The paper focuses on a nonlinear model to represent the mechanical behaviour of a mix coil spring – rubber used in the secondary suspension of passenger rail vehicles. The principle of the model relies on overlapping of the forces corresponding to three components – the elastic component, the viscous component and the dry friction component. The model has two sources on non-linearity, in the elastic force and the friction force, respectively. The main attributes of the model are made visible by its response to an imposed displacement-type harmonic excitation. The results thus obtained from the applications of numerical simulation show a series of basic properties of the model, namely the dependence on amplitude and the excitation frequency of the model response, as well as of its stiffness and damping.