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Chrysler Corp. and Railroad freight trucks
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Author:  NH0401 [ Wed May 16, 2012 9:16 am ]
Post subject:  Chrysler Corp. and Railroad freight trucks

http://www.allpar.com/corporate/railroads.html

Author:  Aarne H. Frobom [ Wed May 16, 2012 4:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Chrysler Corp. and Railroad freight trucks

There is an excellent book on Carl Breer and two of his partners, published by Johns Hopkins, that covers some of this territory, although without the cool swing-hanger pictures. The freight-car trucks were news to me.

There are a couple remnants of Walter P. Chrysler's involvement with locomotives and passenger-car suspensions.

Chrysler's tool kit from his days as a railroad shopman was for years a holy relic at the Henry Ford Museum, and is now on display at the Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills. Centrally featured in the tool box are two tube rollers. I imagine the hot rodders and antique-car guys visiting the museum have no idea what they are.

When the Steam Railroading Institute rented a private car (ex-Seaboard?) for the 1991 trip of PM 1225 to Huntington, its three-axle trucks had been retrofitted with bolster anchors bearing Chrysler patent plates. Instead of the usual rubber-mounted shafts, these had automotive universal joints at either end. (These are what the article calls "thrust links.") A good solution providing total freedom of movement with no slop, and a huge improvement over the usual bash plates that limit bolster movement in a Pullman truck. I've never seen another such installation.

I just wish my 2005 Chrysler "Walter P. Chrysler autograph model" Town and Country van had been designed with equal regard for long-lived suspension parts. It eats suspension bushings and tie-rod ends like candy. Carl Breer, where are you now that we need you?

Aarne Frobom
Fabreeka, Michigan

Author:  MEC_557 [ Wed May 16, 2012 10:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Chrysler Corp. and Railroad freight trucks

Dave, that was a neat find!

I see Bill is quoted in the article too and next weekend I'll have to take a look at the B&M milkcar's trucks closely. I don't know how many times I've walked by that car and not paid attention to the trucks.

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