One thing I rarely see in railroad museums is cattle guards. I guess the museums are in territories that are a lot more urban than they once were, and they are no longer required.

But I wonder about having them as displays. Why not have a cattle guard along the line somewhere? They also could help with trespassers, especially ones in vehicles.

I am particularly interested if the New York Central railroad had a standard design they used. I checked with the NYCSHS and they did not have anything readily available.

I also notice there's something out there called the Sheffield Cattle Guard. Any of those in preservation?

While in Arizona, I watched lots of dirt bikers blow over cattle guards without a second's thought. Were you thinking of non-human trespassers?

The Western Railway Museum has cattle guards on our Sacramento Northern right of way, although keeping them maintained and in place is a challenge.

I believe the ones Mr. MacDowell is speaking of resemble fences that taper down as they get closer to the actual rail.

I cannot find a photo online to illustrate the concept, though I've seen them in books.

David

The rail cattle guards I was familiar with on the now removed P&SF RR employed a set of flat steel panels, where spike shapes were cut out and bent upright. In addition to being raised above ground level, anyone trying to drive through would lose their tires.

The Chicago Transit Authority uses traditional wooden cattle guards at grade crossings to try to keep tresspassers ( human and canine?) from straying down the tracks and contacting the uncovered third rail only about 10 feet away from the crossing. I don't know if they call them cattle guards, since there aren't many cows in the city! For example:

http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?22525

It's not RR related but a pal of mine in Texas has a large parcel of land and he was always fiding dirt bike riders on his land (once, there was an advertised gathering of dozens of them camping over the weekend on his land and they never asked him permission. They refused to leave when he confronted them, he had to have the cops show up and force them out). He built cattle guards that run the opposite direction that most do (the rails are parallel to the direction of travel, not crossing the path like most cattle guards) so motorcycles can't possibly travel over them. He never had a problem with dirt bike riders after that. Now, ATV/quads, that's another story...

From an unamed railroad out west, we have seen cattle jump smooth over them... they are kinda worthless.

HI

This shot was taken at the Rocky Hill flag stop , in Milford, Mass , photo by Francis Dovavan . This was the type the Boston & Albany used at that time , today the line is a Rail to Trail at this location . Pat.

Typical of the P&SFRR cattleguard with spike plate. The sidewings are a little worse for wear. http://trainweb.org/carl/Sierra/640/PICT4721.JPG



Remains of cattleguard at intersection of P&SFRR and FM 652 east of Orla, Tx:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=orla,+tx&hl=en&ll=31.829596,-103.901546&spn=0.005369,0.010332&sll=31.168934,-100.076842&sspn=11.061998,21.159668&t=h&hnear=Orla,+Reeves,+Texas&z=17&layer=c&cbll=31.829673,-103.901475&panoid=CeLUgIyBrR3ZRLS2S490Mw&cbp=12,306.24,,0,16.74

Pete,

I worked there when they were putting those silly things in, in fact, I probably installed the ones in the photo... looks like at Rockwell. I don't remember what they called them either... certainly not cattle guards, as that would conjure up images of cattle, buffalo... well, you know.

I do recall the first test installation made use of some that were pre-assembled as mats from 2x6's spaced apart with blocks of 2x4, painted yellow. They probably would have worked OK for cows (the purpose is to confuse the cow, make it unsure of its footing, which is why a series of paint stripes on a road work just as well) but they found the kids just walked right over them. They then came up with these, which were made from 6x6's cut on the diagonal, each individually lagged to three ties. While we were putting them in, I watched a kid riding his bike down the track center his tires in the groove and ride right through. Worthless, but paid for with Federal funds, so they were free.

Chicago did allegedly have alleged cow trouble back in '71. The CTA may still be worried that Mrs. O'Leary's descendents still have one of the beasts.
[corrected spelling]

Here is a cattle guard we have in service at our place. It works well on most cattle. (We had one beat us at our own game and got out.)
Erik Thompson
http://www.ironhorsecentral.com

Does an urban third rail installation that of necessity includes unfenced access via grade crossings lead to a lot of dog and cat deaths? If not, why not?

Steve

No. I worked for the CTA for thirteen years (admittedly not all working on ground level trackage) and never recall seeing an animal carcass on the tracks. I suppose the track inspectors, who were there every day, saw their share and likely dragged them off and buried them so they didn't have to look at it day after day, but I don't think it was a major problem.

The unguarded trolley rail is less of a problem than one might expect, mainly because its hard to establish a good ground, unless one also has the misfortune to also contact the running rail. Even then, animals are normally in motion, so their momentum carries them clear. They get a good jolt, and learn to NEVER do that again, but they survive.