wheel bearing feedback requested


railfan

railfan

junk collector
I use N scale and sometimes I read about roller bearings and friction bearings in online descriptions of features of N rolling stock. I have about 90 different railcars, boxcars, tankers, hoppers, flatcars, baggage cars, gondolas. Many of them I bought used and when opening the packages after delivery some of the wheels had fallen off....which I put back on. I've never seen or noticed any functional bearings or even bushings in any of these small wheel/truck assemblies.....just a point on the axle end that rides in a cone shaped pit in the truck.

I assumed that when describing roller or friction "bearings" they were just talking about the fine prototypical detail of the trucks. Am I correct about this?........or am I missing something?

Mike
 
I think this is mostly the case, yes. The only differences I've seen are people installing springs on the axle that rub against the inside face of the wheel to add friction, supposedly to stop the slinky-effect you often get with MT couplers.
 
Hi Mike -

Your assumption is correct. At a size as small as N-scale, we're not talking about actual mechanical differences. We're talking about appearance.

Full size rail cars use a variety of different trucks with different bearings (and other differences) depending on the era, type of car, weight of car, etc. In the interest of accurate modeling, you can choose trucks that have the correct appearance for the particular car you are modeling.

From a few feet away, most people can't detect the difference, but close up or in photos, the differences are apparent to a knowledgeable observer (which I am not).

- Jeff
 
The difference is in appearance. Friction (solid) bearings have a small detail of a door to access the cotton waste kept in the journals to lube the bearings. Roller bearings are sealed, and generally the outer part of the bearing is exposed visibly.
Cars that have been retrofitted with roller bearings will generally retain the old style covers, which were cast in the truck frames. The lids to the covers will generally be removed. I'd kind of like to see this detail modeled on a "modernized" car sometime.
"Friction bearing" is really a marketing term used by the Timken company when promoting their roller bearings to make people think their bearings were lots better than the old solid bearings. Your car's engine has essentially the same bearings as those on a freight car, though much more refined. The guy at the parts store would be measuring you for a straightjacket if you walked in and asked for a set of friction bearings for the connecting rods...
 
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