Nostalgia & History > It's On Fire!!

In the days of solid journal bearings, hot boxes were a constant problem. In this August, 1963 scene, a westbound Santa Fe loaded coal train has such a problem and has stopped at Summit (Cajon Pass), California to cut out the offending car with EMD F9 285C doing the honors. Photo by Herbert Johnson (Pacific Railroad Society Collection)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/12 12:09 by edsaalig.

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This one photo "speaks volumes" about the trials and tribulations of railroading! Thanks for posting.

Can't you just smell it??!!

Nowadays the crew doesn't have ta set out a "hotbox", it sets itself out !!

qman

A picture is worth a thousand words. I tell new hires that when a detector goes off, its best to walk back and locate it standing still. Unlike friction bearing cars , its hard to sometimes tell what kind of shape they are in , and the car may goes for miles, or it may suddenly burn off.Its like a old head conductor told me 40+ years ago" Its better to find the problem before it finds you."

Pull the waste..let it burn out..repack with supplies
from the waycar...apparently it did not have spring pad
lubricators...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/12 13:01 by Agt-Highland.

I was always amazed at how a plain (friction) bearing could withstand the pressure that a freight car could place upon it, with lube supplied by soaked waste wadding. Kinda like a wooden wagon wheel axle, with a dab of grease.
...Lorenzo

If you think about it, there is a heck of a lot more load-bearing surface in a plain bearing than in a roller bearing, where all you have is a few lines where the edges of the rollers are in contact with the races. The pounds-per-square-inch load is A LOT less in a plain bearing.

The trick is to keep a film of lube in the bearing and to keep dirt out, since dirt will make high spots that have increased load, and thus will generate increased heat.