This is driving me nuts and I have not been able to find a conclusive answer.
I’ve noticed these odd looking racks on a lot of vehicles that have to do with the Railroad Industry. Specifically on the Renzenberger vans, but also on a few Siemens trucks I saw last week. They start at the front of the vehicle at about grill height, then slope up, following the windshield angle, to the top of the van and continue along the top for the full length of the vehicle.
It’s not a lumber rack, and it looks too light to be some type of roll bar.
Can anyone out there enlighten me?
They are Chassi Deflectors , they are required for vehicles that work on or in intermodal facilities . They are designed to deflect empty Chassis from the cab of the vehicle in the event you were to hit one . I have seen them work but unfortunately I have seen what happens when someone goes under a loaded chassi and death is always the result .
Hmm…seems a little light to be able to deflect a container chassis.
Weird.
Thanks.
they are stonger than they look
I guess so. [(-D]
I’m guessing when your is cruising the yards, there’s a speed limit involved…in other words, it’s not like your hitting one of these chassis at 80 mph, right?
Yes generally the speed limit is 20 miles per hour or less . While your truck will be damaged it will hopefully deflect the chassi from the cab , and not killing the driver . So the guards are not perfect they do work if you are traveling the speed limit .
Out here in fly-over territory, container chassis’ ( unless they fall off or are ejected from a train) are not so much of a problem as BAMBI is. Most of the crew transports around hereare equipped with what around here are referred as “Bambi Bashers”.
Truly, a container chassi at 10 or 20MPH would be an issue for the vehicle, but a deer at 70 or 80 with a load of crewmen is a a lot more problematic.
Bambi Bashers do not come around the sides as described (But yes deer are a big headache on most rural roads, especially here after the past few mild winters…Lots of geriatric deer and elk with no predators except cars …we just had an elk fall in a pool here with disastrous consequences for the pool.)…and then there is the fun and games out in “open range” with the bigger/dumber critters.
The problem with the empty chassis is that the front corners are impossible to see, especially in the dark. They have a bad habit of blending-in to whatever is parked behind them. You will see ITS service vehicles and crew vans around intermodal yards with them. Most ITS/TraillerTrain vehicles are so beat-up, even with the cages, that they are NOT allowed out of the yards.
MC is correct about the chassis, and their front corners being impossible to see. I’ve almost had a run-in or two with them on my bicycle after dark. While the deflector bars wouldn’t take a collision with a chassis that was hit head on, that really isn’t the problem–we assume most drivers have their eyes open and can see the frame and/or the reflectorized stripes. But the front corners protrude strangely–I suspect that the most these guards are expected to do is deflect one corner of an empty chassis up and away from the windshield, at low to moderate speeds. At that, they ought to succeed very well.