Radial steering truck
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On railroad equipment, "trucks" are the wheel assemblies that the train rides the rails on. Trucks are found on almost all train equipment with the exception of some steam locomotives (e.g an 0-6-0). On diesel locomotives, unlike freight or passenger cars, the trucks are powered, with an electric motor mounted on the truck connected to the driving wheels.
On large locomotives, these trucks may have 3 or even 4 axles, making the truck quite long. Such a long wheelbase makes it difficult for the wheels to go around curves. To solve this problem, EMD (ElectroMotive Diesel) designed the Radial Steering Truck. This design allows the wheels to pivot around the center of the curve somewhat, allowing less wear on the wheel flanges and rails.
