CA2287734A1 - Auxiliary truck rail car - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a novel auxiliary truck for supporting a rail car wheel-axle set above and out of contact with parallel rail tracks, to enable a rail car with inoperative wheels to be shunted along the tracks to a repair location. The auxiliary truck has two parallel truck wheel axle assemblies, upon which are mounted two rail car wheel support assemblies. Each axle assembly includes two truck wheels centrally mounted on stub axles, and each stub axle is releasably secured into a transverse tubular brace.
The support assemblies are built up of a pair of parallel elongate plates, with one truck wheel from each of the two axle assemblies disposed between. Each plate includes a stub axle cradle for releasably journalling the stub axles. Two shoulder pins releasably connect a central portion of each parallel plate pair together spaced apart a selected distance. The stub axle cradle preferably forms a semicylindrical recess disposed at lower front and rear corners of each plate with an open mouth inclined at an acute angle relative to horizontal. Although the carrying capacity of the assembled truck is over 75 tons, the individual components of the truck all weight under pounds and can be easily carried by members of the train crew to the site of the inoperative wheel. No tools are required since the components are secured with pins and snap rings that are quickly removed and replaced by hand. The simple design of components lowers cost to the extent that it is practical to include such a truck as standard equipment for each train.

Description

TITLE: AUXILIARY TRUCK FOR RAIL CAR
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention is directed to an auxiliary truck for supporting a rail car by cradling an S inoperable wheel-axle set above and out of contact with the railway tracks while the attached loaded rail car is shunted on the tracks to a repair location.
BACKGROUND OF THE ART
Rail car wheel-axle sets, comprising two flanged wheels mounted on an axle, are often the cause of train breakdown. The wheel-axle sets are commonly combined in a multiple axle rail car truck with journal bearings, and spring suspension. In this description and claims, the term "railcar" is used for convenience to refer to and is intended to include all rolling stock that can be supported on rails, including for example: locomotives, freight railcars of all types, passenger railcars, track maintenance equipment, mass transit passenger cars and transit locomotives.
Railway locomotives are extremely heavy including diesel/electric engines and power transmission mounted on six axles or more. Since the axles are mechanically powered, once a malfunction occurs, it is necessary to disengage the axles from the drive system to roll the locomotive to a repair site. However, if such a disengagement is not possible, due to the massive weight of the locomotives, high lift capacity cranes are required to lift the locomotive off the rails and place it on a dopey to be transported to a repair site. This type of operation involves significant delay and schedule disruption, is labour intensive, potentially dangerous and employs equipment that is expensive to acquire and to maintain in service.
Train breakdown involving malfunctioning locomotives or freight cars, can be caused by locking up of the wheel axle sets due to failure of power transmission, a journal bearing, or cracks which develop in the wheel or axle themselves, thereby disabling the railcar truck. Repair options include replacing the bearings and damaged wheel axle set in location. However, this involves significant down time for the entire train and line upon which the train is resting. A preferred option is to shunt the damaged railcar to a siding and perform repairs in relative seclusion. Where suitable equipment is not available and the distance of shunting is short, operators feel obliged to force the damaged railcar by sliding the locked wheel set on the rail surfaces. This type of shunting is prone to damage the wheels and rails through abrasion.
A preferred method of shunting a railcar for repair has been to raise the locked axle set with portable jacks so as to disengage the wheel from the railhead upon which it has been resting. When sufficient clearance is available, auxiliary trucks or skates are inserted under the wheel and the axle is lowered to rest on the auxiliary truck above and out of engagement with the tracks.
Disadvantages with existing auxiliary trucks are several. The weight capacity of 1 S conventional trucks is usually quite low and they are used extensively in repair sheds and assembly operations where the truck itself or a wheel axle assembly only is being transferred about. Where a fully loaded railcar is to be moved with such a device, the weight carrying capacity leads to a design with such heavy components that it becomes impractical to transport such auxiliary trucks over the rough terrain adjacent rail tracks with human effort. Where a light capacity truck would weigh 500 pounds or less, a higher capacity auxiliary truck is of a weight well beyond the capacity of two workmen to conveniently carry to the site of the damaged wheel set. If lifting machinery or transport carriers are required to carry an auxiliary truck, it becomes impractical. If transport of heavy equipment is required, the auxiliary trucks cannot be used by train crews at remote locations and the application of such auxiliary trucks would be restricted to areas in close proximity to repair locations or heavy equipment depots.
For example, United States Patent No. 2,919,659 to Grimany discloses a skate for moving railroad equipment which comprises two parallel plates clamped together with a pair of end roller wheels between the parallel plates. In order to provide lateral stability, the damaged wheel of the railcar is clamped with bolts between the parallel plates of the skate. The disadvantage of the Grimany skate is that it is difficult to carry such a heavy one-piece device and if a locomotive or fully loaded railcar is to be supported, the structural requirements of such a skate would increase the weight of members to such an extent that it would be impractical for one or two members of a typical rail crew to manually carry the device to a repair location on the train. In addition, lateral stability of the skate is questionable and the operator is required to tighten bolts to clamp the wheel between the parallel plates of the skate. The requirement for tools and heavy lifting severely limits the application of such a device.
Lateral stability is provided by the emergency carriage described in United States Patent No. 1,206,994 to Craigmile. The provision of a top beam to tie the top of the wheel together involves further effort, however, the tying together of parallel skates on the parallel rails with a channel beam represents an improvement over the above described device. The skates are assembled as a complete unit and therefore, the Craigmile device suffers from the same disadvantage that if a skate is to be designed to carry the extremely high weights of a locomotive or loaded railcar, the weight of the skate would exceed practical lifting capabilities of two persons. In practice, the Craigmile type of emergency carriage would be restricted to use for unloaded railcars or components of railway trucks. United States Patent 2,491,034 to Couch and U.S.
Patent 811,965 to Smith show alternative wheel supporting trucks with the same disadvantages.
An object of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary truck for railcars, which can be transported to the required location by members of the train crew carrying the components over relatively rough terrain.

