STANDARD CAR TRUCK COMPANY

&
The cast three-piece bogie

A brief overview

BARBER
STANDARD CAR TRUCK COMPANY
865 BUSSE HIGHWAY
PARK RIDGE
ILLINOIS, 60068
The North American interchange system and the
Association of American Railroads (AAR) is the
worldwide industry leader in the railway freight car
business.
 Comprehensive standards which have been regulated,
changed and added to over many years
 Amount of revenue in the American freight industry
 The demand by the customer to receive a better
product For less money
 Experimentation, innovation and testing
 Advantages of adhering to the AAR standards
 Lower cost equipment
 Lower cost spares
 Access to new technology developed for leading
American railroads
 Utilization of the depth of knowledge already
invested in cast three-piece bogies
RailRoads only add transport costs to the product
they move.

In order to stay competitive operating costs must be

kept to a minimum.
Conventional cast three-piece bogie nomenclature
 Bogie Performance
For a bogie to perform efficiently it must remain square.
A square bogie benefits from the following:
 Improved curving
 Reduced shelling
 Increased wheel life
 Reduced rolling resistance
 Improved stability
 Bogie performance
For a bogie to remain square its ‘Warp Resistance’ must be
greater than its ‘Turning Moment’.
Squaring forces on a three-piece bogie
Unsquaring forces on a three-piece bogie
Bogie lozenging due to insufficient ‘Warp
Resistance’
 Bogie performance
When ‘Warp Resistance’ is greater than ‘Turning Moment’
bogies benefit from the following:
 The‘Hunting’ threshold is increased.
 A reduced angle of attack between wheel and rail is
achieved.
 Less wear between the wheel and the rail.
 Reduced rolling resistance (better fuel consumption).
 Lateral forces which act to ‘spread’ the rails and can
cause low rail roll over derailments are lowered.
Conventional three-piece bogie at warped and non-
warped condition

Conventional three-piece bogie on

tangent track

Warped three-piece bogie on

curved track
 Bogie performance
The dynamics of a cast three-piece bogie in motion
 Bogie performance

Why is the profile on a rail wheel tapered?

To allow the wheelset to automatically re-center.

From a track ‘hit’ the wheel will get larger on one
side and smaller on the other. This is due to a
tapered wheel profile.
Wheelset performance after a track ‘hit’
 Bogie performance

The Wheel/Rail interaction which causes ‘Hunting’ is the

biggest problem facing the efficiency of three-piece bogies
today
Impact on wheelset and subsequent hunting
Impact on wheelset and subsequent hunting.
 Causes of hunting
 The ‘Warp Resistance is too low
 The wheel profile is too steep or the wheel has worn
hollow
 The bogie being worn
 If the clearances between the pedestal and the adapter
are too large
 No Damping
Amplitude

Time

Amplitude

Time

Damping
 Damping

 Constant Damped

 Variable Damped
Damping
 Damping
 Both use lateral force to impart friction
 Both use friction to impede vertical motion
 Because of friction there is wear in the contact areas
 As wear increases the lateral force decreases
 Friction wedges and wear plates must be replaced
after a certain amount of wear
Constant Damped Suspension Systems
 Constant Damped Suspension System
 Maintains a constant force on the column regardless
of load
 At empty/loaded car the same damping action will
apply
 The force applied to the column is directly
proportional to the characteristics of the spring inside
the friction wedge
 At empty car the system is over-damped
 At loaded car the system is under-damped
Constant
Damped
Suspension
System
Constant Damped Suspension System
 Constant Damped Suspension System
Disadvantages
 Disassembly of bogie is time consuming and needs
additional, bulky equipment
 Wear surfaces difficult to repair
 Cost of bogie higher
 Cost of spares generally higher
 More wear due to steel friction wedge
 Steel wedge limits the scope for effective damping
 System tends to be under damped or over damped
 Under Damped
Amplitude

Time

Amplitude

Time

Over Damped
Variable Damped Suspension Systems
 Variable Damped Suspension System
 Force on the column increases in direct proportion to
the load on the car
 Pre-load created at empty car
 As the load in the car increases, the damping level of
the bogie also increases to accommodate
 Directly proportional damping to load relationship.
Variable Damped Suspension System
Variable Damped Suspension System
 Variable Damped Suspension System
(S-2-Series)
 The S-2-HD is the leading cast three-piece bogie in
the world
 Approximately 70% of the bogies in service in the
North American interchange system are of the Barber
design.
 Almost 4 million bogies in service worldwide
 S-2-HD Variable Damped Suspension System
Advantages
 Maintains a higher ‘Warp Resistance’ proportional to
the load than other bogies
 Easy to assemble & disassemble
 Higher lateral column forces allowed due to Iron
friction wedge
 Wear surfaces easy to repair
 Friction wedges easy to replace
 Correct damping at any condition