From the Minnesota Streetcar Museum.
If you look on the bottom of a horse’s hoof you’ll find a wedge-shaped pad. It acts as a shock absorber and aids in traction and circulation. It’s called the frog. Early rail workers were of course familiar with horses and mules – they supplied motive power. Because the part where rails cross mimics the triangular form of the horse’s frog, rail workers just appropriated the familiar term to describe it.
Makes perfect sense, Brent. But…why didn’t they call the guards ‘shoes’?
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And that makes perfect sense Selector. I can see your logic.
They put shoes on hooves so they wouldn’t wear out. The guards on a turnout keeps the wheels aligned from too much slop so they don’t wear out the Frog or jump it.
I’m thinking Selector made a very good indirect point. I’m very curious to know the answer to his question as well. So why didn’t they call the guards shoes Brent? [:|]
TF
Or hooves or legs?
You live closest to the Minnesota Streetcar Museum TF, so why don’t you run over there and ask them? TAG! You’re it.[(-D]
They didn’t call them shoes because those were already on the brakes. [D)]
[(-D] I knew better than to stir this pot Brent. Now the trolley is in my yard is it?
It’s - 15F wind chill out there again and I think I just about froze my hooves on the way to pick Judy up and I ain’t going out there again!
The Museum is a Loco call here, so I’ll try that[:-^]
TF
[8]Rice-A-Roni[8]
[8]The flavor can’t be beat[8]
[8] Minnesota Street Car[8]
[8]The Como Harriet Treat[8]
Oh oh! Hook Line & Sinker. Somehow I do believe I ended up in Brents boat[(-D]
TF
Of course, there are many theories on why that part of a horse’s hoof was called a “frog”…including that it was a nickname given to it by railroad men who thought it looked like a track frog. [I]
http://www.fantasiacarriage.com/why-is-the-bottom-of-the-horses-foot-called-a-frog/
I have heard the two converging routes as legs on occassion which fits the horse theme.
Some prototype turnouts do have the cut rail hinge point like atlas does on the closure rails. In Europe they call that spot the heel. They also call thepoint where the closure railos get the closest in the frog then bend out to be the wing rails, that is the toe
I have heard the tie plates that are elongated and flat at the points are reffered to as shoes.
Arent the square eye shields called guards? If it is, then it could be said the guards control the direction of sight or in the case of guard rails, controls the direction of travel. Unless they really are called blinders then that idea is far sighted.
Shane
We only ever called them ‘blinkers’ when I was growing up.
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That was a pleasant ride on the streetcar TF. The weather was perfect.
I really didn’t want to step in this horse stuff, but I was always under the impression that it got it’s name from looking like an outstretched frog jumping. Like Colonel Potter would say “Horse Hockey!”.
Pete.
That is what I have heard pretty often.
-Kevin
Well, since both the reptilian example and the equine example arrived long before the railroad example, the question should be, what got the name first, the hoof or the reptile? Was the reptile named after the hoof or was the hoof named after the reptile? Therein lies the answer.
Do your research kids, there will be a quiz tomorrow.[(-D]
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[8]Rice-A-Roni[8]
This ain’t no Street Car. Looks like pre Colombian art[(-D]
TF
Frogs are amphibians.
-Kevin
Good morning
[(-D]
Well, Somewhere there are hoof TRACKS in the mud with the FROG imprint in them but the horse or the mule was there first to make them.
But meanwhile the FROG was down swimming in the pond like he did for thousands of years with the alligator and other reptiles. They all survived all the ice ages so therefore the FROG was first[:-^]
[(-D]
TF
POST HOG!
You can’t quite see the FROG perpendicular to the shed in this video. But there none-the-less.
TF
I stand corrected, even though I am sitting.[(-D]