With all of the recent chatter about bearings water cooling etc we need
to have "the rest of the story"...
Being probably the only guy on this list who did his railroading in the
days of the 5 man crew...waycar...mixed trains...white and green
classification lights...oil burning lanterns and
markers...fusees...torpedoes...red flags..NO RADIOS...train orders....employee
timetables...telegraph...men with seniority dating back almost to the
beginning of the 20th century...universal smoking....and, best of all...the
FRICTION BEARING....whose trademark claim to fame was the HOTBOX I felt
it was my sworn duty to declame on the HOTBOX.
To understand the hotbox you have to understand the anatomy of a freight
car....I'm not a mechanical expert, but I'll try to get the basics out
here.
The weight of the car is distributed to the axles and thus the wheels
through a cross bolster on each end of the car. The bolster has a center
casting which has a center ring extending down a few inches (the male portion)
which fits.into a (female) depression on the truck bolster. The
truck bolster extends to each side of the truck and attaches to the "truck
side" which has castings on each end which extend outward. these outward
extensions perform the function of transmitting the weight of the car to the
axles (journals). On a two axle truck there are 4 extensions
(1 one for each axle on each side.
The weight of the car is transmitted through these extensions...on the
end of which is the journal box...through the means of a "wedge" which fits
against the roof of the journal box (underside) then a "brass ..a device
extending from the back of the journal box nearly to the outer end..where the
"collar" on the axle is...fittted between the wedge and the axle...The brass
is made of....are you ready for it....brass. The top of the brass
is nearly flat to fit against the top of the journal box, but has a bit of
rounded top so it kind of self adjusts. The bottom of the brass is
curved to match the diameter of the axle and between the bottom of the actual
brass and the axle is a material known as "babbit"..This is a soft lead like
material which serves as a "cushion" between the axle and the actual
brass. It is somewhat soft and melts at a relativly low
temperature. This takes care of the actual metallic structure of
the freight car bearing system.
For lubrication the bottom of the journal box is filled with a material
known by rairoaders as "dope"..It's "waste"..saturated with journal oil.
Waste is a material composed of billions of cotton strings of yarn like
material..It was the railroaders all purpose material and its story will be
put off for another time. The waste is packed in the bottom of the
journal box tightly under the axle and shoved hard against the back of the box
to prevent the oil from running out the back..The journal (axle) rolls in this
oil soaked waste and carries the oil upward as it rotates thus provided
the lubrication between the axle and the babbited undersurface of the
brass.
As long as there is sufficient oil in the box and the waste stays tight
against the axle all is well...It's when lubrication fails for one
reason or another there occurs the HOTBOX...Friction increases to the point
where the temperature of the journal box rises to the ignition point of the
oil and VOILA...the hotbox occurs.
A hotbox can be caused be several factors...an overloaded car....a "waste
grab"..ie some of the threads of the waste get pulled up across the face of
the journal thus stopping the lubrication.....a cut journal...the axle become
scored and thus has a rough surface...In cold weather the waste can actually
freeze and thus pull away from the journal stopping the lubrication...a rough
coupling can actually cause the brass to jump out of alighment and thus the
sufaces don't fit together properly.
What are the symptoms of a hotbox and how it is "fixed"...Anyone who has
ever dealt with hotboxes will never forget the unforgettable smell
of a hotbox...It's quite pungent and once it gets into your clothes it's nigh
onto impossible to get out. At night you see the flame...In thedaytime
you watch for smoke...but lots of times you can "smell it before you see
it"...
What happens if you don't stop and fix or set out the offending
"spindle"..Well the ultimate catastrope is a burned off journal and the
resulting wreck...
Hot do you deal with a hot box....The first thing you do is get out there
with a bucket of water...a bucket of waste...some "rod dope"...your packing
hook...packing iron and maybe a journal jack...
First thing is you take the packing hook and open the journal box..If it
hasn't flamed yet it probably will when you open the door...stand back...You
throw some water in to put out the fire...Then you pull out the old packing
with your packing hook. Then you run the packing hook hook across the
journal to see if it's scored...if not...you can probably repack the box take
the car with you...at least to a place it can be set out.
To repack the box you pull out all the old packing and use the
packing your brought with you...The extra packing and the bucket and tools
were all carried int he waycar.. The packing of a box was an art and the
old heads knew how to do it..After you got the box repacked you shoved in some
"rod dope"..Rod dope was some kind of "hard oil" that when wet would form an
emulsion with water and make an oily greasy solution. This stuff came in
rolls...about like a candle which you would use on your dining room table..You
shoved several of these in the box and threw in lots of water..That's where
the water came in..The water, but itself wasn't much good for anything but
putting the fire out..It was the emulsion formed with the rod dope and the
water that created the improved lubriction and thus...provided a "runnable"
car to move with your train.
Sometimes if the journal was badly scored and it looked like it would
run...especially if the car was "hot"..ie fresh meat..produce etc.
You would have to rebrass the car..This could be done ont he road by use of
the journal jack carried in the waycar..You hoped you were over a tie to se
the jack on..placed it under the journal box and you could acutally jack up
the journal...thus taking the weight off that journal by raising it it..You
then took your packinghook and pullled out the wedge (on top of the
brass) and the brass and put in the new brass you had brought up from the
waycar. You oiled up the babbit side...shoved the new brass and wedge in
and let the jack back down and you were ready to go...
If thejournal was cut the rebrasing wouldn'tl last long and you would
have to set the car out and the nearest rip track would send out a couple of
carmen with a new set of wheels and they would rewheel the car at some remote
siding.
Wel that's probably more than most of you wanted ot know...but we were
getting bits and pieces of the story regarding water..bearings etc...I wanted
you to see how it all fit together....
My brakeman's experience was amplified by a two months stint on the
Coucil Bluffs rip track on the RI in 1959...I was the "repack man"...that
means I "dabbled in oil"...Journal boxes were repacked on a time basis...IIRC
it was 18 months. When a car came ont he RIP..the lead man would chalk
up the work to be done on the car..When it said "repack"..I would appear with
my wheelbarow of dope...packing hook ..iron and oil...I hated that job, but it
was good experience.
I'll take questions if this diatribe has raised any.
Pete