15
15: A later, improved version of the Bettendorf T-section
truck. Note the stiffening ribs above the journal boxes and
between the flange and web of the T-section side frame.
popular with some railroads and private car owners. What dis-
couraged more widespread adoption was the fact that replac-
ing a wheelset required the entire truck to be dismantled,
rather than just jacking up the frame and removing the journal
box bolts, as on Andrews and Vulcan trucks.
On lighter cars, Bettendorf T-section trucks gave good service,
but when loaded more heavily, as on 50 ton boxcars, the side
frames were prone to cracking where stresses were highest at
the lower corners of the spring box. This weakness was cured
by casting the side frames with U-section chords, a change that
Bettendorf adopted around 1920, foreshadowing the universal
adoption of U-section cast steel side frames in the years that
followed. (16). Eventually, in 1956, the AAR banned all trucks
with L- or T-section side frames from interchange.
ARA "Standard" trucks
One of the trucks that adopted the Bettendorf concept of
integrally-cast journal boxes with U-section side frames was
index
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