Eastern Railroad Discussion > Locomotive Wheels vs Freight Car wheels.

Recently I was told that locomotive wheels are softer than freight car wheels so that they slightly deform and create a greater surface area with the rails.

I have never heard this before and in fact goes against everything I had ever believed about the subject. Seems that this would create a lot more rolling resistance than necessary. I was always lead to believe that is was the extreme weight of a locomotive along with sand as needed that gave a locomotive all the traction it needed, it also seems that rail is already softer than the wheels to begin with so the rail would deform before the wheels anyway.

Can anyone shed any light on this quandry?

Loco and rail wheels are the same hardness so IDK who told you that but they have no clue what they are talking about. If the wheels were soft enough to deform from the loco weight then what do you think would happen when a loco sits for a while, lol.

So thats how flat spots happen Lol J/K

Sure, here's the light. Freight car wheels are made of good old steel. They support weight and roll, take the pressure of brake shoes and burn it off as heat. I was told from a very reliable source that locomotive wheels on the other hand are made of pressed Buffalo dung. It is far more resilient than steel and provides superior grip on the otherwise slippery steel rails. It also reduces the cost of producing the wheels for a loco and the source of the material is far less expensive. It can also be pressed in wood molds that cost a lot less than a steel forge. There is however a small drawback. The smell of brake shoes against the pressed Buffalo dung burning away the organic material is akin to that of the burning of local municipal waste. Local citizens around any downgrade run screaming from their homes due to the pungent odors that arise near major railroad grades. Tahachapi, Horseshoe Curve and Stampede Pass come to mind. It also was rumored that the cost of Buffalo dung in the eastern states drove the PRR to substitute the dung from the cattle they transported to the King Ranch near Philadelphia. another drawback was that cattle dung was more volatile than Buffalo dung and that there were numerous track-side fires reported due to the cattle dung catching on fire during braking. the additional cast of Buffalo dung was prohibitive and they decided that asbestos was more suitable and the rest is history in the court cases concerning the use of asbestos in brakes. hopefully this clears up any confusion about the hardness of loco wheels vs. car wheels. I forgot to mention the paper composite wheels used on passenger equipment. Alas, Buffalo dung was also tried there. It wasn't very successful. It stunk! However old copies of the Wall Street Journal excelled in that role for many years!
For further info just surf on the Internet under "Buffalo Dung".
Gonut

And Gonut wins the Internet tonight.

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If the above account didn't apply only to land transport, I'd say someone is telling a "sea story".
"So the farmer hauled another load away;
You could tell by the smell it wasn't hay....."