A rail road car truck has a bolster having the form of a hollow beam that has a deep central portion and shallow ends. The bolster has a top flange, a bottom flange and internal and external webs extending between, intersecting and merging with the top and bottom flanges. A center plate bowl is located in the middle of the top flange, and brake rod passages are defined transversely through the bolster. In some embodiments, transverse ribs run underneath the center plate bowl. The ribs may be curved. The ribs may be flush with the brake rod openings in the various webs. There may be upwardly standing ribs running transversely across the bottom flange. Those lower ribs may terminate upwardly flush with the brake rod openings. Alternatively, the bottom portion of the bolster may by cast with a greater thickness, up to the bottom of the break rod openings. In other embodiments, the bolster may have partial or fully tubular brake rod opening liners or tubes that extend across the bolster beneath the center plate.
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