aah... now I get the scientific function for the journal bearing with oil, its like car tire on water hydroplaning, you dont want that on an auto, but its great on a railcar. Now that why you have starting tractive effort vs running tractive effort references.
Get Journal bearings rolling they may be about as good as a roller bearing. Roller bearings still have a friction contact but its not so much a weight contact.

As I recall, and it has been a long time, it is 1/4". This may change with journal size. The maximum lateral motion was controlled by an AAR gauge that checked wear on the journal brass lugs. But it can be quite a bit. One thing to watch for is that the hub of the wheel should not be rubbing on the back side of the journal box. If it does, the lateral is too much. This lateral is the reason that plain bearing cars have better ride quality that roller bearing cars. It is also the reason that plain bearing trucks do not experience the wear that roller bearing trucks do. If you need more specific information than this, post specifics and I will look it up.

For tender and car bearings? They are to have 3/8" lateral when new, and the maximum length of the journals is new plus 11/16" for a total of 1-1/16" maximum lateral with a worn out journal running in a new brass. I will see if I can find a mimumim length for worn brasses tomorrow.

Yeha. Remember the slings and arrows when I tried to demonstrate that the term "Harriman" was not only incorrect, but total fiction in terms of passenger, freight or locomotive equipment. Why then should anyone care about what you call a bearing, locomotive, prime mover, etc.? It doesn't make any difference right? And we all know what you mean, right? Right? No? NO!

The words locomotive, motor and engine all have different and distinct meanings. It is too bad that slang usage has blurred their true meaning.
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