It's built into the chassis of my Premier 2-8-8-2 R4. It appears that is just a decorative pipe, but the installation is awfully elaborate for a decorative piece.
It can swivel left and right to accommodate the boiler overhang in curves, but it's almost never visible with the boiler installed and it's just getting in the way of my smoke mount.
My inkling is to cut it down by a little less than a quarter inch to clear the smoke mount, but I figured I'd ask if you guys know about a more critical purpose than a buried pipe detail.
