[PRCo] Re: OT Boston

[Boris Cefer]

Is there any approximate estimate of a wheel (tire member) life?

B

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Russell E Jackson" <russell.jackson at stvinc.com>
To: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net>; <boriscefer at yahoo.com>
Cc: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 5:57 PM
Subject: [PRCo] Re: OT Boston


> Boris - Fred is basically correct as to the legal issues, although you 
> will
> find opening windows on a number of other cars, particularly in San
> Francisco.  We know that FWS is always on a soap box.  But I think it is
> still sensible to air condition the cars.  You cannot have them be the 
> only
> not air conditioned part of the fleet.  It is not a museum.  As for the
> wheels, I seem to remember that the issue was bad ground shunts, with the
> possibility of not shunting the signal circuits.  (Another badly managed
> outfit in Philly had many cars operating with broken shunts.)   It is said
> that there were several instances of this, which brought the Public
> Utilities Commission into the picture.  In a typical Boston stupid
> decision, they got rid of the resilient wheels.  They disappeared on the
> CTA because they were using only the D-1 wheel, and cracks were occurring
> in the welded back plates, and the manufacturer had left the business and
> had no interest in improving the design.  I cannot say I know why a
> different wheel design such as the SAB was not considered, except that 
> back
> then they were not in the US market at all.  So it was easy (and cheaper)
> to change to the solid wheels.  The wheel life in those light cars was so
> long that they lasted from one truck overhaul to the next, so there was no
> great change in maintenance costs.   Kashin says that one Brooklyn car was
> tested with the SAB wheels, but there is no picture or document proof that
> I know of.  Possibly at SAB in the archives.  Or in a Kashin box 
> somewhere.
>
> Russ Jackson