[Cookie_Monster]

Can anyone tell me what the shaped bit of metal bolted on under neath the side windows of the 141 class was for. It was later removed from all engines.

[corktina]

oooooh a real Gricer question..I dont know but Im going to guess it was the attachment for an automatic token exchanger...

[KC61]

Correct. It was the catcher for the staff that gave the driver possession of the line. In later days the driver just held his arm out to grab it.

[Cookie_Monster]

Originally Posted by KC61

Correct. It was the catcher for the staff that gave the driver possession of the line. In later days the driver just held his arm out to grab it.

that all sounds very hill-billy-esque

[Judgement Day]

It was where the automatic staff snatcher was bolted on. In theory this meant that staffs could be snatched at speed when trains were not stopping from lineside staff exchangers. Used to be some still extant on the Maynooth line. In practice the staff could, and was, sometimes not taken cleanly and I've heard of on least one occasion of a staff being sent flying into the nearby Royal Canal. Now where's me anorak and ginger beer?

[corktina]

ginger beer? isnt that Cockney rhyming slang?

[Cookie_Monster]

i take it that it folded down to catch said flag staffs

[Eiretrains]

Indeed they were token/staff catcher/snatchers. There used to be one as said on the Maynooth line at Leixlip Station, before it was rebuilt in the late 70s/early 80s.
The O'Dea collection in the National Photographic Archive has photos taken by James P.O'Dea of one been demonstrated at Leixlip in the early 60s, the engine been a 121 Class.
They were fitted to all the main classes, including the 071 Class in their early years.
http://eiretrains.com/Photo_Gallery/...tos%20(1).html