We've got a couple of brand-new air hoses that haven't been used since they were manufactured around 1955. After years of dead storage, they are about as rock-solid as steel conduit. Is there any good way to soften up the rubber in these things so that they can be used?

Frank Hicks

Preserved North American Electric Railway Cars
fullparallel@wideopenwest.com

"Is there any good way to soften up the rubber in these things so that they can be used?"

The only thing these can be used for is to demonstrate why rules require that air-brake hoses be replaced after seven years, whether they're used or not. You don't say whether these are air-brake or shop air hoses, but in neither case should you trust rubber this old in service. Remember that this applies to all rubber in the air-brake system: truck hoses as well as the more-visible car-end glad hands.

Aarne H. Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, MI 48867

> "Is there any good way to soften up the
> rubber in these things so that they can be
> used?"

They're artifacts.... don't use them, display them. They probably are the old band-clamped style, and may even have a "fallen flag" name tag on them.

hpincus@mindspring.com

> We've got a couple of brand-new air hoses
> that haven't been used since they were
> manufactured around 1955. After years of
> dead storage, they are about as rock-solid
> as steel conduit. Is there any good way to
> soften up the rubber in these things so that
> they can be used?

> Frank Hicks

Please take the suggestions of other posters and keep them as display only... especially if they're brake hoses. It's not worth the risk of an injury to a crewmember by attempting to use an easily replaceable artifact nearly 50 years old.

Fiv4HghStk@aol.com

> I agree. It'd be like putting a 1953 tire on your restored Hudson. It looks great, but wiil blow out the first time you hit a pothole. Back in my Hudson days, we used to revive window gaskets by using a LOT of Armor-All. This trick will probably work on that PCC windshield gasket, but I wouldn't try it on anything that has to hold that much pressure.

We've got a couple of brand-new air hoses
> that haven't been used since they were
> manufactured around 1955. After years of
> dead storage, they are about as rock-solid
> as steel conduit. Is there any good way to
> soften up the rubber in these things so that
> they can be used?

> Frank Hicks


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