Talk:Cowcatcher

message: Except a pilot in British language is a locomotive that is attached to the front of a train when double heading; er Dunc|☺ 20:14, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: This page seems to use the word "fender" to mean some kind of pilot on a trolley/cable-car which catches and retains a pedestrian to prevent injury. It does not seem to be at all like a fender on an automobile. A picture is linked at . Ewlyahoocom 15:12, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Fender is the commen term for a device protecting fallen pedestrians from being overrun by streetcars. The device is normaly only lowered to the ground when a sensor bracket hit an object laying in front of the wheels.--Pechristener1 (talk) 03:52, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Fender

message: The Charles Babbage page states that he invented the cowcatcher (or pilot).
:Yes, someone vandalised this page --121.73.5.55 09:24, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Charles Babbage 

message: The German wikipedia cites some German railway regulation, dating from 1838 that requires all engines to have a pilot (unless they are used during daylight only). This makes it likely that pilots were common in Germany at that time and before.84.59.181.60 (talk) 11:05, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah, but what kind of pilot? A thing to knock stray animals aside, an extra locomotive, an extra crewmember, or something else? --Redrose64 (talk) 15:30, 14 January 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: It would have been a "cowcatcher"-type device. The 1838 Berlin to Potsdam Railway "application approval" mentioned above defines it as "a frame which extends down to the track in front of the locomotive's front wheels and is intended to clear away from the track any obstacle located thereon before the wheels reach it". The regulation calls it a Bahnräumer (i.e. a track clearer). -- Picapica (talk) 18:23, 24 February 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Germany

message: :The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 
The result of the move request was: moved. per WP:NATURAL. There could be some merit to Thryduulf's comment that cowcatcher is just one of the kinds of pilots. In that case, per WP:OTHEROPTIONS, a new RM can be created at any time. (closed by non-admin page mover) Vpab15 (talk) 18:38, 10 February 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Pilot (locomotive) →  – Should this article be renamed to cowcatcher? I understand that pilot is the "official" name of the device, but "cowcatcher" is the layman's term, and the WP:COMMONNAME. It's hard to provide google stats though since pilot also gives results for aviation. Additionally, "cowcatcher" is a precise term, whereas pilot can mean a variety of things. Invinciblewalnut (talk) 00:54, 25 January 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Requested move 25 January 2022 

message: Shouldn't this page at least mention whether we know where the term "cow catcher" came from, and whether cattle or sheep roaming across tracks was ever part of the description of the problem the device was designed to solve? 2603:8001:D3F0:87E0:0:0:0:1DF6 (talk) 18:44, 17 November 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: We don't publish information based on whether "we" know about it, but what reliable sources have to say. It seems thus far nobody with an interest in this article has come across sources that discussed this point. In other words, it would be inappropriate for us to say, "We don't know the origin of the term 'cowcatcher'.", but if someone came across a source that said, "The origins of the term 'cowcatcher' have been lost to antiquity", or such, we could use that. Cheers. DonIago (talk) 20:32, 17 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  what about cows?