RMweb Gold big jim Posted November 25, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 25, 2021 20 hours ago, rob D2 said: Damn ! I thought they were dams - because I know they ain’t snowploughs - I thought obstacle deflectors were the “ lifesavers “, those metal bits that hang down ? I simply call the bit on the front of a 66 below the buffers the skirt, agreed, the obstacle deflector is the lifesaver directly in front of the wheel as for class 60s having ‘snowploughs’ I’m not sure they are for snow in particular, I think they may have been planned to be used for ballast ploughing in possessions etc and they used to be able to be raised up and down but the mechanism is locked off now with lock wire, some of the locos I’ve driven still carry the tool to raise and lower them them in the clean air end, almost like a cranking handle 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmy282 Posted November 25, 2021 Share Posted November 25, 2021 Okay I accept that it has an aerodynamic effect and may help the airflow under the front end, but I would think the main reason would be to protect the equipment fitted under there, electrical gear, coupling parts, air tanks etc. getting hit by obstacles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted November 25, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 25, 2021 But they don’t protect any of those… Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob D2 Posted November 26, 2021 Share Posted November 26, 2021 14 hours ago, big jim said: I simply call the bit on the front of a 66 below the buffers the skirt, agreed, the obstacle deflector is the lifesaver directly in front of the wheel as for class 60s having ‘snowploughs’ I’m not sure they are for snow in particular, I think they may have been planned to be used for ballast ploughing in possessions etc and they used to be able to be raised up and down but the mechanism is locked off now with lock wire, some of the locos I’ve driven still carry the tool to raise and lower them them in the clean air end, almost like a cranking handle That's very interesting about the 60, never knew that . As there is some question mark about the 66 , I think I'll carry on calling them " the bits from the accessory pack " Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
45125 Posted November 26, 2021 Share Posted November 26, 2021 On 25/11/2021 at 17:57, big jim said: I simply call the bit on the front of a 66 below the buffers the skirt, agreed, the obstacle deflector is the lifesaver directly in front of the wheel as for class 60s having ‘snowploughs’ I’m not sure they are for snow in particular, I think they may have been planned to be used for ballast ploughing in possessions etc and they used to be able to be raised up and down but the mechanism is locked off now with lock wire, some of the locos I’ve driven still carry the tool to raise and lower them them in the clean air end, almost like a cranking handle When I did my trainer the trainer course for the 60s it was definitely a snowplough. The 156 and 158s have both obstacle and snowploughs, generally Scottish and ex Scottish ones. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted November 26, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 26, 2021 Go on, I’ll give you that…… from the GB manual which was updated from the original BR manual 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
w124bob Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 (edited) On a 142 the obstacle deflector was the main res tank, lowest point being the drain cock! I hit something approaching Cross Gates on a Victoria to York service once. Immediate loss of air and the brakes on, I was struggling to close the now open drain cock so tapped it with my bardic lamp, it fell off! Luckily I found a decent bit of roundish wood and hammered it into the whole with the bardic until it wouldn't budge. Newton Heath being the efficient depot that it was left it like that in service for several days! Edited November 29, 2021 by w124bob 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold TravisM Posted November 29, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 29, 2021 To be honest, you can call it a air dam or obstacle deflector, but everyone knows what your talking about. A simple case of splitting hairs. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold big jim Posted November 29, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 29, 2021 I dunno, a damaged obstacle deflector could mean the loco or unit is a failure, a damaged air dam isn’t a safety critical item requiring it be declared a failure, two totally different items for example a missing obstacle deflector (life guard) on a 66 is a failure but if the front air dam (skirt) is a bit bent, but not effecting the safety of the loco, then it can continue until repaired Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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