Leastwise, I think it is a friction bearing. When I opened the cover (those thing do not open easily!) it still smelled of oil.
It was attached to this locomotive, the refinery having been bought out by Tessoro more than 10 years ago, I do not know how long it has been parked in the museum yard.
If you want to look inside of the cab…
ROAR
That IS an interesting arrangement, and of all the journal box lids I have ever opened you could clearly see the end of the axle. Of course, you can see the babbitted brass solid bearing resting on top of the journal. I will surmise that the stack of flat bars are intended to take up any lateral play between the axle end and the truck side frame, through the journal.
The usual method of controlling lateral movement is with flat hub bearings between the wheel hub and the side frame.
Thanks for the photos! Ed
I did not touch the bars, but I did not think that they were metal. I took them to be some sort of a material that holds and dispenses the oil to the bearing.
ROAR
The oil, just as in any solid bearing journal box, is in a well below the axel end (the journal) and the oil well was most often stuffed with cotton waste but in the 1950s a mop-like sponge was developed to apply the oil to the journal where it was carried in a thin film and actually separated the journal from the babbitt bearing in a microscopic layer that prevented wear and reduced friction. If there wasn’t enough oil or the cotton waste became pinched between the journal and the bearing heat would develop.
This photo shows the same journal box that your locomotive has, an SW-8 in this case, it has been adapted to roller bearings and you can make out the square holes in the side of the journal box where those thrust plates would have been inserted.
A solid steel adapter plate is between the roller bearing and the journal box top where the original brass/babbitt bearing would have been.
The excess heat would burn away what little oil was left, the journal would become quite warm to the point where it was glowing red hot and the steel axel would eventually fail resulting in a major mess for the big hook to clean up.
Some journal boxes had stink-bombs that would heat up and a lead seal would melt away, hopefully alerting the rear end crew or a tower operator to the developing “hot-box”.
Roller bearing manufacturers had a tough time selling their new-fangled bearings to the parsimonious railroad managers but eventually, they saw the light and began to get rid of solid bearings.
Today, even enclosed roller bearings are outlawed in favor of the “rotating end cap” type bearing.
Have fun! Ed
As luck would have it… I happened to come across a print for this journal box in my March, 1959 AAR Manual Of Standard Practice…
Those bars are in place for supporting a lateral motion end bearing. Pretty neat!
Ed