: Introduction of the Locomotive Safety Truck Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology: Paper 24 by White John H - Locomotives; Railroads Safety applications Technology

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INTRODUCTION OF THE LOCOMOTIVE SAFETY TRUCK

Paper 24 pages 117-131, from CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM Bulletin 228

Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C., 1961

Contributions from The Museum of History and Technology: Paper 24

Introduction of The Locomotive Safety Truck

INTRODUCTION OF THE LOCOMOTIVE SAFETY TRUCK

American railroads of the early 19th century were cheaply and hastily built. They were characterized by inferior roadbeds, steep grades, sharp curves, and rough track. In spring, poor drainage and lack of ballast might cause the track to sink into the soggy roadbed and produced an unstable path. In winter this same roadbed could freeze into a hard and unyielding pavement on which the rolling stock was pounded to pieces.

In those pioneering times the demand for new roads left little capital to improve or expand existing lines; therefore equipment was needed that could accommodate itself to the existing operating conditions.

The first locomotives used in this country had been imported from England. Designed for well-ballasted track with large-radius curves and gentle gradients, they all too frequently left the rails, and the unsuitability of the essentially rigid British design soon became apparent.

It was John B. Jervis who is generally credited with first applying the truck to the locomotive. His design, shown in figure 1, was developed in 1831-32. Its merits quickly became apparent, and by 1835 it had been universally recognized in this country. The truck successfully led the locomotive around sharp curves, the resultant 3-point suspension enabled the machine to traverse even the roughest of tracks, and, altogether, the design did far less damage to the lightly built U.S. lines than did the rigid, imported engines.

For single axle engines this simple form of truck was entirely satisfactory, but it proved less satisfactory for 4- and 6-coupled machines. Also, as train speeds increased, so did the number of derailments. Many of these could be traced to the inability of the engine to negotiate curves at speed. Levi Bissell, a New York inventor who investigated this problem in the 1850's, correctly analyzed the difficulty. He observed that when the engine was proceeding on straight tracks the leading truck tended to oscillate and chatter about the center pin, and he noted that it was this action that imparted a fearful pitching motion to the locomotive at speed. The derailments were traced to the action of the truck as the engine entered a curve.

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