The Timken Roller Bearing Company was one of the first to introduce
roller bearings for
railroad car
A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...
s. Railroad cars owned and operated by the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway were some of the first to use roller bearings rather than
"oil waste journal" boxes.
Henry Timken, a German immigrant, invented an improved bearing and founded the company in 1899. It was later renamed The
Timken Company.
Henry Timken
German-American Buseness Biographies
Passenger cars
The Santa Fe was the first company to have roller bearing trucks made by Timken under their passenger cars, much to the delight of their passengers, and the bottom line for the company. Timken commissioned the construction of a demonstration boxcar in 1943 that was first displayed at the 1948 Chicago Rail Fair. It was a rolling advertisement for a new way of reducing friction - roller bearings (made by the Timken Roller Bearing Company). The car's trucks lacked the then common axle journal boxes, with the bearings mounted on the ends of the axles outside the wheels.
Locomotives
United States
The first locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
to use roller bearings made by Timken was Timken 1111, a 4-8-4
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type w ...
built by Alco in 1930. The locomotive was used on 15 American railroads for demonstration runs, and was purchased by the Northern Pacific Railroad, the last railroad to try the specially-built locomotive, in 1933. It operated in regular service on the NP until retirement in 1957 and was subsequently scrapped.
United Kingdom
Some British steam locomotives also used roller bearings. The LMS Turbomotive was fitted with Timken roller bearings, and they were also retrofitted to some of the LMS Coronation class.[''Stanier locomotives''](_blank)
on steamindex.com
See also
* SKF
* Timken Company
References
{{US-rail-transport-stub
Rail technologies