I am looking for information on the processing and manufacturing of aluminum railcars. Does anyone know any sites or books that describe the materials processign specifically, its for a school project.
Go to Google’s “Advanced Search” at:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en
Input “aluminum” in the “all these words:” box, and
“railroad cars” (or a variation) in the “this exact wording or phrase” box.
Hit “Return”, and pig out on the about 34,300 results - such as the “Aluminum and Composites Challenge Steel Railroad Cars” article in the Sept. 1994 Railway Age article, or The Aluminum Association’s web page on “Transportation Markets - Rail”, etc.
You could also look for similar articles not only in Age, but Progressive Railroading, and the trade publications for both the aluminum and coal industries.
Also, check out the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) publications - research papers and periodicals. That kind of thing is their specialty.
Check out the AAR specs for new car construction - there might be something there.
A few books have been written about railroad car builders - ACF comes to mind. They might have something on the topic.
Also, within the last week or two I ran across a website by a guy (a “Chris”, I think it was, but not our “CopCarSS”) which had incredibly detailed books or articles on cars - even series of cars - for specific railroads or applications. If I find that again I’ll post the link here.
Good luck with this. But if I correctly understand what you’re looking for, you should really try Google first . . .
- Paul North.