Another object of the invention is to provide a auxiliary truck which can be installed and used without requiring tools.
A further object of the invention is to provide an auxiliary truck capable of carrying 75 tons or more weight capacity for use in association with a locomotive or a fully loaded railcar thereby enabling extremely heavy locomotives to be moved without cranes and avoiding the necessity of unloading a loaded railcar prior to shunting.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides a novel auxiliary truck for supporting a rail car wheel-axle set above and out of contact with parallel rail tracks, to enable a rail car with inoperative wheels to be shunted along the tracks to a repair location. The auxiliary truck is quickly assembled from components that weigh under 90 pounds to facilitate manual carrying and are assembled together without tools.
The auxiliary truck is capable of carrying the high loads of the middle axles of a locomotive at an elevation above the track such that the remaining locomotive wheels remain on the track and the supported axle is raised about 2 inches so that the suspension can accommodate the vertical displacement of the supported axle without damage. The low profile and high capacity of the auxiliary truck permit this application which has to date not been possible with conventional skates or dolleys.
The auxiliary truck has uses in manufacturing plants or warehouses where box cars are often pushed into an enclosed building against a stop bumper. The trucks under the box car can be disengaged on excessive impact. The invention provides a simple means for removing the damaged boxcar from within an enclosed space where cranes and other large equipment cannot gain access.
The auxiliary truck has two parallel truck wheel axle assemblies, upon which are mounted two rail car wheel support assemblies. Each axle assembly includes two truck wheels centrally mounted on stub axles, and each stub axle is releasably secured into a transverse tubular brace.
The support assemblies are built up of a pair of parallel elongate plates, with one truck wheel from each of the two axle assemblies disposed between. Each plate includes a stub axle cradle for releasably journalling the stub axles. Two shoulder pins releasably connect a central portion of each parallel plate pair together spaced apart a selected distance.
The stub axle cradle preferably forms a semicylindrical recess disposed at lower front and rear corners of each plate with an open mouth inclined at an acute angle relative to horizontal. The acute angle orientation of the mouth has the following benefits.
During assembly, the plates are first mounted to one axle assembly then rotated into engagement with the other axle assembly. The acute angle opening guilds the components into engagement as the plates rotate toward the axle assembly.
During disassembly, the acute angle opening likewise eases disengagement without requiring use of pry bars or tools.
There is no need to physically attach the stub axles to the plates with bolts or other connectors. The heavy weight of the rail car maintains engagement between the stub axles and plates. The stub axles include circumferential ridges to laterally restrain the plates. As a result, time and labour involved in assembling the truck is minimized and no tools are required for the operation.
Although the carrying capacity of the assembled truck is over 75 tons, the individual components of the truck all weight under 90 pounds and can be easily carried by members of the train crew to the site of the inoperative axle or wheel. No tools are required since the components are secured with pins and snap rings that are quickly removed and replaced by hand.

