Rail road car and truck therefor

A railroad freight car truck having a load rating, said truck comprising:

• a bolster, first and second sideframes, first and second spring groups and first and second wheelsets;
• said bolster being mounted cross-wise to said sideframes;
• said truck being free of unsprung lateral cross-bracing between said first and second sideframes;
• said bolster having first and second ends, said first end of said bolster being supported on said first spring group in said first sideframe, said second end of said bolster being supported on said second spring group in said second sideframe;
• said first and second spring groups having respective vertical spring rates;
• said sideframes having respective longitudinal axes;
• said sideframes being swingingly mounted on said wheelsets;
• said bolster being moveable through a lateral displacement relative to said sideframes, said lateral displacement having an overall magnitude and including a first component associated with a first lateral stiffness, kpendulum, opposing cross-wise swinging deflection of said sideframes and a second component associated with a second lateral stiffness, kspring shear, opposing sideways shear of said spring groups;
• said first lateral stiffness being softer than said second lateral stiffness;
• said bolster being movable in non-trivial yaw relative to said sideframes;
• said first sideframe having a tension member, a compression member, a first sideframe column and a second sideframe column, a first sideframe window defined therebetween;
• said tension member defining a bottom boundary of said first sideframe window, said compression member defining an upper boundary of said first sideframe window, said first and second sideframe columns defining respective sides of said first sideframe window;
• said first and second sideframe columns having sideframe column wear plates mounted thereto;
• said sideframe column wear plates being oriented to present respective planar surfaces perpendicular to said long axes of said first sideframe;
• said bolster having a first set of friction dampers mounted at said first end thereof, and a second set of friction dampers mounted at said second end thereof;
• said first set of friction dampers including friction dampers oriented to bear against respective ones of said sideframe column wear plates;
• said bolster having gibs mounted at either end thereof, said gibs including a first set of inboard and outboard gibs bracketing said first sideframe, and a second set of inboard and outboard gibs bracketing said second sideframe;
• said first and second sets of inboard and outboard gibs defining end of travel abutments limiting the range of motion of said first and second sideframes relative to said bolster;
• and
• said limiting range of motion is limited by said sets of inboard and outboard gibs to an amplitude to either side of a neutral center position of at least ¾″.

A railroad car truck having a load rating, said truck comprising:

• a bolster, a first sideframe and a second sideframe, a first spring group and a second spring group, and first and second wheelsets;
• said bolster being mounted cross-wise to said sideframes;
• said bolster having respective first and second ends supported on said first and second spring groups, said spring groups being carried by said first and second sideframes, said first and second spring groups having respective vertical spring rates;
• said sideframes being swingingly mounted on said wheelsets;
• said bolster being moveable through a range of lateral displacement relative to said sideframes, said lateral displacement having an overall magnitude and including a first component associated with a first lateral stiffness, kpendulum, opposing cross-wise swinging deflection of said sideframes and a second component associated with a second lateral stiffness, kspring shear, opposing sideways shear of said spring groups, said overall magnitude being greater than each of said first component and said second component;
• said range of lateral travel being bounded by members permitting at least ¾″ of lateral travel to either side of a neutral center position;
• said bolster being movable in non-trivial yaw relative to said sideframes;
• and
• first and second sets of friction dampers mounted to work between said first and second ends of said bolster and said first and second sideframes, said friction dampers being yaw resisting members mounted yieldingly to oppose yawing of said bolster relative to said sideframes, said friction dampers of said first set of friction dampers being driven by springs of said first spring group having a combined spring rate at least 15% as great as said vertical spring rate of said first spring group.

A railroad car truck having:

• first and second sideframes, and a bolster mounted cross-wise between said first and second sideframes;
• said first and second sideframes being mounted on first and second wheelsets;
• said first and second sideframes extending predominantly in a lengthwise direction;
• said first and second sideframes each having a compression member, a tension member and first and second sideframe columns, said tension member, compression member and sideframe columns being co-operatively arranged to define a sideframe window;
• said sideframe window having a height measured upwardly from said tension member to said compression member, and a width measured in said lengthwise direction, the width being greater than the height;
• said truck having a wheelbase measured lengthwise between said first and second wheelsets;
• said bolster having bolster pockets defining seats for friction dampers;
• friction dampers mounted in said bolster pockets;
• said sideframe columns having respective sideframe column wear plates mounted thereto, said wear plates having respective surfaces oriented to face said bolster pockets, and against which surfaces the friction dampers work when said bolster moves relative to said first and second sideframes during motion of said truck along railroad car tracks;
• and
• said sideframe column wear plates each presenting an uninterrupted planar surface more than 16 inches wide.

A railroad car truck having:

• a bolster, sideframes, spring groups and wheelsets;
• said bolster being mounted cross-wise to said sideframes;
• said bolster having respective ends supported on respective ones of said spring groups carried by said sideframes;
• said sideframes being swingingly mounted on said wheelsets;
• said wheelsets having a gauge width;
• said bolster being moveable through a range of lateral displacement relative to said sideframes, said lateral displacement having an overall magnitude and including a first component associated with cross-wise swinging deflection of said sideframes and a second component associated with sideways shear of said spring groups, said first component being larger than said second component, said overall magnitude being greater than each of said first and second components;
• said range of lateral displacement being bounded by members allowing at least ¾″ amplitude to either side of a neutral centered position;
• and
• said lateral displacement being constrained within a non-trivial range of lateral motion by interaction of members of said bolster with members of said sideframes;
• and
• said truck has a wheelbase that is one of (a) at least 1.27 times said gauge width;
• and (b) greater than 80 inches.