Eastern Railroad Discussion > Railroad Wheel weight

I am curious as to theweight of a railroad wheel. Not the truck or axle assembly, just thewheel that has the flange on it.

I have permission to clean railcarsout at my employer and a 36" wheel came in today as scrap. there is no axle, just the press on wheel.

I have a 2000 lb trailer to haul this stuff in and do not wannabreak it.
Thank you for your time,

About two and a half hernias.

I couldn't find any internet weight references so:

The volume of a cylinder equals the (area of the base)*height = ¶r2h. Steel is approximately 500lbs per cu. ft.

3.14 X (3/2 X 3/2) X .5 x 500 X .5 (figure 50% of the cylinder filled by metal on a rail wheel) = 883 lbs. Check my math.

You should be able to handle it with a 1 ton. Whatever trailer you use, you are going to need heavy duty chains and blocking to secure the load.

Bob

Thank you for the quick response bob, i am not much on eqautions, so i will take ur word for it. I am guessing you are very close on the weight.
Once i get it out, it will go onto a pallet or skid. It will go to the scrap yard in the next couple of weeks or so.
I will use a front end loader with chains to get it out.

Each truck on my caboose weighs approx. 5500 pounds, so your 2000 pound trailer should be fine for just a wheel.

bill_whh Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am curious as to the weight of a railroad wheel.
> Not the truck or axle assembly, just the wheel that
> has the flange on it.
>
> I have permission to clean railcars out at my
> employer and a 36" wheel came in today as scrap.
> there is no axle, just the press on wheel.

A new 36" wheel weighs about 900 lb. A worn wheel, will obviously weigh less. You should have no problem handling it in a 1 ton trailer.

Ended up pulling it out at lunch time. With it on a pallet, it sat ok on my trailer.

Thank you for all the timely responses.

One more for ya'all

What value would a 100 ton truck, or two, off a scrap railcar be worth? Weight for Scrap and or individaul resale? Like maybe to a museum or so?

Museum's do not generaly pay for stuff they get it donated, and donor will write value off on his taxes.
what scrap is worth ?? a car of 60 tons x scrapvalue minus labor and supplies to cut it up.