I am trying to locate a source for wear plates and items for the AAR type B drop equalized swing bolster trucks used on many Alco road units. These would be the same used on early GE U boats too. With that said, there are still quite a few of these running on the class 1s, though the numbers are dwindling. Where do they get the parts for them?

I am currently looking for pedestal wear liners, Alco #14111214 (in steel) or 14111226 (in manganese). These are the wear plates attached to the truck frame to line the sides of the pedestals where the bearing box rides. I have tried Canada Allied Diesel with little luck. Seems they have issues with suppliers changing or closing and are unable to locate them. The only place to return a quote was Logan (GE) but the price seems way out of line. I have had trouble locating other parts for these same trucks, including swing hanger arms and gibs to hold the plank.

My question is, does anyone have a good source of replacement parts? Where do other places running these trucks acquire parts? I have had luck welding up certain items and having wear plates cut locally. If I have to resort to that, finding a few drawings of the components would be very handy. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Patrick Connors
Buffalo Southern Railroad

I am having some liners made up by these folks out of the correct manganese alloy as we speak.

http://www.cliftonsteel.com/railroad.html

Cheers, Jason

Thank you Jason. Are they making them from a pattern that you provided, or can they produce them from the part number? I'd like to see a rough drawing to make sure that they are going to fit in my application.

Pat

Try Twin Forks NRHS on Long Island. I believe they still have a pair of trucks for sale.

Try Hadady Corporation (OEM Supplier) or PowerRail in Dureyea, PA.


DPK

Thanks, called both Hadady and PowerRail. They were unable to work with the old part numbers and said they carry little for that style GE truck. Makes me wonder who did make stuff for them once....

Have you tried contacting Don Collangelo on the Delaware-Lackawanna RR in Scranton ?

How many class ones are really using this truck any more? The B40's on BNSF and CSX use the newer GE truck. Not sure what NS B32's have and does UP still have B40's?
Outside of shortlines can't think of many?

RWJ

Pat,

Miller Felpax and JMC Supply also come to mind as possible suppliers.


DPK

Potentially dumb question.

What is the reason that Nylatron liner material, if it can be applied to EMD Blombergs, would not work in AAR type B pedestals? Is there supposed to be more relative motion for drop-equalizer boxes relative to the pedestal in the type B than in the Blomberg (because I wouldn't think it would be significant even if so)?


RME

"The only place to return a quote was Logan (GE) but the price seems way out of line".

What price do you consider way out of line? You could easily pay $200+ per pedestal liner in 2012. Don't forget the cost of materials is way up. And there seems to be vey few suppliers who carry manganese steel today.

You might also try Kor-Pac at http://www.kor-pak.com/

They carry all kinds of hard-to-find cool stuff for passenger cars and locomotives. They may not stock your liners, but I'm sure they could special order. But don't expect them to be $45.00 each.

GE was around $850 per liner. I can have them made locally for much less. Trouble is, I can't even get a drawing to verify that if I bought them that they are correct. As these things become obsolete...I have had issues with buying the "correct" part number only to find that they are not the same. Having more of the drawings will be a big help in keeping these trucks running. We could reverse engineer them and have things made to fit, but it's nice to have drawings.

Pat

Forgot about these guys:

http://www.alcospring.com

Yes-they used to be owned by Alco Products....


DPK

Seems like Santa Fe bought them from Power Parts and they were indeed Nylatron. When applied with a Huck machine, it really buckled the "plastic" material as the machinists derisively referred to it. Tom Birkett, Bartlesville, OK