Typically in the steam industry we think of past locomotive trades as being simply those of boiler making and machining. The truth is, there were many trades that took place every day in steam shops all over the world that are rarely seen today. Here is an example of one of them.

Today the shop forces at WRC poured well over 300 pounds of babbit in a cross head for famed Union Pacific Railroad 844. The process of placing white metal– or babbitt– on steel is one that is not easy to say the least. There are a number of very important tasks that must take place in order for the babbitt to properly adhere to the steel surfaces. Not only is there a lot of preparation work that must be done, but the actual pouring process is very complicated and very time sensitive.

For this process to be successful, the proper temperatures of both the babbitt and the steel components must be perfect. Improperly applied babbitt can fail on the road and lead to a variety of mechanical problems. When properly applied, babbitt can be very durable and long lasting. In this particular case, the last time this cross head received babbitt was in the steam era; most likely in1956 or 1957. The fact that this item has survived as long as it has is a testament to the durability of the product when properly applied.

WRC has invested a great amount of time and energy into researching the proper methods for pouring babbitt or white metal onto steel products. In this particular case we used a Union Pacific Standard Practice. WRC has compiled a list of historic railroad practices that have greatly aided in this process.


This is an extra cross head that Union Pacific had available, however, it needs new babbitt in order to be usable. Note that it is on the palette upside-down, and the bearing surfaces to be worked on are the grooves at the "bottom".


Heat has been applied to the crosshead, and the babbitt is melted in a pot. Now that the temperatures are correct, Brent and Brian Milota place a form on the base casting while Dave Griner holds the platform steady.


Once the form is in place, the molten material is poured into the form.

See more at projects.wasatch-rr-contractors.com.

Interesting. Do you know what type of babbit was used? The more common of old days was largely a lead alloy, but today lower lead, higher tin is favored. And of course several proprietary alloys in the babbit family like Magnolia Metal.

Babbitrite is a type of modeling clay which can be formed and used as a dam to contain the bearing ends when pouring. Typicaly the machine shaft is left in place during the pour as a 'core' and it is first sooted with an acetylene torch run rich, with the oxygen turned down. This prevents the new babbit from bonding to that and the bearing can be easily opened and the shaft removed, pouring half at a time.

A lot of old shop machinery used babbit bearings, both woodworking and metal working. Many enthusiasts exist for this machinery, and it is more or less common to re pour the bearings, although the size is on a much smaller scale, the the duty or service factor not so demanding.

Bob Kutella

Babbitrite can be found at McMaster Carr. It is a catalog item.

There are still a few shops around Los Angeles that still do large scale babbit for both sleeve type and flat crosshead style bearings.

One reason for the ability to do babbitt work in the Los Angeles area is the harbor and the maritime industries. One of the shops is in the Wilmington part of Los Angeles on a road named for a former longshoreman union official.

Is the spare crosshead from parts loco #838?

One might get the idea that Union Pacific intends to keep the 844 running for awhile! How refreshing to see a Class 1 utilizing it's heritage and backing it up with the cash!

Steam wasn't the only place where babbited bearings were common. Pennsylvania Trolley Museum, Washington, PA, has had quite a number of traction motor armature bearings, motor axle bearings, and journal bearings recoated with new babbit in the course of trolley car restorations and repairs. For the most part this work was done for us by A1 Babbit Co of Donora, PA. Final machining of the armature bearings was generally done by the motor shop doing our traction motors, but journals in particular were generally done by museum personnel, using the tried and true method involving prussian blue dye and many rounds of scraping off a little bit more and trying for that perfect fit. This too is preserving a skill that might otherwise be lost.

One of the popular artifact shipwrecks in the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey coast is nicknamed the "Magnolia" because its cargo was marked bars or ingots of this trademarked stuff. If every visitor takes one as a souvenir, in a few thousand years, it might float again?

The garage I ran used "Plastic Gauge". Not sure if it is still available or not. It is a piece of non-sticky plastic that, when compressed, is used to measure the difference in areas such as main bearing seats and crankshaft. Place the material in the spot to be measured and install the crank and bearing caps. You then torque to required specs. A pair of digital calipers used to measure the thickness. Very handy for one time check of clearances but also to see if the measurement was the same all around the crank.

Plasti-Gauge is in fact still available and it is the way to go when setting up and scraping sleeve style Babbitt bearings.

Another method to set up the clearance in a sleeve type Babbitt bearing is to use aluminum foil as a go no go gauge. Place a piece if tin foil in the bearing and tighten. If the crank or shaft does not move then you are to tight. Scrap or add shims to the bearings and do the process again until you have free movement in your shaft. Your clearance will be determined by the thickness of the aluminum foil that you select. Aluminum foil comes as thin as .0005

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Thank you HK for your observation-----------Our "Papa Bull" was interviewed and appropriate action taken !

"The engine will be ready"

Dave

I'm starting to feel like Joe Kludge here - but I have smudged a shaft, packed the edges with mud, shoved a twig down the oil hole, melted a pot of babbit in the firebox, and poured a new bearing lining around the shaft out in the woods. After cleaning out the twig char and liberally dosing with oil, limped home and run it in slowly for a few miles, then doing a shop floor cleanup and grease grooving and run with the bearing with no problems for a long time thereafter. Are we overthinking what was a daily simple shop task in earlier days, and making our lives unintentionally difficult as a result? Any other grizzled starving shortline woodenaxle railroaders also had this experience?

dave

Not exactly a backwoods experiance but this is a true story. We had an intermediate shaft babbitt bearing go out on a fishing boat some years ago. We pulled the cap and wrapped an oil soaked sock around the shaft then put the cap back on. It got us home just fine.

The power plant where I worked had babbit bearings on a big forced draft fan. We had one old guy who took care of them. He could scrape them and tweak them to get them to run so smooth. He is dead now and the boiler was cut up but I know there are others out there.