Andrews vs "Crown" Trucks

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know the difference between Andrews and "Crown" trucks. I suspect that "Andrews" refers to a design originating about 1898 and that "Crown" refers to the manufacturer of sideframe castings used in a truck of "Andrews" design. But I have never been able to confirm this. On the PRR the conventional terminology was "Andrews" trucks.

Patrick Nixon
Canton, MI
[e-mail]

[mersenne6]

Patrick,

Could you give us a reference to the "Crown" designation. I checked all of my references last night (The American Freight Car - White, Car Builders Dictionary for 1906, Car Builders Dictionary for 1888, and several small books from various real manufacturers ) and I was unable to find anything with that name.

There's the archbar style which includes things like
Diamond Archbar
Barber

There are the various pressed steel types like
Fox
Cloud
Ajax

There are the cast frames like
Bettendorf
Andrews

and there were a number of smaller maufacturers for each of these categories but no Crown.

[mersenne6]

Found it, Crown trucks appear to be a patented variation on the Bettendorf truck. It appears that they were not as rugged as the Bettendorf style and, when they wore out they were usually replaced with Bettendorf trucks

[Anonymous]

The designation of these trucks as "Crown" appears in "Pennsylvania Railroad Steel Open Hopper Cars" by John Teichmoeller, Highlands Stations, Inc., Aurora, CO, July 2000, ISBN 0-9655365-4-8

page 33 'Later converted and newly built H21A cars used the 70-ton Benner's patent "Crown" trucks. Finally, in later years, some cars rode on AAR so-called "Bettendorf"-style trucks.'

page35-36 'H21A -- The 70-ton coal-carrying version with Crown (a heavy-duty Andrews-style truck -- there has been no article to date on the story of develpment of this truck).'