The Timken Roller Bearing Company was one of the first to introduce roller bearings for railroad car

Railroad car

A railroad car or railway vehicle , also known as a bogie in Indian English, is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives...

s. Railroad cars owned and operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859...

 (ATSF) were some of the first to use roller bearings rather than "oil waste journal" boxes.

Also, the ATSF was the first company to have roller bearing trucks

Bogie

A bogie is a wheeled wagon or trolley. In mechanics terms, a bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle. It can be fixed in place, as on a cargo truck, mounted on a swivel, as on a railway carriage/car or locomotive, or sprung as in the suspension of a caterpillar...

 made by Timken under their passenger cars, much to the delight of their passengers, and the bottom line for the company. Timken commissioned the construction of a demonstration boxcar

Boxcar

A boxcar is a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry general freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is probably the most versatile, since it can carry most loads...

 in 1943 that was first seen at the 1948 Chicago Rail Fair. It was a rolling advertisement for a new way of reducing friction - roller bearings (made by the Timken Roller Bearing Company). The car's trucks lacked the then common axle journal boxes, with the bearings mounted on the axles between the wheels.

The first locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

 to use roller bearings made by Timken was Timken 1111

Timken 1111

Timken 1111, also called the Timken Four Aces, was a 4-8-4 steam locomotive built in 1930 by American Locomotive Company to serve as a demonstration unit for new roller bearings produced by the Timken Roller Bearing Company...

, a 4-8-4

4-8-4

Under the Whyte notation classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles .Other equivalent classifications are:UIC classification: 2D2...

 built by ALCO

American Locomotive Company

The American Locomotive Company, often shortened to ALCO or Alco , was a builder of railroad locomotives in the United States.-Early history:...

 in 1930. The locomotive was used on 15 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 railroads for demonstration runs, and was purchased by Northern Pacific Railroad (NP), the last railroad to try the specially-built locomotive, in 1933. It operated in regular service on NP until it was retired in 1957 and then scrapped.

Some UK steam locomotives also used roller bearings. The LMS Turbomotive

LMS Turbomotive

The Turbomotive was a modified Princess Royal Class steam locomotive designed by William Stanier and built by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1935. It used turbines instead of cylinders...

 was fitted with Timken roller bearings, and they were also retrofitted to some of the LMS Coronation class.