There is a North Shore interurban car stored in a barn at
the East Troy Electric Railroad which has been sitting stationary for
many years. It is in restorable condition.

It has been sitting long enough that I am concerned about the
condition of the journals. What steps are best to take for inspecting
journals which have been sitting for so long?

If there's some rust, can it be at least partially removed?
How about pre-lubricating them prior to any move?

The first move would be dragging it out using the diesel, just to
get it out into daylight for some pictures to use as reference to
start making a good itemized list of tasks.

Thanks,
Chuck Richards

If your inspection reveals significant corrosion or other damage, moving it a short distance may be enough to cause some rather significant damage. But, since it's apparently been stored indoors, maybe that won't be a problem. A good inspection should tell. I don't have any special knowledge with such a case, but simply am advising using common sense.
Ned

Pull out the waste. Clean out the box. Jack up the box, pull the bearing and wedge and use scotchbrite to polish the journal surface. Reinstall the bearing, wedge, lower the box, put the waste back in if it can be reused (soak it in journal oil first) and then put just a little bit of oil in the box. Too much and it just runs down the wheel.

Thanks Rick and Ned!

That's exactly why I asked is so we can take the proper steps
before moving this car even a few feet.

Chuck

Don't forget to clean everything again after you polish the bearings and before reinstalling the bearings. Don't leave anything gritty in the boxes.

If the journals have been sitting and need to be polished to clean off any surface rust, run a bead of STP Oil Treatment on the babbitted surface of the journal brass before setting in place on the axle end. It provides some good "first turn" lubrication, especially on a less-than-perfect journal.

Howard P.

Lots of good advice above. After following that advice, I would make the first move with the car a short one. Pull it a short distance, and inspect. Put the car back an in it's original spot and check it again. If all goes well, try moving the car a little bit farther the next time and inspect the journals again. If they are running cool, try a trip that is about a mile in length and see if the journals are still running cool. If they are, you probably are good to go. The short distance movements help further polish the axles and journal brasses and help keep them running cool when you move the car in a train.

Having done this with a car that sat out in the weather for years and did what I described in addition to what Howard P. suggested, we were able to put a car in MOW service and didn't have any issues while we used it. Hope this helps.

For a journal that been sitting for many years, the most likely damage will be the axle, under the brass, will be etched. Probably will not polish out easily. Probably will need a journal lathe. There is a material that you can put in the journal box to polish a rough journal. I think it is called Super Saver. It has been identified on this board in the past. If the journals are etched or rough, they will run better on oak brasses than on a real brass. Make brasses out of oak blocks and then soak them in journal for several weeks. Jack the journal and replays the brass with the brass snapped oak blocks. I use to do this with axles that were damaged by moving the car after the brass had been stolen. One car with wooden brass got away and on a train. It ran at track speeds for almost a 100 miles before it was caught. It ran fine and did not get hot. I have kept some cars on yard tracks with damaged journals on oak brasses for years. They work fine, just pack them with waste and keep them oiled.

Do not overlook the motor support and armature bearings. Lots of oil at a minimum.

If no water has come into the box, the likely place for rust will be on the axle just at the ends of the brass down to the waste. Jacking up the box, and removing the brass should give you enough space to use strips of abrasive to "shoe-shine" the rust off. This leaves scratches, but they are in the direction of rotation if you shoe-shine the abrasive material. Then yes, flood the area with solvent to wash all the abrasive away. I have applied moly grease to the brass before re-installing to provide the initial lube. It is best to do this prep work before moving the equipment at all.
We once did this on an old military Alco that had rust pits on the axles, deep enough that I used a small dremel tool to remove the sharp edges of the pits and it ran like that for years, including a long distance mainline move to another shortline until it was, unfortunately, scrapped No, not the best practice, but it was all the owner would allow to be spent on it, and he got away with it!