American Brake Shoe Locomotive Brake Shoes by Abex Corporation

Product Description

Abex Corporation, operating through its American Brake Shoe division, manufactured locomotive brake shoes for the railroad and heavy industrial transportation industries. These brake shoes were designed to apply friction against the wheels of locomotives and rail cars, slowing or stopping heavy rolling stock under demanding service conditions. The shoes were engineered to withstand the extreme heat, pressure, and mechanical stress generated during repeated braking cycles on freight and passenger trains.

American Brake Shoe products were widely used by railroads across the United States and were considered a standard component in locomotive maintenance and operations. Railroad mechanical departments, roundhouses, and rail yards regularly stocked and installed these brake shoes as part of routine maintenance on locomotives and rolling stock. The product line served an industry that operated on a continuous maintenance cycle, meaning workers in rail yards and maintenance facilities handled these components regularly over the course of their careers.

Abex Corporation had a long history as a supplier of friction and braking products to heavy industry. The American Brake Shoe brand became closely associated with locomotive braking systems throughout the mid-twentieth century, a period during which asbestos was commonly incorporated into friction materials because of its heat-resistant and binding properties.

Asbestos Content

American Brake Shoe locomotive brake shoes manufactured by Abex Corporation contained chrysotile asbestos. Chrysotile, also known as white asbestos, is a serpentine fiber that was extensively used in friction products because of its flexibility, tensile strength, and ability to withstand high temperatures without immediate degradation.

In brake shoe applications, chrysotile asbestos served multiple functional roles. The fibers were blended into the friction compound to reinforce the material, improve heat dissipation, and extend the wear life of the shoe under repeated heavy braking. The binding matrix that held the friction material together also benefited from the structural properties of asbestos fibers, which helped maintain the integrity of the shoe during extreme thermal cycling.

Chrysotile asbestos has been classified as a known human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and is regulated as a hazardous material under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards, including 29 CFR 1910.1001 for general industry. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has also addressed chrysotile under the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) and related regulatory frameworks.

The use of asbestos in friction products was an industry-wide practice during the decades in which these brake shoes were produced. However, internal industry knowledge of asbestos health hazards preceded public regulatory action by years, a fact that has been central to litigation involving manufacturers of asbestos-containing friction materials.

How Workers Were Exposed

Industrial workers who handled, installed, maintained, or worked in proximity to American Brake Shoe locomotive brake shoes faced potential asbestos exposure throughout the product’s service life. Exposure risks were present at multiple points in the product’s life cycle.

Installation and Replacement: Mechanics and maintenance workers who installed new brake shoes or removed worn ones were directly exposed to asbestos fibers. Handling the friction material, cutting or grinding shoes to fit, and dislodging worn material from wheel assemblies could release asbestos dust into the breathing zone.

Inspection and Maintenance: Railroad workers responsible for inspecting brake assemblies during routine maintenance cycles regularly handled these components. Worn brake shoes in particular presented elevated dust conditions, as the friction material had been subjected to heat and mechanical abrasion that could reduce it to fine particulate matter.

Roundhouse and Rail Yard Environments: Workers in enclosed or semi-enclosed spaces such as roundhouses and maintenance shops faced the additional risk of accumulated asbestos dust in the ambient air. Ventilation in these facilities was often inadequate, and brake shoe dust was only one of multiple sources of airborne particulate matter in such environments. Workers who did not directly handle brake shoes but worked nearby could still inhale fibers released by others performing maintenance tasks.

Grinding and Machining Operations: In some applications, brake shoes required fitting or surface preparation using grinding equipment. These operations were among the highest-dust-generating activities associated with asbestos-containing friction products, capable of releasing significant quantities of respirable asbestos fibers in a short period.

Secondary Exposure: Workers in adjacent trades and occupations—including laborers, supervisors, and others present in rail yards and maintenance facilities—could experience secondary or bystander exposure when brake shoe work was being performed nearby.

Diseases associated with occupational asbestos exposure include mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, and other asbestos-related conditions. The latency period between exposure and disease diagnosis can range from ten to fifty or more years, meaning workers exposed to these products decades ago may only now be receiving diagnoses.

Documented Product Identification

The following details are drawn from public asbestos litigation records, manufacturer catalog pages, technical manuals, and corporate history materials. Each item reflects the product as documented in those sources.

Documented asbestos-use period: 1927-1987

Corporate context: Abex Corporation manufactured automotive and railroad friction products containing asbestos from approximately 1927 to 1987. The company operated under corporate parent Pneumo Abex Corporation, with service information handled through Prentice-Hall Corporation System, Inc. in Albany, NY.

Brand identification: Products branded under Abex name with various trade names including American Brake Materials, Brakeblok, American Eagle, Comet, and others; NAPA sold Abex products until 1969

Documented asbestos components: brake linings, brake shoes, clutch facings.

Documented asbestos-component suppliers: the public records lists the following external suppliers of asbestos-bearing packing, gaskets, and seals used in conjunction with this manufacturer’s equipment — Asbestos Corporation, Ltd. (Thetford Mines, Quebec), Bell Asbestos Mines, Ltd. (Thetford Mines, Quebec), GAF Corp. (Hyde Park, Vermont), Lake Asbestos (Black Lake, Quebec), Johns-Manville Corporation, Canadian Johns-Manville Corp. (Asbestos, Canada), Vermont Asbestos Group, Inc. (Hyde Park, Vermont), North American Asbestos Corporation.

Industries served: Automotive, Trucking, Railroad, Industrial.

Documented product lines:

  • ABEX 121 Super Brakes (1975-1987). Automotive brake linings containing chrysotile asbestos — asbestos components: brake linings.
  • Abex Brake Shoe (1943-1987). Automotive brake shoes containing chrysotile asbestos — asbestos components: brake shoes.
  • Abex BrakeBlok (1938-1987). Automotive brake block friction products — asbestos components: brake linings.
  • Abex Protector (1975-1987). Automotive friction products containing chrysotile asbestos — asbestos components: brake linings.
  • American Brake Materials (1930-1987). Automotive brake friction materials — asbestos components: brake linings.
  • American Brakeblok (1938-1987). Automotive brake block products — asbestos components: brake linings.
  • American Eagle (1974-1987). Automotive brake friction products containing chrysotile asbestos — asbestos components: brake linings.
  • Comet (1957-1977). Railroad brake shoes with friction material attached to steel backings containing approximately 5% chrysotile asbestos — asbestos components: brake shoes.

Abex automotive friction products contained approximately 25-70% chrysotile asbestos and were manufactured in Detroit, Michigan; Salisbury, North Carolina; and Winchester, Virginia. Railroad Comet brake shoes contained approximately 5% chrysotile asbestos.