Pilots

[NW Mailing List]

While not a complete answer, I offer the following from the 1906 Locomotive Dictionary:

"Pilot. An inclined pointed structure of wood or iron bars fastened to the front bumper of a locomotive to remove obstructions from the track.  Formerly called cow catcher."

I would also add that effective after January 1, 1981, the Federal Railroad Administration regulations required that "Each locomotive shall be equipped with an end plate that extends across both rails, a pilot, or a snowplow.  The minimum clearance above the rail of the pilot, snowplow or end plate shall be 3 inches, and the maximum clearance 6 inches." 

FRA also decreed that, except for steam locomotives,  ". . . locomotives used in switching service built after March 31, 1975 may not be equipped with end footboards or pilot steps."   Additionally, except for steam locomotives, locomotives ". . . built before April 1, 1975 may not be equipped with end footboards or pilot steps after September 30, 1978."

W.E. Honeycutt 

>     On 07/25/2021 11:47 PM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>      
>      
> 
>     A long, long time ago when class Gs were the predominant life form and ranged the N&W in their small herds, they sported a variety of pilots. In briefly looking over some of the drawings from the archives, there appear to be styles for passenger locomotives, different ones for freight, yet others for yard work and even some that mounted to the rear of tenders. Although their common name would seem to indicate that their purpose was bovine entrapment, I suspect their main function was to protect railroad equipment. What other uses might they have served? At least one style of yard pilot had steps that I suppose could be used as a perch for a yardman to quickly get from one place to another. I doubt OSHA would condone such practices in later times. It seems that the pilot would present an obstruction to coupling to cars ahead of it. In some of the drawings it looks like the angled members started lower down on the front sill (is that the correct term for the large timber that ran
  across the locomotive under the boiler front?) than others. Did this allow for easier coupling operations? A conceptually relatively simple device for plowing obstacles off the tracks, but I wonder if there are subtleties here that warrant exploration.
> 
>     Jim Cochran
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