Today I was looking at the 433 in Abingdon Virginia and noticed that the drivers on the first and third axle had what appears to be expansion joints where the spoke meets the rim portion of the driver. These joints are designed into the casting and appear to have a key or shim in the joint. Can anyone tell me the purpose of this?
Thanks in advance.

Mr. Daugherty

VDaugherty6@cs.com

The joints you saw are for to accomadate the shrinkage of the cast iron as it cools after having been poured. Apparently there were problems with the rims cracking because of stresses that got set up in the metal as it cooled.......As memory serves.


jasonsobczynski@yahoo.com