Some observations of prototype railcar trucks for weathering
#1
Hi gang
Before I retired I took some close up shots of items that may interest you when weathering the wheels and bolsters of equipment. I will try to share some of my observations with you.

There are a lot of differences between roller bearing and Babbitt bearing trucks. Here are both types of trucks used on a caboose. This roller bearing truck shows there is a little rust on the wheel       
This one is a modified friction bearing truck. It can show some rust depending on how much the wheel was cleaned when the roller bearing was installed.       
and last is the babbitt (or friction) bearing truck that was the norm for most cars before the late 50's. There is no rust on the wheels because the wheels always had journal oil on them because the journals don't have a rear seal around the axle. You also want to remember when these cars were humped the journal covers were opened and a man would be adding oil using a tube as the cars were pushed over the hump. Many times his aim wasn't as good as it could have been     

I also took some close ups of the Blunt truck that were on the ALCo S-1  It too had friction bearings and the outside surface of the wheel always was oily with no rust. Keeping the truck side frames clean was always a job because there was enough journal oil to keep the dust sticking        

Attached are several more photos that will enlighten a little more. 
Charlie


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#2
Some great examples, Charlie.  I don't have any HO scale freight cars with roller bearings, but I do try to paint all of the wheel faces with a mixture of Floquil black and green paint, which does look pretty-much like you show in the photos of the ones with babbit bearings.

The sideframes of the Delrin trucks, unfortunately, don't hold paint very well if they're handled too much, as the "shine" of the plastic does re-appear.

Wayne
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#3
Thank you for sharing.  Very instructive.
Guy from Southern Quebec.
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#4
Thank you for sharing these photos; they are a great weathering reference  Thumbsup
Serge
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#5
I found a few more photos for this thread.


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#6
The traction motor wiring is greasy from the crater grease that leaks out of the gear boxes on the Alco S1. it comes sealed in a plastic pouch containing about a quart. It is not real fluid and sticks well to the gears. It is guess work to add. You look at the gears and if they look like they are dry, you add some. In this case when in doubt add. Traction motors are a bear to change with no facilities.
             

A close up of a draw bar in case you ever need to see one. We always lubed the face of the knuckles, an old trick I learned from reading about cabooses. The fellow that wrote the book I read said they would dump journal oil on the caboose knuckle so the knuckles would slide up and down freely and it gave them a better ride and quieted the crunch. That was a real plus on the passenger train.  We lubed them all.     

A triple valve. 
   


and another  close up of brake detail.
   

Charlie
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