pilot beam

plural pilot beams

1. USrail transporta transverse beam at the end of a locomotive which carries the pilot or cowcatcher.

   Pilot beams, however, the foremost cross-brace of the frame, continued to be made of wood until almost 1900.

   1979, A History of the American Locomotive: Its Development 1830-1880, by John H. White, Courier Corporation, →ISBN

   1 more example

   To comply with restrictive clearances this T-1-a mounts pumps, headlight and bell on the pilot beam and carries a squared-off sandbox and a naked Coffin feedwater heater.

   1959, Steam's Finest Hour, edited by David P. Morgan, Kalmbach Publishing Co. (photo caption)