ESM ASF A-3 truck with refitted roller bearing journal boxes

[Mark5]

I'm pretty sure this has been mentioned in other thread(s), but I think it is significant enough to warrant its own topic. 

(I saw this in the ESM Newsletter #95 - 4th Quarter 2023)

I know I could have used these in the past, and just used the closest truck I could find, but this announcement opens up some good possibilities (I will have to review my fleet of freight cars to see where I could use these):

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Thanks Bryan for moving N scale forward some more!

Mark

[amato1969]

Yes !!!

[CR4100]

Excellent news! This is a truck style that has been needed in N scale for a long time.

[nkalanaga]

Quite common in the Northwest in the late 60s and 70s.

[OldEastRR]

When did these converted trucks first enter service? What class of car (type, length, load limit) had them?

[wazzou]

When did these converted trucks first enter service? What class of car (type, length, load limit) had them?

 

[sd45elect2000]

Quite common in the Northwest in the late 60s and 70s.

They were everywhere. I recall seeing them on PRR 70 ton 50 ft boxcars in the mid 70s hauling stainless steel. I think they were outlawed somewhat recently.

I think these were kits that you could buy from Timken to replace brass plain bearings. I know of several railroads that did this as a capital expense on car programs. I do know that you had to drill a hole in the bottom of the old journal box as well.

They were still around when I started working in the early 80s

Randy

[nickelplate759]

They were very common in New England  in the 1970s.  I used to notice them especially on hoppers in gravel service (on the B&M).

[garethashenden]

They were everywhere. I recall seeing them on PRR 70 ton 50 ft boxcars in the mid 70s hauling stainless steel. I think they were outlawed somewhat recently.

I think these were kits that you could buy from Timken to replace brass plain bearings. I know of several railroads that did this as a capital expense on car programs. I do know that you had to drill a hole in the bottom of the old journal box as well.

They were still around when I started working in the early 80s

Randy

I think plain journal bearings were finally banned in the mid '90s. '95? Converted trucks were banned the year before. Its either '93/'94 or '94/'95. I have no idea how many were still in use by then, probably not a whole lot, but some.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

What sorcery is Bryan using to actually injection mold those journals?

[bbussey]

What sorcery is Bryan using to actually injection mold those journals?

I should have test shots toward the end of next week or the week after, along with the first samples of the new 28”/.540” wheel. Along with the latest test shots of the GSC Well Car parts, as the tooling has been moved to my primary contractor and finally will feature acetyl (Celcon/Delrin) stirrups and detail parts.

[peteski]

I should have test shots toward the end of next week or the week after, along with the first samples of the new 28”/.540” wheel. Along with the latest test shots of the GSC Well Car parts, as the tooling has been moved to my primary contractor and finally will feature acetyl (Celcon/Delrin) stirrups and detail parts.

Sweet!   Will you also (like MTL does) mold those slippery plastic detail items in color to match the car's paint?

[robert3985]

For those of you who model the UP, freight car trucks that had their solid bearings replaced with roller bearings kept their journal covers, but the covers were painted with either Armour Yellow or Aluminum Paint...to indicate to yard workers to not put journal oil and waste wadding into the journal boxes like they did with trucks that had solid bearings.

UP started this practice in 1947 with the Amour Yellow Livestock Despatch S-40-10 stock cars with their Aluminum painted trucks and Armour Yellow journal boxes.

UP passenger cars with roller bearings also had this done, but the date of when this started isn't known.

UP's intent was to paint the journal boxes of roller bearing equipped cars with a "contrasting color"...which turned out to be mostly Armour Yellow with some Aluminum ones.

Timken Roller Bearing equipped steam engines had their axle caps always painted with Aluminum Paint...never Armour Yellow, and UP retains that practice today on their Steam Program Excursion Engines.

[bbussey]

Sweet!   Will you also (like MTL does) mold those slippery plastic detail items in color to match the car's paint?

Well, I'm the person who convinced MTL to start molding the acetyl in color to match the body paint of all the models and not just the coal hoppers, so it would be hypocritical if we didn't do the same! 

[peteski]

LOL, excellent!  I had no idea it was you.  Good job Bryan!