Posting this for a couple friends of mine who have started a new company to produce journal pads for your historic railroad equipment. The company is called Pacific Journal Pad, LLC. They are located in Washington state. Here is a brief product description from the company's FB page:

"For the those in the business of working with vintage railroad equipment, you've probably found that new journal lubricating pads can be difficult to source. We created Pacific Journal Pad LLC to fill that need. Our handmade pads use the best available materials to maximize oil adsorption and wicking. 100% cotton covers are created in house by looping cotton yarn into our cotton backing cloth. The cores contain open cell foam with cotton wicks. They also include the adjustment/removal loop for the carman's hook. Our current inventory is limited so we would like to take pre-orders to fill what is needed most. Please send us an email from our Facebook page and we can discuss pricing and turnaround times.
We have begun production on two common sized journal pads to meet expected demand. Our #8 pads fit 5 1/4x8 or 5 1/2x8 journals, and the larger #9 pads fit 5x9 and 6x9. We can also produce pads to fit 5 1/2x10 journals."

If you do FB, please check out their new page:
https://www.facebook.com/pacificjournalpadllc

If you don't do FB you can contact them direct via email at:
pacificjournalpadllc@gmail.com

What do they go for?

This is quite a good christmas gift to all of us, finally having a source for new journal pads.

Sorry, Kelly, but I did not have the information at the time of my post. I asked the proprietor and he said it's best to email for the info at this time.

Now it's up to us to support this venture, by purchasing their product when we need journal pads, and by spreading the word to plain bearing users.

Howard P.

Yes for sure. I know of at least two carsets that I need for cars here in Youngstown. Maybe more as time goes on.

See their Facebook post with prices:
https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/133594998_105877271430095_3699407196223114845_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&ccb=2&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=5DHSq3lR7OoAX-JqPmt&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=62dc4e215625c78732c4c7ab4cd4886f&oe=600B01B0

SRR is considering a similar product offering, I don't know if they will be $80 each: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=45024

Thank you Brian Wise for your recommendation and helping spread the word, and to Cumbres & Toltec for running our prototypes with over 1000 miles of service last fall. Also thank you to all in the business for your interest in our company Pacific Journal Pad LLC. We are excited to serve the industry to keep vintage equipment rolling.

I'm running this business from my home with the help of my wife Katie because we learned that these pads were no longer made. Our pads are trully hand made with our prototype equipment, created with densely-looped cotton cloth covers and open cell polyurethane foam cores with cotton wicks running up through the center. They also have a twill end loop to allow removal and periodic adjustment in the cellar. They are labor-intensive and time consuming so production numbers are limited to a couple dozen per week, and we ask your patience for turnaround times. This should improve as we find ways to scale up.

We want to build a database of pad sizes relative to axle bearing size so we rely on customers to bring their needs. Attached is our current 2021 price list for single section pads, with a few gaps where we need customer data on pad dimensions for those bearing sizes. We are happy to make any size or shape you need including winged pads.

For orders, please send your existing journal pad dimensions, and axle bearing size, and quantity to: PacificJournalPadLLC@gmail.com We can provide a quote and lead time, and discuss any special projects.

We appreciate questions/quotes via email because we'll be busy making pads so won't have much time to check this thread or other social media requests.

If this post goes beyond the guidelines of the Interchange due to the price listing, please let me know and link to the copy on the Classifieds page.

Best Regards,
Craig Cootsona
Owner
Pacific Journal Pad LLC
PacificJournalPadLLC@gmail.com

The standard AAR journal sizes that you will normally find with plain bearings are as follows:
4 1/4" x 8"
5" x 9"
5 1/2" x 10"
6 x 11"
6 1/2" x 12"
7" x 12"
7" x 14"

The AAR had standards for everything. There should be a standard for the sizes of journal pads. I will look through my library to see if I can find it. Someone else here may also have it.

Thank you Rick, that standard list of pads sizes for each bearing size would be very helpful to broaden our range.

Best Regards,
Craig Cootsona
Owner
Pacific Journal Pad LLC
PacificJournalPadLLC@gmail.com

Thank you for all the interest in our journal pads. We continue to expand our lineup based on customer needs so you can expect the list to grow as we hear from people with other projects. The current price list shows what we have specified so far.

As always, we are happy to make custom sizes, and we simply adjust cost for according to the materials. There is no additional setup fee for special sizes because we hand-make everything.

For quotes, questions, lead times, etc send an email to PacificJournalPadLLC@gmail.com and we can go from there.

Best regards,
Craig Cootsona
PacificJournalPadLLC@gmail.com

We appreciate all the support and interest in our journal lubricating pads. We have filled many orders so far for both standard and custom sizes and continue to expand our list as new order come in. As always, we are happy to make custom sizes with no additional setup fee. We also added cotton waste to our list, composed of random lengths of shredded cotton backing cloth and yarn, in case you need to pack oil drip cups.

We have a set of these installed on one of our cabooses to try them out so I thought I’d throw my two cents in here. They were installed in the classic Bettendorf caboose trucks. Installation was the same wrestling match you’d expect with any other pad of old but once in the box they have a nice snug fit with full contact with the journal. They hold a pretty fair amount of oil - we use Journal Guard AYG. After running the car around Saturday morning to settle them in, only one pad needed a very minor repositioning to push it back less than a quarter of an inch, likely from having to stuff it in the box under the journal and it was releasing some of that compression. No big deal. All of them stayed where they were supposed to and seemed to oil the journal evenly. So far, I like them.

We appreciate all the support from the railroad community. Many of our customers have sent notes of appreciation for the quality of the pads and ordered more, and we've helped a few troubleshoot some issues that came up, resulting in improved fit and a key learning about journal oil type.

Two shops found that the extreme tackiness of PBJ460 caused so drag against the pads they they tore the covers right off and/or stuffed into the corners of the cellars. After double checking clearances from axle to cellar, we realied the common factor was the use of PBJ460 in the cellars. While it's a great product, it might not work best in all cellar applications. We discussed the issue with a few steam mechanics and they suggested using something lighter like PBJ100 or similar journal oil product without the extreme tackiness of the 460. They also suggested the lighter oils wick better in the cotton pad environment. While it's not my place to recommend products out of my area of expertise, I thought I should pass this information along for consideration. I've also included a list of oils from RYPN discussions on our quotes and invoices so the customers can make their own decisions.

I'm excited to purchase some more efficient equipment to ensure I can contiune to deliver high quality pads for decades to come. This will reduce a very labor-intensive process that limits my daily throughput, and could prevent repetitive injuries long term.

As always, we make custom sizes with no additional setup costs so we contstantly expand the catalog. It's fun to hear about all your projects across the country and we are proud to help keep vintage railroad equipment rolling.

Attached are the current 2022 products with prices to reflect the increasing cost of raw materials.