Rail Wheel contact surface hardness

Both Wheels and rail are prone to cracking if not fabbed properly. Hard wheels on hard rail are good for low friction, but not for power transfer. Soft rail head peens, Hard wheels at constant speed develop corrugations from harmonics. Bumpy rail rides destroy ties. Many more wheels are replaced than rail sections, but rail sections are much more expensive to replace. The system runs while you replace wheels on several out-of-service pieces, but rail replacement at best slows the whole system down to a crawl.

Now, what was the question?

RichH

Good summary, I enjoyed that!

Good summary, I enjoyed that!

Me too.

Thanks.

As a first approximation may be you see or study FEM standards.

Good luck!

Depends on the load you're moving, and how far it is going. You want the component that is most easily replaced to be less hard, so that the other component experiences negligible wear. In the case of a railroad line, you have many miles of rails spread over a very large area. You would then make the rails harder than the wheels so that you can just replace/recut/rebuild the wheels when they are worn.

If you have a short rail system going from one side of a room to the other, it might make sense to use harder wheels and replace 8 to 12 foot rail sections when it becomes necessary.