Re: Arch Bar Truck How to.....

Ron described the procedure pretty well.

We were flying by the seat of our pants when we did it. We were 5 days into 10 day public restoration with a pair of trucks with rotten bolsters.

I just heated the old rods up, straightened them, triple nutted the ends to protect them, heated them again and with the help of a couple of teenagers (who had some limited blacksmith experience) drove them home. The iron (or steel) rods used in tension for wooden railroad car construction are not anything special, so hardening is not an issue.

We got the first two done easily... the third was difficult, the fourth again again went quickly.

We later found a photo of a SP crew rebuilding a similar truck with a forge prominently displayed as part of the work area.

I think our modern brains tend to over think some traditional processes like this.

Randy Hees
Society for the Preservation of Carter Railroad Resources
www.spcrr.org