Franklin Automatic Adjustable Wedges

[Easttexasengineer]

Regarding wedges, I adjusted the old manual kind plenty in the early part of my engineer career and on the model aren't generally necessary. If you choose that route fine and I certainly admire that kind of attention to detail whether it is simulated or actual. The Franklin Company automatic wedges weren't 100% and when they went wrong it could get interesting. By late steam I noticed in the various mechanical descriptions that roller bearing boxes were being used in conjunction with no wedge, just a pedestal jaw with a renewable wear surface. Conventional manual wedges required adjustment about every 100 miles so hence the establishment of "engine districts" of that length to which were also figured into BLE seniority districts. Photos of the models in this thread are really something and their owner/builders to be congratulated.
Richard Benton

[FLtenwheeler]

Conventional manual wedges required adjustment about every 100 miles so hence the establishment of "engine districts" of that length to which were also figured into BLE seniority districts.
Richard Benton

Hi Richard

I would never thought that they would need to be ajusted that much.

Tim

[Asteamhead]

Hello (not to rivet counters exclusively),
A friend of mine just started construction of those Franklin automatic wedges for his project of a big SAR class 25 NC for 7.25 " gauge. We gathered and studied all the information we could press out of "Locomotive Cyclopedia issue 1947" in addition to the prototype drawings of that 25 NC.
Demanding job, indeed but doesn't seem impossible! In case he will manage to built reliable wedges, we will show some more photos later on.

Asteamhead

[Bruce_Mowbray]

Wedges can go a lot more than 100 miles before adjustment. They should be checked and adjusted, if necessary, during every 31 service day inspection. We often go for more than the entire season without any noticeable wear.

[Loco112]

Does anyone have the scanned photo of the; Frankilin roller bearing auto-slack adjuster wedge, handy?