The simple design of components lowers cost to the extent that it is practical to include such a truck as standard equipment for each train. In contrast, conventional trucks either have a carrying capacity that is too low to support a loaded rail car, or conventional trucks are too heavy to be easily carried long distances by train crews.
Further details of the invention and its advantages will be apparent from the detailed description and drawings included below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In order that the invention may be readily understood, a preferred embodiments of the invention will be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the assembled auxiliary truck with two parallel axle assemblies, and two rail car wheel support assemblies mounted to the stub axles of the truck wheels;
Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the assembled auxiliary truck showing the interconnection of components;
Figure 3 is a side elevation view;
Figure 4 is a detail elevation view of one truck wheel and associated components; and Figure 5 is a side elevation view like Fig. 3 showing the rotation of the plates about one axle assembly to engage or disengage the other axle assembly, and in particular showing the use of the acute angled recess to guide the stub axle and semi-cylindrical recess into engagement.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Figure 1 illustrates the overall arrangement of an assembled auxiliary truck, whereas Figures 3 and 4 show in phantom outline the placement of the railcar wheel-axle set.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the railcar wheel axle set one is supported on the shoulder pins 2 above and out of contact with the parallel rail tracks 3. As shown in Figure 4, the rail tracks 3 often include track hardware between the tracks 3 such as derailment bumpers 4 shown. In some cases, the top surface of the derailment bumpers 4 is above the top rail surface by up to 2 inches. This is a significant concern to the design of such auxiliary trucks and renders many prior art configurations inoperable under modern rail track conditions.
The auxiliary truck is assembled quickly with no tools required by first assembling two parallel truck wheel axle assemblies 5 and two railcar wheels support assemblies 6, then jacking the wheel axle set 1 of the railcar with hydraulic jacks for example.
Thereafter, the wheel support assemblies 6 can be placed under the railcar wheel 1 and attached to the axle assemblies 5 as indicated in Figures 3 and 5.
As best seen in Figure 2, the two parallel truck wheel axle assemblies each include two truck wheels 7 which are centrally mounted on stub axles 8 with appropriate tapered roller bearings, seals and bearing retention nut 9. A simple grease gun nipple 10 is provided for lubrication of the bearings.
In order to keep the weigh to individual components down below 90 pounds, the truck axle assembly can be taken apart with stub axles 8 having an inward end releasably secured to a transverse brace 11. A preferred arrangement is shown in Figure 2 where the inward ends of the stub axles 8 are slidingly housed inside tubular braces 11 and secured in place with removable pins 12.
In this way, the individual truck wheels and associated stub axles 8 can be produced at under 90 pounds with appropriate weight carrying capacity.
The two railcar wheel support assemblies 6 are quickly assembled from a pair of parallel elongate plates 13 with one truck wheel 7 from each of the two axle assemblies 5 disposed between the plates 13. As best shown in Figures 3 and 5, each plate 13 includes stub axle cradling means for releasably journalling the stub axles 8.
As illustrated a preferred stub axle cradle takes the shape of a semi-cylindrical recess disposed at lower front and rear corners of each plate. The semi-cylindrical recess has an open mouth inclined at an acute angle "a" relative to the horizontal. The location of the cradle and the inclined acute angle have significant advantage as illustrated in Figure 5 and described below in detail.
To prevent wandering of the plates, each stub axle 8 includes restraint means for laterally restraining the plates 13. As indicated in Figure 2, the restraint means comprise an inner circumferential ridge and an outer C-shaped circumferential ridge attached to the outer end of the stub shaft 8 with bolts for example.
As shown in Figure 2, the parallel plates 13 are spaced apart a selected distance with 15 two shoulder pins 2 which releasably connect a central portion of each plate 13 with a spring ring clip 16 in a groove in the outer ends of all pins 2. As indicated in Figure 3, the pins 2 support the flanged railcar wheel 1 securely between the two parallel plates 13.
It has been found by experiment that a weight carrying capacity for the auxiliary truck is excess of 75 tons is possible, where each of the individual plates or truck wheel in associated stub axle components weighs less than 90 pounds. This feature enables the auxiliary truck to be utilized where a heavily loaded railcar or locomotive encounters a locked wheel repair situation.
The placement and configuration of the semi-cylindrical recess provides significant advantage over prior art trucks for the following reasons. Referring to Figures 3 and 4, the placement of the semi-cylindrical recess to cradle the stub axle 8 disposed at lower front and rear corners of each plate 13, enables the plates 13 to pass over any derailment bumpers 4 or other track hardware that extends above the head of the track 3. Many prior art trucks do not address this problem since they are designed primarily for use inside assembly shops or repair yards and do not encounter such track hardware which is located in external railway track areas.
As shown in Figure 3, location of the stub cradling semi-cylindrical recess in the lower corners of each plate, enables the bottom surface of the plate 13 to be substantially raised above the track 3.
Figure 5 illustrates a further advantage of the open mouth inclined at an acute angle relative to the horizontal. For clarity at the right hand side, the outer ridge 15 has been removed although during assembly the plate 13 will be inserted between an outer ridge 15 and the bearing retention nut 9, as in Figure 2. Figure 5 indicates that the left hand connection is made first between the plate 13 and stub axle 8 of the left hand wheel. Then the plate 13 is rotated clockwise while the right-hand wheel 7 is rolled towards the left as drawn. As can be particularly seen in Figure 5, the acute angular orientation "a" permits the lower corner 17 of the open mouth 18 to engage the stub shaft 8 as the right-hand wheel 7 is rolled toward the left. When engaged as shown in Figure 5, further lowering of the plate 13 will enable the stub shaft 8 to be guided accurately into engagement with the open mouth and recess 18. In contrast, if the open mouth were not inclined but rather a simple semi-cylindrical recess in the lower surface of the plate 13, no such guiding action would be produced.
There is a trade-off when the acute angle is modified and depending on the design characteristics desired, the range of acute angle can vary between 5 and 80 degrees and preferably between 15 and 65 degrees. At the higher end of these ranges, the railcar axle need not be raised as high to assemble the truck, however the retention of the truck wheel axle assembly is superior towards the lower end of angle ranges. The design profile and thickness of the elongate plates is modified to accommodate the angular variation as well.

