Hello All!

Matt Conrad posted a letter (below) on the need for a bearing for our 80+/- year old dump car. He ommitted one VERY important detail on the damage to said bearing.

The brass did not overheat and lose the babbitt...it SPLIT IN TWO lengthwise along the bearing, and dropped off into the oil cellar on the journal. As this happened while the car was in motion, some collateral axle and truck damage resulted from the naked axle running in the truck frame.

This evening, after conferring with Matt and our Superintendant, Bill White, we decided to try the following:

Scavange a spare brass and shim from our other 4x7 brassed car, dope it liberally with cosmoline, repack the journal...and run the car. As it is going 1/2 mile in each direction, at 5 mph or less, no further major damage will probably result. This should limp the old girl thru the completion of the cut digout project.

As soon as possible, the car will be retrucked, and the spare brasses and wedges from the other 7 undamaged journals will give us spares for our other 4x7 car...I hope.

And the search for a (much) newer side-dump car is going forward too.

Mike Gellner

Member, S.C.R.M.


The South Carolina RR Museum, Inc.
msgscrm@aol.com

Hey Mike;

might want to flapwheel and otherwise polish up the damaged portions of the axle as best you can first. Also, be sure that the diameter of the axle is smaller than the cavity in the brass so that it rides on the top only.

A product called Time Saver Lapping Compound has been used to lap the axles smooth and into the brasses on other railroads - just add some now and again while the car is in service.

Good luck.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Let this be a warning to others using friction bearing cars in captive service. Jack up those journal boxes and inspect your brasses before this season. Might save you the same trouble this gentleman is now having. I once found a bearing that was about ready to slipt in half on one of our cars. It had already cracked but hadn't split in two. I changed it with a spare brass and that saved the axle. Grab your 10 ton bottle jack, some boards and take a walk through your yard. It pays.

Tod Engine Foundation

todengine@woh.rr.com

Good Point Rick: While we are on the subject ... If you are supposed to move roller bearings every six months, how often should you move friction bearings?

As a side light: we were servicing a SW this summer that had a broken brass, that was so bad, brass droppings were found in the bottom of the box, the journal had worn halfway thru the brass. As a temporary measure, we slipped in another brass and told the folks it would maybe last as week, until we could get a replacement roller axle to install. It did last a week but when the axle was pulled, the journal was bent! Gee I wonder how that happened???


lamontdc@adelphia.net

You should move friction bearing cars every couple of months or so at least 10 feet just to get the lubrication coating on the journal surface again. The only damage that a journal or roller bearing will develop from sitting in one place for long periods of time is corrosion related. A journal will not bend because the weight of a car or loco is on it. An SW has a 6 1/2" x 12" journal, and to bend that takes some doing. I would bet that something with that broken bearing caused the journal to bend.

Tod Engine Foundation

todengine@woh.rr.com

HA-HA the locomotive crew knew nothing! I'll bet that something gave that SW a heck of a bang ... there was no other damage, other than the end plate and step were collapsed at the diagonally opposite corner! Sure wish I could convince our museum guys to move things once and awhile.


lamontdc@adelphia.net

> HA-HA the locomotive crew knew nothing! I'll
> bet that something gave that SW a heck of a
> bang ... there was no other damage, other
> than the end plate and step were collapsed
> at the diagonally opposite corner! Sure wish
> I could convince our museum guys to move
> things once and awhile.

About Inspections.....

Our Chief Mechanical Officer DID inspect the brasses on this car the week before...and nothing was found to cause concern. Our thought is that the forces associated with dumping the car caused the brass to fracture quicky...rather than to give advance warning of impending doom.

Mike Gellner

The South Carolina RR Museum, Inc.
msgscrm@aol.com

> About Inspections.....

> Our Chief Mechanical Officer DID inspect the
> brasses on this car the week before...and
> nothing was found to cause concern. Our
> thought is that the forces associated with
> dumping the car caused the brass to fracture
> quicky...rather than to give advance warning
> of impending doom.

> Mike Gellner

Y'all should see that poor old thing shudder when she tips. ALL of the air is long gone, including the cylinders that worked the dump body. So, we load it heavy on one side and just release the chains to dump her. Then we use a crosstie to lever the dump body back up. The whole car jumps a bit when it dumps, and returning to level isn't gentle either.

One of our members took an undamaged brass I pulled from another axle on the same side and is going to replicate it. He's going to make three extras. Hopefully that'll get us through the digging.

I think we'll probably start inspecting the car between each and every trip now. There's plenty of time to lift the box covers while it's being loaded.

The South Carolina Railroad Museum
mconrad@compuzone.net

> Y'all should see that poor old thing shudder
> when she tips. ALL of the air is long gone,
> including the cylinders that worked the dump
> body. So, we load it heavy on one side and
> just release the chains to dump her. Then we
> use a crosstie to lever the dump body back
> up. The whole car jumps a bit when it dumps,
> and returning to level isn't gentle either.

If this is the car, I can just imagine the procedure!
This is gonna definitely be hard on journals and brasses!



lamontdc@adelphia.net

> If this is the car, I can just imagine the
> procedure!
> This is gonna definitely be hard on journals
> and brasses!

The subject says there's a picture but I can't see it to confirm if it's a pic of the car or not. Am I doing something wrong?


The South Carolina Railroad Museum
mconrad@compuzone.net

I couldn't get the picture to show up. I tried to link to the picture of the car at your RR. The oxide colored dumpcar with archbar trucks and the large gap beteween body and frame. I think a car like that is a must for any RR (I wish we had one or two like it)but I would be scared to use it in its present condition with any but the lightest loads. I hate to sound like a henny-penny but any out of control heavy weight movement is asking for trouble.


lamontdc@adelphia.net