Product Description
Symington-Gould Corporation (Rochester NY, Depew NY, Chicago Heights IL, and Grenada MS foundries) was a leading builder of AAR-standard freight car trucks, side frames, bolsters, and coupler components — its “SG” and “SW” three-piece truck designs competed head-to-head with ASF Ride Control and Barber in the North American interchange fleet through the mid-century tonnage boom. According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, Symington-Gould allegedly supplied and specified composition brake shoes for its truck designs that contained chrysotile asbestos fiber bound in phenolic resin, in the same industry-standard formulation used by WABCO and other competitors. The shoes allegedly wore rapidly in the higher-speed, higher-tonnage service that the SG trucks made possible, and the resulting dust allegedly accumulated in classification yards, at hump retarders, and on car maintainers’ clothing.
Workers Exposed
Freight-car repair yard workers changing shoes on Symington-Gould trucks in Class I classification yards allegedly generated respirable fiber during every shoe change and wheel-set swap. Railroad car maintainers at heavy-repair freight-car shops allegedly encountered the same exposure when rebuilding SG-truck-equipped cars from wreck damage or interchange defect. Roundhouse machinists working couplers and drawbars on freight consists allegedly worked adjacent to the same friction dust.