I am looking for opinions on material for casting a new journal box. As some of you know, NTHT is trying to replicate a Brill 79E journal box, which features spring cups cast at the end of “wings” projecting off the sides of the box. The original plans from the 1920s call for “Mall. Iron” - which I take to mean Malleable Iron. The two local foundries I have talked to do not produce malleable iron – mostly grey and ductile iron. I read in my dad’s 1973 machinist’s handbook that malleable iron starts as white iron and then goes through an annealing or graphitization process by placing the castings in a furnace where the tempature is slowly raised to 1600°F over a period of 50 hours and then slowly cooled over a period of 60 hours. In trying to determine whether ductile iron is a suitable replacement for malleable iron, I notice that while the tensile strength of the ductile iron is as good as or better than the malleable iron, the flexibility of the ductile is 3% whereas the malleable is quoted at 10%. What concerns me is the shock of a 22,000lb max load streetcar (minus weight of motors and axlesets). I want to know that the ductile is not going to be too brittle for the purpose intended. One of the foundries has made a suggestion on a ductile iron mix to substitute for malleable. The other foundry refused to recommend a material for fear of liability. I will ask the recommending foundry to provide stats on the proposed substitute material, but I am curious if we have any knowledgeable engineer types out here who have dealt with this, or if there is anyone who can recommend a foundry that will produce malleable iron. Thanks.


Andy Nold
North Texas Historic Transportation, Inc.

Might be worth checking with Bendigo Tramways in Australia, Andy. They are producing new Brill 21-E trucks.

Gord McOuat
Halton County Radial Ry.

Try Fairmount foundry in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. The are pretty creative and have always given us good advice. Here is their web site: http://www.fairmountfoundry.com/721899.htm

We have been working with the Baltimore Streetcar Museum in having Duplex (trolley wheel type) wire frogs replicated. These were originally cast from malleable iron, which is very difficult to obtain. We are using a high strength bronze for the replicas. By the way, the OEM manufacturer has converted to the same material for many of their current production castings. The casting is being handled by BSM, who are using a foundry in New Hampshire. I do not have the name of the foundry. I suggest that you contact BSM at 410-547-0264 to find out the right person to talk to to get the name of the foundry. I do know that BSM has had both iron and bronze castings done by this source.

On another topic, we recently had a set of 25" wheels made by the Irwin Car Company. They are machined from a steel billet, thus avoiding mold costs for a small quantity. I do not have a website address for Irwin Car, but have been told that it features a picture of the rebuilt trucks that they did for us using these wheels.

I am not an engineer when it comes to metallurgy but seems to me you can greatly reduce brittleness of cast iron by having the foundry add maybe 2 % nickel to the pot. This was a common practice when casting resistance grids and was an option offered by General Electric. Cannot comment upon stress and transient impact loading.

Bob Kutella

From the replies I have been getting here and elsewhere, it sounds like ductile is going to be the closest match to what I need. Especially if the foundry can tweak the formula to get the physical properties a little closer to malleable.

Thanks for the link, Mr. Moedinger. I might have to get in touch with them. Their website says they do white iron, which is the first step in casting malleable iron. Seems like the expense of 110 hours in an annealing furnace would not be worth the difference in material properties, though.

Andy Nold
NTHT, Inc.

If that phone number doesn't get you through to the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, PM or e-mail me and I'll relay your concerns to the appropriate personnel there.

Shock resistance is the issue here. These journal boxes are riding on the axle as an unsprung mass. In street railway service, they are banging and bouncing on every rail joint and mis-alignment the pavement has to offer.

If you can't get the right (very ductile and forgiving) iron, bronze is a good alternative. Although the base metal is more expensive, it might be cheaper than this rare iron because of the reduced labor and lower melt temperature. Bronze can be brazed/soldered too, which allows for repairs and interesting "kit-bashing" of parts. Bronze will be easier to machine than iron.

I have worked on Brill 79 E journal boxes and they are not iron. I have seen iron boxes, but not on a 79E truck. The 79 E boxes need to be steel. An approprate material might be alloy 8620 with a quench and temper heat treatment. Lots of things affect the out come of heat treatment including thickness and shape. You will need to work with a heat treater to develop a heat treatment.

Otherwise follow the AAR standard for grade B truck material.

Any particular foundry probably only regularly poors half a dozen different alloys. Select a foundry and they will help with an approprate alloy. The foundry will also want to have input into the pattern design. A good steel foundry which pours castings the size you are looking for is Western Foundries, Longmont, CO., 303-485-7866.

Dave Johnston