what are those things in the front of the trains called?

[ManBearPig]

i know this is random but...

what are those v shaped things on the front of trains? i was always told theyre to plow the cows out of the way. like some sort of a guard or something

 

[Canai]

Cattle guard or cattle catcher

 

[Alone]

Cow plow.

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: Alone
Cow plow.

heh

 

[MX2]

Everything plow

 

[l6873]

Pilot or cowcatcher.

 

[Eli]

lol.. I've always been curious how effective they are.

I have a hard time imagining a train hitting a cow - plow or not - and having it gently move the cow off to the side of the train.......

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Eli
lol.. I've always been curious how effective they are.

I have a hard time imagining a train hitting a cow - plow or not - and having it gently move the cow off to the side of the train.......

Who says it's for the cow's sake? It's probably to keep it from getting dragged underneath the train. A cow might make a mess of the locomotive's various mechanisms down there.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Eli
lol.. I've always been curious how effective they are.

I have a hard time imagining a train hitting a cow - plow or not - and having it gently move the cow off to the side of the train.......

Who says it's for the cow's sake? It's probably to keep it from getting dragged underneath the train. A cow might make a mess of the locomotive's various mechanisms down there.

Ahh, true, never thought about it like that.

Duh.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Eli
Ahh, true, never thought about it like that.

Duh.

But it was nice of you to think of the cow's wellbeing.

I guess if they're dumb enough to mosy along the tracks with a large noisy thing approaching, well, they get what's coming to them.

I imagine things a bit too realistically sometimes. I just envisioned that - cowcatcher vs none. Without, I see what amounts to a very large meat grinder. With, a very large meat tenderizer.

"Moo. Mooo??"
*splud*

 

[Mo0o]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Eli
lol.. I've always been curious how effective they are.

I have a hard time imagining a train hitting a cow - plow or not - and having it gently move the cow off to the side of the train.......

Who says it's for the cow's sake? It's probably to keep it from getting dragged underneath the train. A cow might make a mess of the locomotive's various mechanisms down there.

Ahh, true, never thought about it like that.

Duh.

yeah im pretty sure it's a way to prevent derailments from lazy cows

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Mo0o

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: Eli
lol.. I've always been curious how effective they are.

I have a hard time imagining a train hitting a cow - plow or not - and having it gently move the cow off to the side of the train.......

Who says it's for the cow's sake? It's probably to keep it from getting dragged underneath the train. A cow might make a mess of the locomotive's various mechanisms down there.

Ahh, true, never thought about it like that.

Duh.

yeah im pretty sure it's a way to prevent derailments from lazy cows

Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. It was one of those thoughts that I've had floating around in my head since I was really young, but never took the time to actually think about.

 

[jjones]

roadkill

 

[bcoupland]

Cowcatchers. At any rate, the engines alone nowadays weigh 100s of tons, with the rest of the cars and such somewhat less. Millions of kg*m/s vs. stationary cow = huge mess.

 

[d4mo]

Cow Pusher

 

[jadinolf]

Guys, it's COW CATCHER!

 

[Alone]

Originally posted by: jadinolf
Guys, it's COW PLOW!

 

[irishScott]

In the case of my University, Genome cleaner.

We've had so many drunk idiots play chicken with the trains it's pathetic,

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

In Alaska it's a snow plow. Makes a hell of a mess at the RR crossings.

In the summer it's something to bounce the moose off the rails. That makes a mess too.

 

[Alone]

Isn't it technically called a "pilot" anyways?

 

[jadinolf]

Originally posted by: Alone

Originally posted by: jadinolf
Guys, it's Cow Catcher

 

[JEDIYoda]

got milk??

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: bcoupland
Cowcatchers. At any rate, the engines alone nowadays weigh 100s of tons, with the rest of the cars and such somewhat less. Millions of kg*m/s vs. stationary cow = huge mess.

The trains weighed a lot then, too. Both then and now, the weight of a cow is nothing compared to the weight of the train.

 

[Alone]

You still don't want things like cows getting under a train. I don't know if this was a myth or not, but weren't there stories going around about kids putting pennies on train tracks? Probably not true, though.

EDIT: Ah.

EDIT2: Oh, hey.

Leaving items other than pennies on railroad tracks has caused trains to derail, though. In July 1999, three Indiana youngsters were charged with having caused the South Shore passenger train to jump the tracks in Michigan City after they placed a brick on the tracks. No injuries resulted, but that was more due to luck than anything else. The derailment of a six-car passenger train isn't exactly something to sneeze at.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

I haven't seen a locomotive with a cow catcher since the steam engine days.