A debris eradicating brake head for use in a side frame mounted braking system in a railway vehicle. The brake head being mounted on an end of a brake beam and including a brake shoe carrier associated with the brake head, a brake shoe secured to a face portion of the brake shoe carrier, and a brake head extension extending from a side portion of the brake shoe carrier for associating the brake head within a unit guide in a side frame of the railway vehicle. The brake head extension including at least one of a first and a second tapered surface configured for breaking up and pushing debris out of the unit guide in the side frame. Eradication of debris within the side frame increases the braking efficiency of the railway vehicle as it reduces the amount of force necessary for applying the brake shoes to the wheels.

A railroad car spring type brake shoe key for connecting a brake shoe to a brake head, wherein the brake shoe key includes a body or shank and a head integrally formed with the body or shank, and wherein the key has a reduced mass head, an alternative configuration head, a surface treatment, or two or more of these modifications that reduces the likelihood that the head will weaken and/or break off the body of the brake shoe key.

A friction device and method for a wheel may include a backing plate and a friction material disposed on the backing plate to form a brake surface to engage a surface of the wheel. The friction material extends between a first end and a second end along a central longitudinal axis, and between a rim side and a flange side. The friction material may include an extended volume portion that includes one or more protrusions and/or recesses extending away from a longitudinal flange side of the friction material to engage the flange of the wheel. The method including engaging and disengaging a brake surface.

A block for wheel brakes comprising a friction portion, in which a friction surface is defined, which, in use, acts upon a peripheral surface of a wheel in order to carry out the braking action, a support plate, which is fixed, in an irreversible manner, to a surface of the friction portion opposite the friction surface, and a base plate, which is fixed to the support plate and comprises a coupling element to fix the block as a whole to a brake system. The block comprises at least one elastic element placed between the support plate and the base plate. The presence of the elastic element creates a ventilation air space between the support plate and the base plate.

A friction device may include a backing plate connected with a friction material. The friction device may include a conditioning insert at least partially embedded within the friction material. The conditioning insert may include opposite first and second longitudinal sides that extend from the backing plate to the conditioning surface and opposite first and second lateral sides that extend from the backing plate to the conditioning surface. The first longitudinal side, the second longitudinal side, the first lateral side, and/or the second lateral side of the conditioning insert can include one or more protrusions extending away from the first longitudinal side, the second longitudinal side, the first lateral side, and/or the second lateral side and into the friction material.

A vehicle brake system is provided that includes (or is formed from) a back plate configured to support a composite pad, at least one conditioning insert coupled to the back plate and configured to contact a surface of a wheel during a braking event and thereby to condition at least a portion of the surface of the wheel, and fins coupled with the at least one conditioning insert and configured to conduct heat generated by contact of the at least one conditioning insert with the at least the portion of the surface of the wheel away from the at least one conditioning insert.