Re: NG Trucks

Next the bolster sits in the center of the frame. On this model, there's nothing besides gravity holding it there. All trucks (as far as I know) have 3 points of contact to the car. Freight cars have a center bearing and two side bearings to handle the case of a severely unbalanced car. Older freight trucks use a block of wood on end to contact a stop on the intermediate sill. On the first photo, you can see the indentation on the top of the bolster where they sit.

The 053 passenger car trucks design is called "Flying Bolsters" that in addition to the center bearing, have supporting rollers that support the side sills of the car, presumably to handle this case when the D&S creeps across the High Line and everyone in the cars moves to the outside to look down).

When I looked at my N scale models, I always wondered how a truck worked. After helping put them together, now I know! Working with these springs begs caution and most likely you'll figure out innovative ways to compress the springs. But they are no where near as dangerous as working with the torsion springs in your garage door.

Bill Kepner





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2018 05:31PM by drgw0579.