Flexicoil suspension & resilient wheels
(Courtesy http://www.drehscheibe-foren.de/ )
Flexicoil suspension During the 1960s the Deutsche Bundesbahn were running at 125 mile/h with a secondary suspension using helical springs to deal with vertical, lateral and bogie rotational displacements. This system of suspension was termed ‘Flexicoil’ and in May 1969 loco No.E3173 was fitted with the ‘Flexicoil’ secondary suspension, consisting of twelve coil springs mounted outboard of the bogie sideframes at each corner in groups of three. Whilst this alleviated the problem of rough riding to a certain degree, Class AL6 locos still suffered from the use of the axle-hung traction motors with their high unsprung mass and this severely punished the track resulting in a spate of broken rails. |
The following diagram is courtesy http://www.waggonfabrik.eu/
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See also Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexicoil_suspension
Resilient wheels The problem of track damage was addressed by the use of resilient wheels. The firm of Svenska Aktiebolaget Bromsregulator of Malmo, Sweden provided the solution in the form of a rubber-cushioned wheel where pairs of rubber blocks were compressed between the outer, middle and inner wheel centre discs. Taking the initials of the firm this was termed the SAB resilient wheel . One locomotive No:E3129 ran extensive tests with these wheelsets fitted. From the 1970s ‘flexicoil’suspension and SAB resilient wheels were fitted to the entire class achieving a reduction in the unsprung mass from 4.5 tons to 1.5 tons bringing about a 50% drop in dynamic forces on track and sleepers at 100 mph compared to the standard solid wheels of Class AL6. |
Click on the image for a bigger picture - all pictures courtesy http://www.drehscheibe-foren.de/
Note: These are NOT the resilient wheel design used on BR
The components of a typical resilient wheel produced by SAB | |
Typical tyre assembly | |
Typical section through a resilient wheel | |
AL6 bo-bo No:E3129
fitted with SAB resilient wheels at the head of a test train somewhere on
WCML in the early 1970's. From the body profile of the coach it was probably
the ex-LMS vehicle Test Car 3 Mick Wright |