Ok, I take full and open responsibility for bringing in the kiddie term of cow catcher. I just wasn't sure the international crowd on the board would fully conjure up the image I was trying to convey. I have since been flogged, keel hauled, and beaten about the head and shoulders with a fine rubber hose. (Hmmm, I might actually enjoy that last one!) I lay awake at night staring at the ceiling thinking "My God what have I done!"
Any way, my own experience is that a good solid breast beam, at slow speed with a 1920 Baldwin, handled the tail end of a stationary Subaru just fine. The pilot never entered into the equation. It was a gentle, slow motion dance-like-sequence as the car ever so slowly was brushed aside, locomotive wheels solidly locked up. The round ends of the beam never even left much of a mark on the car. The owner had thought he had cleared the track when he came in and parked. He was wrong. 47 tons of solid American iron taking on 1 ton of tin. Then there was this garbage truck..... Never mind. Have a good laugh guys. J.R. ----- Original Message ----- From: Trent Dowler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Multiple recipients of sslivesteam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2003 12:49 AM Subject: Re: Odious practices continue > <~~ good humor mode, very much: ON ~~> > > Hello. My name is Trent, and I use "kiddie" terms. <gasp> > > I wasn't the first to use the term "cow-catcher" in this thread, but > I've called it that most of my life, and will probably die calling it that. > I sort of like the comical picture it conjures up of cows being whisked > along the rails, eyes big, jaws dropped, tails flipping along behind, and > their hooves tangled up in the contraption. <big, BIG grin> > I'll make another attempt to find the Shay book that you mentioned. > I've never been able to find it and had actually forgotten about it. > A refrigerator at 90 mph?! I sincerely hope no human harm occurred > because I would really feel bad after laughing so hard. > I know a couple of youngsters who once built a snowman on a Union > Pacific mainline. My sources tell me that the moment of impact was quite > spectacular. > > Later, > Trent > > > Keith Taylor wrote: > > > As unimaginable a thing as a Shay with a wooden "pilot" (please let us > > try to stay away from the kiddie term "cow catcher") might be, there are > > examples of them in real life, and NOT for Hollywood! > > >
