Has anyone had success in having leaf spring made for their locomotive(s)?Our previous supplier no longer does, and we have had little luck in our quest for a manufacturer.

Not for a loco, but SCRM recently had a full set of semi-elliptical springs made for our SOU diner. They're still awaiting installation. They came from Benz Spring in Oregon. Overall, our experience with the company was an extremely good one.

Benz was one of the last names to try on my list. I'm trying to avoid a situation where shipping costs as much as the springs. However I may be forced there if nothing better appears. Many Thanks though.

Benz recently furnished new driver springs for Georgia Power #30 being rebuilt by Steam Operations Corporation in Savannah, GA. They were very good to work with and appear to have furnished a very quality product at a reasonable price.We did run into an issue with available stock for the leafs (or would it be leaves?). If you have leafs which have a thickness in the 16th's, they may ask you to go with different thickness and change the number of leafs. Be sure to run the capacity calculations before you authorize any substitutions.

Changing the thickness of the leaves will change the damping harmonics of the spring, I believe. Thick springs will ride "harder" for the same load carry. Thinner springs will bounce more before returning to static position.