Although the above description and accompanying drawings relate to specific preferred embodiments as presently contemplated by the inventor, it will be understood that the invention in its broad aspect includes mechanical and functional equivalents of the elements described and illustrated.

Claims (10)

1. An auxiliary truck for supporting a rail car wheel-axle set above and out of contact with parallel rail tracks, the truck comprising:
two parallel truck wheel axle assemblies, each axle assembly including two truck wheels centrally mounted on stub axles, each stub axle having an inward end releasably secured to a transverse brace; and two rail car wheel support assemblies, each support assembly comprising: a pair of parallel elongate plates, with one truck wheel from each of the two axle assemblies disposed therebetween, each plate including stub axle cradling means for releasably journalling the stub axles; and two shoulder pins releasably connecting a central portion of each parallel plate pair together spaced apart a selected distance, the stub axle cradling means comprising a semicylindrical recess disposed at lower front and rear corners of each plate, the recess having an open mouth inclined at an acute angle relative to horizontal.

2. An auxiliary truck according to claim 1 wherein the stub axles each include restraint means for laterally restraining the plates.

3. An auxiliary truck according to claim 2 wherein the restraint means comprise circumferential ridges on the stub axles.

4. An auxiliary truck according to claim 1 wherein the inward end of stub axles are slidingly housed inside tubular braces.

5. An auxiliary truck according to claim 4 wherein the inward end of stub axles are secured in the braces with removable pins.

6. An auxiliary truck according to claim 1 wherein the weight of any individual plate is less than 50 pounds.

7. An auxiliary truck according to claim 1 wherein the weight of any individual truck wheel and associated stub axle is less than 90 pounds.

8. An auxiliary truck according to claim 1 wherein the weight carrying capacity of the truck is at least 75 tons.

9. An auxiliary truck according to claim 1 wherein the acute angle relative to the horizontal is within the range of 5-80 degrees.

10. An auxiliary truck according to claim 9 wherein the acute angle relative to the horizontal is within the range of 15-65 degrees.