William Cook Rail - Complete Solutions for Powered and Non-Powered Passenger Vehicles, Freight Vehicles and Locomotives

William Cook Rail manufactures complete rail solutions using highly engineered components for bogies, couplers, drawgear assemblies and brake discs for powered and non-powered passenger vehicles, freight vehicles and locomotives throughout the world.

These are manufactured in compliance with stringent national and international quality assurances, working with customers to design and develop custom-made products to meet precise engineering specifications for new build vehicles as well as development and modification work on existing components and systems. Approvals for BS5750, Parts 1 and 2, are held, as is the ISO 9001/2.

William Cook Rail uses in-house Finite Element Analysis, non-destructive testing and radiography. These testing facilities, together with a full network of foundries, CNC machine shops, Pro-Engineer CAD design system, EDI contract management and a full back-up from design through installation and beyond, combine to make William Cook Rail the leader in complete manufacturing solutions for the rail industry.

Expertise and know-how is used all stages of project implementation, from design to in-service.

BOGIES

William Cook Rail has perfected the application of cast steel to welded and bolt-on bogie structural members to give bogie-builders:

• Lower fabrication cost, eliminating most fabrication welds
• Higher strength from cast steel
• Less maintenance for train operators
• Up to 5 times higher build productivity
• Minimal component parts, all stress analysed and machined ready for assembly fixtures
• Ancillary components, including axleboxes, brake discs, couplers and drawgear

COUPLERS

Custom-designed, precision-engineered couplers are built entirely within the fully integrated plants and CNC machine shops in the group:

• Combination coupler to enable vehicles with otherwise non-compatible couplers to be coupled together
• Tightlock coupler for use on electrical and diesel multiple units as well as on locomotive-hauled stock
• Refurbishment of couplers to "as new"
• Couplers for standard use and also for special applications
• Supply of spare parts

DRAWGEAR

William Cook Rail designs and supplies drawgear for both locomotive and rolling stock applications, including ultra low height drawgear for container flats as well as locomotive and other rolling stock coupler and drawgear retrofits.

BRAKE DISCS

William Cook Rail’s metallurgical and engineering expertise has helped in the design of superior performance brake discs. The key elements of these discs are:

• Intricate shapes
• Complex cooling fins
• Single-sided discs for wheel mounting
• Double-sided discs for axle mounting
• Split discs for wheel and axle mounting

BOLSTERS

William Cook Rail has perfected the conversion of fabricated bolsters to cast steel bolsters, giving:

• Higher strength being cast steel
• Greatly enhanced fatigue life
• Supply of ready-to-fit parts