=cgw Jason

Another important advantage to roller bearings is the markedly reduced initial resistance, meaning that roller bearings start rolling with much less effort than solid bearings. Up here in North

January 1960 Model Railroader has a drawing of 357. Jason

Roller bearings don't get hot boxes; solid bearings do. Roller bearings can fail, but I believe that happened much less frequently than hot boxes with solid bearings. Maintenance is easier because

Reduced maintenance for sure. Roller bearings have gotten so reliable that they are essentially maintenance free for the life of the wheelsets, and are all (wheels, axles; and bearings) changed at

Overall reliability? Rolling resistance below 35mph? Not included in my understanding of mechanical considerations, but certainly a heavy consideration would be maintenance. Thanks! -- Brian

Cold temperatures and reduced maintenance and labor costs. Brian J. Carlson

I found this statement in Volume 72 of the Proceedings OfThe American Railway Engineering Association: "There is no appreciable difference between solid bearingsand roller bearings above 35

I could swear (nicely) that I have seen plans for CGW 355 published in one magazine or another. This tingle a brain memory cell in anyone? Brian Chapman Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Pete, The color of the original Roundhouse models was a good match for the rich red-oxide paint the WP favored up until the early 1950s. If your cars came painted and lettered

Fred Jansz noted a Tru-Color WP red in his upgrade on the Resin Car Works blog. http://blog.resincarworks.com/western-pacific-50-foot-automobile-box-car/ Eric Hansmann El Paso, TX