Re: Brakeshoes -- more information and comments

Taylor,
I talked with my air brake, etc. information source briefly this weekend. And I got a couple of comments from him:
1) Has Sumpter Valley contacted the successor of ABEX (American Brake shoe) with the pattern number on the existing brake shoes? The company has the capability to still make some of the old brake shoes.
The successor is ABC-NACO:
[www.abc-naco.com]
2. You said that you had already had the "molds" for the brake shoes. Normal foundry practice is to use patterns to make a sand mold into which the molten metal is poured. Patterns are made oversize to allow for the shrinkage as the molten metal solidifies. Different metals shrink at different rates -- so you have to determine the metal to be used before you have the patterns made.
Brian Norden