This paper gives a brief history of the evolution of wheelsets and then outlines the changes that have occurred in their design in the last 30 years, mainly due to the change to diesel and electric traction. Technical problems are discussed and the principal lines of research which have been followed are described. As a result, tyred wheel centres have largely been replaced by monobloc wheels with hardened treads, disc brakes have been introduced and the unmachined cast steel wheel has become a serious competitor to the traditional forged and rolled wheel. Of great importance is the introduction of computer analysis of wheel stresses which has led to modifications to the wheelset to reduce stress and to set limiting values.
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