Recently the HVRR (Heber Valley Railraod) had the drivers for 618 turned. With this as you might guess they added tires on the locomotive with a "Ring Of Fire". Recently I have noticed when drivers are not under engines that they have this wood paneling wrapped around them about where the bearings would sit. Could anyone answer why this practice is done and what it helps/does? (Here is a picture of said drivers with new tires)-Photographer: Parker Wilson.

The wood strips are secured around the axles to protect the precision machined bearing surfaces from being marred during other shop processes. Smooth axles and well fitted crown brasses (with or without babbitt) are key to avoid hot journals during operation.

Other means can be used, but this method tends to be the most durable, especially if the bearing surfaces are covered with a waterproof coating to protect against rust during storage.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

Very Interesting, thanks for the answer would you mind telling me some of the other ways to protect the machining?

some kind of plastic material strapped around similar. If something falls on on it like a dropped tool you won't ding the surface, the wood will crunch, not the metal.

Despite supersize engines like Big Boy etc they are clockwork machined engines.

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Some kinds of wood, such as oak, are less suitable because they promote corrosion.

I don't know much about machining. So would you mind telling what Clock work machining is?

I think he means, just because it is big and heavy, does not mean that precision finish is disregarded. You have to be just as careful with the surface finish on really big parts as you do on little bitty parts.

Pretty certain he simply meant "machined like clockwork", which are the gears and springs that power mechanical watches and clocks. AKA "Built like a Swiss watch", with exacting precision details and very fine tolerances. Even though the machine is gigantic, the tolerances in bearings and surface, while maybe not actually quite as precise as a watch, are indeed very small, especially when compared to the overall size of the machine.

Anyone else picture a set of Boxpox drivers with fake wood paneling on them like an old 1960's station wagon when they read that title, or is my sense of humor more warped than most?

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Me too, Bob. I figured he was talking about the Country Squire model drivers.

dave

I'm picturing a locomotive that's a cross between the time machine locomotive in "Back to the Future III" and the new Griswald family car in the first "National Lampoon's Vacation" movie.

Recall the blond joke from the 1960s?

The station wagon looked fine until I took it out of the box.

As for the duck taped drivers

fool proof - never underestimate the ingenuity of fools.

Doug vV

If I remember correctly, Isaac Dripps' John Stevens, the locomotive with the single 8' drivers, had wood paneling between the spokes 'of necessity' to keep from paddling ballast everywhere at high speed. If I recall correctly there were other locomotives that did something similar for that reason (was the Adams Windsplitter locomotive one?)

THAT is what I thought of when I read this post title -- not wood packing that is decidedly not paneling on axle journals, not driving wheels.