We do have a figure of a station agent modified such that he is holding his nose with one hand and pointing to the track with the other. I've got a picture of him "in action" on the Atlantic Great

Yes, I agree Dennis, the temperature of the oil has a big effect on the amount of drag a bearing has. I have watched V8 engines on a dyno pick up 20-30 hp from the oil temperature going from 150 degs

Todd, The roller bearings you are referring to are very different from the modern tapered roller bearings in freight cars. Each RR roller bearing is often carrying a load of over 30,000 pounds! These

---In STMFC@..., <toddchorton@...> wrote : I'm not 100% convinced that a car with roller bearings takes less effort to start moving it but I can see a good argument for it. At speed? Well,

That is way cool Gary, ask a question on ResinFreightCars and get an answer here! Vol 4 is the one volume I didn't have. I was thinking it was the auto end doors with the "Open" stencil, and it is the

I am seeking clarification on the brake rigging for the Union Pacific B-50-20 boxcar. This is being done from a Westerfield kit. The underframe has a single center beam (Bettendorf I believe). A

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