Western Railroad Discussion > Freight car truck weight

How much do the trucks for a freight car weigh?
How about each wheel set?
TIA

On the trucks I have delt with in Niles Canyon the friction bearing 50 ton rated freight car trucks weigh roughly 5 tons. Each wheel set is about 1 ton (2300 lbs on some ones I've dealt with).

A four wheel passenger truck is roughly 7 tons. Six wheel around 11 tons.

These are rough numbers. Older trucks tend to be lighter than newer ones. Modern 75 or 100 ton freight car trucks have heavier frames so they may be pushing up around 6-7 tons now. Really old arch bar trucks are closer to 4 tons. So the load rating on the truck is a factor.

I had a trainmaster at a derailment site suggest things would go faster if the four of us on the work train crew picked up a set of trucks and lifted it back onto the the rail. I asked him how much he thought the truck weighed and he said a couple of hundred pounds. I suggested each wheel was about a ton apiece for a total of 4 tons withough axles, bolster and side frames. He was shocked and suggested I was flagging in my dedication to my employeer. Shortly the car foreman walked by and I asked him how long he thought it would take the four of us to rerail that truck like the TM wanted. His hearty laugh caused the TM to leave the immediate area. I am sure the TM made a good vice president somewhere, though.

If you have a couple of wheel sets that have been outlawed, and can find someone with a powdercoat shop, welder, and basic woood working skills, they make nice benches. This one was at Plant City, FL. You can rest fairly assured that nobody will walk away with it.

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Nice. Can you still turn the bearings?

AdamPhillips Wrote:
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> You can rest fairly assured that nobody will walk
> away with it.

But they might roll it away. . . ;>)

Cheers,
Jack

Roadrailer bogies weigh 12,000 lbs. As far as a std truck, it should be less than that.

Eng. Shadetree

I actually tried to turn the bearings and I wasn't able to budge them. I don't know if the oil was drained, bearings removed and the caps welded on, or what. They won't roll away...there is a healthy weld bead between the wheel and the rail. I couldn't tell if the spikes were just the heads welded onto the plates or if they actually went into holes drilled into the concrete. Pretty cool, though.

Current design roller bearing side frames for 286K cars weigh about 900 lbs. each and 286K bolsters are about 1500 lbs. each. Complete truck assemblies with 36" one wear wheelsets, class K bearings, springs, friction shoes, and brake beams are just about 10,000 lbs. per truck. So when you see an aluminum coal gon stenciled at 40,600 lbs. empty weight, the trucks are about one half the total.

Dave