On Wed, Dec 28, 2022 at 12:40 PM, Tony Thompson wrote:

Good point, and I didn’t mean to imply otherwise in my previous comment. I was just pointing out that inspection of journals was routine. I have heard the statement that journals were often repacked more than annually, but I don’t know the basis for that.

An example would be changing a wheelset due to wheel wear, obviously the journals would have to be repacked, even if less than a year had elapsed from the last repack, but the car would also be stenciled so the next RPKD would be due a year from that date. Reweighs could also get done early if repair or modification changed the weight of the car.

Dennis Storzek

Chris Barkan wrote:

Just to be clear, simply opening a journal box cover, or even adding oil does not constitute a "repack". Repacking means replacing the waste or lubrication pads and refilling the journal box with fresh oil. Oil was subsequently added as deemed necessary.

Good point, and I didn’t mean to imply otherwise in my previous comment. I was just pointing out that inspection of journals was routine. I have heard the statement that journals were often repacked more than annually, but I don’t know the basis for that.

Tony Thompson
tony@...

Just to be clear, simply opening a journal box cover, or even adding oil does not constitute a "repack".  Repacking means replacing the waste or lubrication pads and refilling the journal box with fresh oil. Oil was subsequently added as deemed necessary. This was generally a manual process, but I recall seeing photos or film of automatic oilers in rail yards in which the journal box covers on a whole string of cars were opened and then as the cars rolled past the oiler it shot a stream of oil into them. 

I assume that the AAR interchange rules included some definition of the requirements for a "repack" but I do not presently have access to my older copies of the AAR Field Manual (there is nothing on the subject in the current edition).  I did however find this link on line: https://bigeprod.com/literature/rrPres/TM55-203.pdf   It is the Dept of the Army's Technical Manual TM55-203 on Maintenance of Railway Car.  Section IV - Journal Box Lubrication - beginning on page 4-21 is a several-page description of the subject, including repacking.
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Chris Barkan
Deerfield, MA

Tom Lawler wrote:

Is there any correlation between the repack and reweigh dates? My way of thinking says not but that doesn’t mean anything!

No _necessary_ correlation, but often a reweigh would be accompanied by a repack — you got the car off its yard track to be weighed, why not? The repack HAD to be done at least annually, but was done whenever a peek into the journals called for it. Lots of period films show inspectors walking a cut of cars, carrying a long hook to raise each journal box for a look.

Tony Thompson

For more information, Tony Thompson's blog, Modeling the SP has several posts on reweigh and repack intervals. It's worth a read.

Nelson Moyer

The repack was an annual check, then a restencil.

Reweigh depends upon the car construction (all-steel, wood and steel, all-wood) as well as your era. My late 1926 focus had a slightly different reweighing schedule than that of the post-WW2 years.

Eric Hansmann
now in Media, PA

Hi all,

Is there any correlation between the repack and reweigh dates? My way of thinking says not but that doesn’t mean anything!

Thanks for the input.

Tom