From a career railroad executive friend:
"It sounds like 1/2 of what is known as a "brass" and it is a bearing. Railroad car wheels are mounted on axles that extend outside the wheel. This portion of the axle rides in those bearings. The two halves it in to a journal box on the car truck (a casting device that provides a housing for springs, the wheels, braking mechanisms, etc.
The brasses came in various sizes measured in inches such as 5x9 (5" diameter axle x 9" length of bearing area) and so forth. The larger the dimensions, the more weight carrying capacity of the rail car they were used on.
BTW, the Oregon Short Line was predecessor or subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad. With OSL cast in to the bearing, I would say it is very collectible and it is definitely not mining equipment."
Dawn Scher Thomae
Milwaukee Public Museum
-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of John Martinson
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 7:49 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Possible Oregon Short Line artifact
I am looking at various artifacts in our collection to make sure they
are true museum property. We have one artifact that is marked
"Metal piece from Oregon Shortline Railroad car".
It is a heavy brass piece, which looks like it went over a bearing? A cast
piece with the word "FREIGHT" on the outside exterior of the
bearing side. Also, in the cast is the words/figures: "10" and "Hewitt
St Louis" and "OSL" (guess that is why they are thinking it was a piece
to a train of the "Oregon Short Line"). One employee said it was used
as a doorstop for years....but could be from mining equipment or anything.
Any ideas * could get a picture if you need more help.
John
Boise, ID
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
========================================================= Important Subscriber Information:The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).