Bnsf Railway Company

Christopher M Romero

Larry C Valentine

Mike E Teaford

Ryan L Kimberlin

Timothy Webb

Edward M Meyers

Henry R Schafer

A crane-less locked axle cradle system configured to lift a rail vehicle wheel off a rail and transport the lifted wheel along a rail is presented. The present disclosure discloses a system that can lift the locked-axle wheel off the rail with no crane thereby allowing the train with a locked axle to be transported off the mainline in a shorter period of time. A cradle system can have two parts (male and female members with wedges and rail wheels) that can be mated with each other around a rail wheel. As the male and female members are pulled together, locked wheel engagers can couple with different portions of the locked-axle wheel, causing the locked-axle wheel to lift off the rail given the gradient of the wedge or rotation of the wheel. In another embodiment, the wheel lifting can be assisted by an air bag, hydraulic cylinder, jack, or other.

Locked-axle wheel cradle, system, and method

A locked-axle spring compression system and method configured to raise a rail vehicle wheel off a rail and transport the raised wheel along a rail is presented. In one embodiment, the present disclosure discloses a system that can raise the locked-axle rail wheel off the rail and allowing the locked-axle train to be transported off the main line. One or more coil springs can be disposed between the truck frame and the journal box to distribute the weight of the train and forces acting thereon. The present disclosure provides a technological solution missing from conventional systems by at least providing a platform for an actuator configured to exert a force on one or more train elements to compress the coil springs and allow the locked-axle wheel to be raised off a surface (e.g., railroad track rail), by overcoming the coil spring pressure to raise the wheel off the rail.

Locked-axle spring compression system and method

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Lawrence, KS, United States of America

Christopher M Romero