what is the purpose of the ribbed back wheels vs smooth back wheels?
are they just for emulating "real - life" railroad wheels?
thanks
Bill
Quote from: billgiannelli on December 31, 2015, 09:41:08 AM
what is the purpose of the ribbed back wheels vs smooth back wheels?
are they just for emulating "real - life" railroad wheels?
thanks
Bill
Yes, they are. The ribbed back wheels simulate older cast wheels, and the ribs helped with equalizing stresses in cooling. Today many wheels are rolled or "forged," and the process results in the smooth backs you see on wheels today.
If you're modeling a particular time period, cast wheels started going away during the 50's. They were banned from use on new cars in 1957, and banned completely from interchange service in 1970. Steel wheels started gaining in popularity around 1920, so would not be out of place in the later portion of the steam era.
Len
I remember those ribbed wheels very well. On outside braced wood cars, which were still around in numbers in the early 60s, they screamed railroad history.
Trainman;
You are on the mark. The New Haven, which was pretty up-to-date with stuff, still had them late. What was funny was when I spied a New Haven box car over at Bennett's Switch, Indiana, when I was stationed at Bunker Hill AFB. It had them. I had asked one of the old C&O salts why that car was there, and he told me they had probably lost track of it. Did that happen, really? Equipment wasn't all that cheap tobe that careless.
Rich C.
Rich,
The New Haven went through five management changes between 1947 and 1956, with major changes to how things were done after each change. There were also records lost, along with the buildings they were in, due to flooding during the 1954 and 1955 hurricane seasons.
So it's very possible there is old New Haven equipment scattered around no one knows, or cares, about.
Len
Len;
And you know, if it has been managed in an other than a rapacious manner by board members, it would quite possibly still be running today-maybe even solvent-for once...
RIch
Like the saying goes, "If wishes were money we'd all be millionaires."
Too bad Palmer Sr. didn't live a little longer. He was actually keeping the NH in the black after WW-II ended.
Len
Quote from: Len on December 31, 2015, 11:58:10 AM
If you're modeling a particular time period, cast wheels started going away during the 50's. They were banned from use on new cars in 1957, and banned completely from interchange service in 1970. Steel wheels started gaining in popularity around 1920, so would not be out of place in the later portion of the steam era.
Len
Remembered the reason they were banned ???They Shattered .Talk about a recall ;D
Johnny
The West Side Lumber Co. ran arch bar trucks,ribbed wheels,and link and pin couplers until they quit in 1960.
A bit of history
UPTODAY
Quote from: UPTODAY on January 02, 2016, 11:24:21 PM
The West Side Lumber Co. ran arch bar trucks,ribbed wheels,and link and pin couplers until they quit in 1960.
A bit of history
UPTODAY
Yes, but they were not a common carrier and didn't interchange their cars. So the same rules didn't apply.
Happy New Year.
Roger T.
Quote from: UPTODAY on January 02, 2016, 11:24:21 PM
The West Side Lumber Co. ran arch bar trucks,ribbed wheels,and link and pin couplers until they quit in 1960.
A bit of history
UPTODAY
I like that.Wonder if they had any issues with there equipment running them like that or who they paid off to look the other way ;D
Johnny Adam
Quote from: brokenrail on January 03, 2016, 02:46:45 AM
Quote from: UPTODAY on January 02, 2016, 11:24:21 PM
The West Side Lumber Co. ran arch bar trucks,ribbed wheels,and link and pin couplers until they quit in 1960.
A bit of history
UPTODAY
I like that.Wonder if they had any issues with there equipment running them like that or who they paid off to look the other way ;D
Johnny Adam
No payoffs. Like Roger said, the WSLC equipment was old and never left home rails. The cast wheel ban was on installing them on new equipment (1957) and using them in interchange service (1970). No one cared about home use only equipment.
Len
Thanks everyone,now we know the rest of the story!
UPTODAY
Quote from: electrical whiz kid on December 31, 2015, 12:21:16 PMI had asked one of the old C&O salts why that car was there, and he told me they had probably lost track of it. Did that happen, really? Equipment wasn't all that cheap tobe that careless.
Rich C.
Rich there were two old 34' twin hoppers that sat rusting away and forgotten back in the swamp here for years on orphan track. Someone put them up on YouTube and within a couple of weeks someone snuck in and cut them up for scrap.
I had mentioned the C&O: When I was stationed at Bunker Hill AFB, I went to work second job as an electrician's 'apprentice'. one fine day, we were doing a service change at a grain elecator in Bunker Hill. THis 'genius' I was working for used a come-along to pull the new 500MCM conductors in-with me on a 40- foot ladder guiding the whole. Oh, and did I mention that this genius had the business end of the comealong tied to the tracks...the main line of the C&O. If I hadn't previously known the difference between dumb and stupid, I came away that day a learned man...
Rich C.
Back in the eary 1970's I once ran across a couple of ancient cars back in the weeds near Lynchburg, VA that had Fox trucks under them. They were an early type of solid frame truck intended to replace the archbar trucks. Central Valley used to make Fox trucks way back when/