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.jpg "On a railway locomotive, what is a pony truck?"){kind=icon}
On a railway locomotive, what is a pony truck?
Pony trucks can be seen on many larger steam locomotives and some early diesel and electric types too. Pony trucks are a little bit like bogies in the respect that they house some of a locomotive's wheels and axles, but unlike bogies, they do not typically house the main driving wheels and instead carry the loco's usually smaller leading, trailing or weight distributing wheels.
Pony trucks are not unique to the railways and can be found on some trams and other vehicles too. In reference to railway locomotives, pony trucks were first conceived by an American engineer called Levi Bissell in 1857. His design became known as the Bissell Truck but was not welcomed by American locomotive builders. It wasn't until a few years later when the Eastern Counties Railway (here in the UK) used the design on one of their locomotives that the advantages of pony trucks were realised and their use become widespread.
Apart from its usefulness at distributing weight, one of the defining features of a pony truck is that it doesn't hang directly below where it attaches to the locomotive. Instead, it projects out (usually to the front) from its pivotal point so it can start to negotiate curves without taking the bulk of the locomotive with it, and therefore, gently leads the loco into a bend.
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