Atchison Castings, in Atchison, Kansas, formerly LFM, can cast parts weighting over 150,000 pounds. The trucks I had cast had about 40 loose parts that came off the pattern when it was pulled from the sand. They used epoxy bond sand so there was no raming or jolt/squeeze machine. After the pattern was pulled out, all the loose pieces that stayed behind were recovered. The impression in the sand was painted with a ceramic paint. Sharp corners and other places where the steel had to flow were painted with graphite. There were several people standing on the molds cleaning up any problems and vacuuming out any loose sand. Epoxy bond sand cores were used. There were also lot of chaplets inserted. The cope was lifted with a bridge crane and rotated with a power rotator, and then placed on the drag. Many small holes had been punched in the sand as vents. All the raisers and sprews were part of the pattern. This work had to move right along as they did not want the sand to dry out too much. Probably took six hours to get ready to pour. When they poured all the vent holes were burning so it looked like a huge birthday cake. There was more fire than I was use to because of the epoxy in the sand. This foundry was also casting both the EMD and GE six wheel trucks when I was there.

Just some other images that illustrate what may be the ultimate examples of the foundryman's skills:

N&W class A frames, front and rear enginge, images from Virginia Tech:

http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfol ... s1490.jpeg

http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfol ... s1491.jpeg

Some of these cast frames went to export for other locomotives. Among them is New South Wales Government Railways 3801, a modern 4-6-2:

http://www.heritageexpress.com.au/pages ... number.htm

https://penlowry.files.wordpress.com/20 ... locked.jpg

From sister 3813:

http://www.australiansteam.com/nsw/3813-frames.jpg

http://www.australiansteam.com/3813.htm

South African Railways class 25 4-8-4s had cast frames, too:

http://www.northernsteam.com/assets/ima ... CNorth.jpg

I think they went out of business (or were taken over) several years ago, and no longer have these capabilities. GE trucks are cast in RSA now, I believe.

CD

Yes, I have seen "Made in RSA" (Republic of South Africa) on the trucks of newer GE locomotives I operated for CSX.