friction bearings

[dredmann]

As has been pointed out if you piece together the various replies, the problem with friction bearings is not primarily technical, but commercial (and potentially regulatory): Class I (major) railroads do not accept for interchange cars equipped with friction bearings. Your snippet of text seems to come from a for-sale listing. The seller is telling you that, if you buy this car, you will have to:

(1) replace the trucks with trucks containing roller-bearing axles;

(2) replace the axles with roller-bearing axles (if possible, which sometimes it is, IIRC typically at a cost of about $2000 each for used roller-bearing axles, plus labor);

(3) put the whole thing on a flat car or (highway) truck to transport it;

(4) ship it only to another point on the short-line railroad where it may have been operating; or

(5) get a special waiver from the railroad(s).

An organization with which I'm involved regularly runs into this issue. We have been scrounging roller-bearing axles that we can swap for friction-bearing axles on old passenger cars. The friction-bearing cars aren't allowed to move outside the yard. The roller-bearing cars have been taken a thousand miles from home, and have rolled on multiple Class I's. Work is ongoing to do this swap on two or three old passenger cars.

[chefjavier]

Are you sure?

[Railway Man]

There is no FRA prohibition or restriction on the use of freight cars with plain bearings, as codified in 49 CFR, other than a prohibition on the use of cartridge-type plain bearings (see Appendix A, along with K brakes, D couplers, Southern cast steel wheels manufactured before May 7, 1958, and a host of other stuff of an unsafe nature). 

There is a 40-year age restriction (extendable to 50 years, with an FRA waiver) on freight cars.

RWM

[WSOR 3801]

Those DMIR cars have made it off DMIR rails, such as to steel mills in the Chicago area. A FRA waiver had to be granted before the move could take place.

[Philcal]

Friction bearing cars cannot be used in inter-change service. For example,  a Union Pacific train arriving in say, Chicago, cannot pass a friction bearing car over to another road. Norfolk Southern, CSX etc. I believe the Duluth, Missabbee,and Iron Range RR still employs friction bearing equipped cars. This is no problem, nor is it prohibited, as these cars run solely on the DMIR. They are not interchanged with other railroads. There would be no prohibition concerning a railroad operating a friction bearing car in MW  or other company service. As a rule though, these cars are roller bearing equipped.

[Railway Man]

Plain (friction) bearings were prohibited from cars in interchange effective January 1, 1994.

Converted side frames (plain to roller bearing) prohibited for tankcars carrying hazardous commodities effective January 1, 1992; all cars effective January 1, 1995.

Generally railroads adopt the interchange rule when accepting cars on intraline service.

There is nothing I know of in 49 CFR or AAR rules prohibiting the use of friction or plain bearings.  However, there's no rule that MAKES the railroad have to accept equipment with plain bearings, either.

RWM 

[BigJim]

The only restriction should be that it can not be interchanged with other RR's. As long as it stays in it's home or owner's road it should be able to be moved.

[TomDiehl]

Perhaps a bit of back-to-basics is in order here.

What is commonly refered to as a "friction bearing" is a "U" shaped piece of babbet material (alloy of bronze and lead) that fits over the end of an axle and supports the side of the truck. This rides directly on the steel axle and is lubricated through the journal lid and are not sealed to protect from dirt or vandalism. Since the axle turns against the bearing, they are usually referd to a friction bearings.

A roller bearing is made up of two sleeves or "races," one pressed onto the axle and the other rides in the opening of the truck. Between these two races are a series of steel rollers, using a VERY old priciple (if you ever saw the movie "The Ten Commandments" recall how they were moving the large stone with the logs underneeth it, modernized version of the same principle). The roller bearing has several advantages over the friction bearing. First, the rollers in between the rotating axle and the stationary side of the truck do a great deal to reduce friction, thus the car rolls easier. Probably the most important difference is the fact the bearing is sealed with lubrication inside. They are not open to enviornmental dirt or vandalism, such as someone throwing a handfull of sand int the journal box. This also reduces the inspection requirement noted above.

An interesting aside to the mention of tourist railroads above, the passenger cars at Steamtown were from the friction bearing era, and looking at them from the outside, nothing appears to have changed. But if you ask one of the crew to open one of the journal lids (don't do this yourself), you'll see the end of a roller bearing. Normally, when cars were converted, the journal lid was removed to speed the inspection, but the ones at Steamtown were left in place to maintain the historic appearance of the car while complying with current requirements.

[Anonymous]

Friction Bearings are too hot to bother with these days.

You have to physically check every axle on both sides, open the small door check the packing, grease and make sure that it isnt snagged, too hot or out of oil.

If you dont catch it and the train leaves, it will get hotter and cause a fire or HOTBOX and if not detected in time, break the truck; spin the axle out and wreck the whole thing.

Roller Bearings are superior in today's service.

I suppose not too long in the future will see magnetic bearings where very powerful short range magnets possibly driven by cyro cooling or other source will suspend the axle in space with nothing physcially touching it.

Some older railroads run on friction bearings and I find myself eyeballing the things when boarding to enjoy a ride. Then again write me off as a nut and I dont need a wheel problem lol.

[cprted]

What Erik said. Friction bearings are higher maintenance and require frequent checking to ensure they have oil in the journals, etc etc. The tourist line I'm with has a few cars in service with friction bearings, and the journals have to be inspected every morning. This is not something a Class 1 RR wants to be bothered with.

[erikem]

All modern (say 1970 and later) cars have roller bearings. Back in 1954, roller bearing freight cars were a bit of a novelty, but roller bearings became a requirement for new construction sometime thereafter (anyone with more concrete dates si welcome to chime in). While a properly maintained journal bearing can be reliable, there isn't much of a way of infrastructure left to support journal bearings in interchange service.

[wisandsouthernkid]

iam confused i had read that a railcar can not be moved because it has friction bearings dont all cars have friction bearings than how can a train move it this is the paragraph below help me straighten this out cause i dont get it

Built as a open top hopper car for the Grand Trunk western Railroad in December of 1954. The car has been used as a ballast car on a short line and is in fair-good condition. Some of the mechanical features include: Friction bearings, 2,450 CU Foot capacity, swing type gates. This car can not move via rail on it's own wheels since it has friction bearings.