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century freight car truck development was devoted largely to
finding better alternatives, and a variety of designs employing
pressed steel or cast steel side frames and bolsters began to
replace arch bars. Some railway mechanical engineers remained
reluctant to abandon the arch bar truck, and efforts to improve it
continued until the mid-1920s (3). In fact, the Baltimore & Ohio
was still taking delivery of new steel sheathed boxcars with arch
bar trucks as late as 1928. By that time, however, arch bar trucks
were a lost cause. The Association of American Railroads banned
them from interchange in 1940, though they continued to be
used under company service cars that did not go off-line at least
as late as the 1970s.
Pressed steel trucks
Toward the end of the 19th century, making freight car parts
from pressed steel became both practical and economical,
4
4: The Pressed Steel Car Co. designed this pressed
steel version of the arch bar truck design. It was
assembled with rivets instead of bolts except for the
bolts that held the journal boxes in place.
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