Thinking about railroads the last few days

And I'm sure many know this but any info provided is always helpful to maybe someone..

the Railroads were the lifeline of America in the 1800's True mechanical transit...not animal...

and the area's along the sides of the rail lines were to many to count...water stops,,,depots...Camps for the workers. In times of war they were strategic and guarded.Etc..the list is immense..

but heres the biggest thing..alot of people were in these sites and alot of items were lost, yet the rail sites if you have ever had the pleasure to hunt one are litterally saturated with iron..I dont mean like house site iron..I mean unreal iron.. especialy the depot site's..

And thats good and bad..good because most of the sites are left alone...but bad because most every item ever lost there is still there and we cant get to it EASILY...but in actuality thats a godsend..for there will alway's be godies left to dig along the railroads if you educate yourself on how to hunt iron effectively..

And also remember railroad items especially 1800's is quite collectible..

I might share the biggest mistake I ever made on a railroad Piece I dug a few years back if i can find the pic..

Keith

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2014 11:03PM by Keith Southern.

For many years and even today railroads carry coal. Our form of coke like they have across the pond.....

Tom in SC

Nice info think they used to call R.R. stops " sidings " still some places on the map with sidings behind the place name, don't know how old that would be perhaps only 1900's? HH

I started to work a railroad sight this winter DeathRay found a nice lock and I found a 1870 seated dime. I can only hunt in the winter because the dirt gets so dry but I think there are a few more finds mixed in with all of the junk

LowBoy

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If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
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Great thread Keith, I hope you find the pic I'm looking forward to it.

Aaron

rapidroy7 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nice info think they used to call R.R. stops "
> sidings " still some places on the map with
> sidings behind the place name, don't know how old
> that would be perhaps only 1900's? HH

Sidding were/are mostly used for the meeting/passing of trains.Most were built outside of towns some quite remote so as the train ocupping the siding --waiting on the passing train-- would not block street crossings.Sidding having a switch at both ends and sometimes spur tracks off of the sidings these switches are good places to find locks and old keys.As Keith stated the iron assoiated with railroad locations make old homesites a cake walk. Talking big iron as compared to nails. Spikes,rail anchors,plates, angle bars, large nuts,bolts and washers,pices of old rail etc.Old rail yards are unbeleivable.Years of it. Talking about masking.

Other good locations if you can locate them are where the maint.crews/section gangs were stationed and old motor car/rail car setoffs were located.They were set up ever few miles along the right of way and each crew took care of a section of track,hense their name section gangs,the more out of way locations will have a little less trash for the most part.Most of the old abandoned rail beds reverted back to the origional land owners but some still belong the the rail companies and access in generaly not a problem. Also over time a lot of the tracks were shifted for different reasons.Somtimes only a few yards but sometimes greater distances. If the line is still inuse and you can find those spots they are worth investigating looking for the above mentioned spots and for the most part will be ok to hunt. Active rail lines are dangerous places to hunt so avoid them. Besides the railroads can be tough on trespassing because of the danger involved. Live active tracks and headphones= well you know.
All good finds will be earned and 90%+ will most likely be there until the end of time.

Pac Man



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2014 10:59AM by Pac man.

Somthing else to keep in mind if you are looking for old locks and the such is that as time went on and trains grew in length a lot of the sidings were extended to make room for longer trains. Some times more than once.Once the orginal switches are located somewhere between them will most likely give you a location that has not been hunted before because not many know to look for those spots.
For the most part hunting along the old rail beds will yeild little in the way of good finds as the tracks were built the large gangs moved thru faily quickly except for where the bridges were built.They took more time to build and as time passed the workers were considered skilled labor and were paid more so they had a little more coin in their pockets.
Just food for thought.
Pac Man



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2014 11:57AM by Pac man.

Good info guys. Many old locks were made of brass and hold up well....and are quite beautiful.

Good luck as they are iron heaven and tough to work. Anyone that has tried can tell you its certainly a challenge...but indeed certainly not worked out due to this and many fine coins and relics to be had if you are up to a challenge...

I found a old railroad lock at a garbage sale many years ago w the key. The lock had a little swivel door that went over the hole.

Paid $5, Ebayed it for $130.00

My grandpa claimed it was from the 20's


Aaron

Nice profit there Aaron. I have three of those type locks. I actually use one to lock up the little barn. They have brass through rivets and chains on them... and a brass skeleton type key. I'll have to check to see what the're worth...thanks for the reminder.

Thanks Ozzie.
Yes it was a big lock and all brass, very well made.
Bet it's worth alot more now....

Aaron

Heres the Pic I was looking for..

And when I said I made a mistake I made a mistake...

This is a short lived line here in my neck of the wood's..

I believe it was in operation from 1866 to about 1882 or so..

It was called East Tennessee Virginia Georgia Rail Road...

I found it in an old house site about 3 miles for the same railroad..way back in the woods...I think it was my first signal that day...house was loaded in huge brass signals...( and no Ive never been back topo hard to get to)...

Anyways a buddy of mine was with me when I dug it and I remember saying hey this might be a 700.00 dollar lock...He said no way ..and I said yeah railroad locks for certian lines can be high...But little did I know...

I researched it for awhile and could not find one...that should of been my first clue...

So I decided to sell it one day to buy a metal detector since I did dont collect Railraod items and figured the money would help....

I stuck it on Ebay with a low reserve..Like 250.00....

Well within a few hours I had multiple offers to stop the auction and sell it outright if I would make them a price...One guy said he had the key that fit it and wanted to match the set LOL!!

I even had one guy call me still not sure how he got my number LOL!!

Anyway's that should of been my second clue...

Then I had people actually get mad at me at report me to ebay for selling a Switch lock key which is supposedly forbidden...even though it was over 130 years old ...Ebay researched it and said i could sell it..since it was not modern...

Well when the acution got close to ending the bids started coming in from like the 700.00 range and jumped to the 1400.00 range in matter of seconds..

After the auciton ended the guy paid who won immediately and sent me an email...

wanted to Know if I had another one...I said no at the moment but may find another...Never Know..

Anyways He was a collector out of Florida and was very nice...We talked a few more times and after he got the lock he emailed again to tell me how happy he was...He then said to me he had a reseve bid on the lock of 3200.00 during the auction and was surprised he got it for 1400.00..

He said at the moment that was the only known variation of the Lock..He said there was one more common wiht just the railroad letter's on the top bar..but this was the only Embossed 1860's one to date...

Well after that I talked to another collector out fo florida..and he said Never sell an item like that on Ebay...He said it should of brought 4000.00 on the right auction spot...

then about a year later I met a local Rialroad collector from Georgia I was selling him some Rail buttons.. and told him about it and showed a Pic..and he is of the mindset it's a 5000.00 dollar lock...Now were in Confederate buckle range I thought...Actually he said just bring one to him if it looks like the one in the Pic and He will buy it outright...

So as you can see I made a big mistake buy not doing enough research...Of course the ecomomy is low now so who knows what RR collectibles bring

But anyway's I think I have showed the lock before on here.. but here it is..Its still had a 2 foot chain hanging off the bottom to boot..


Maybe I can find another one some day...

but you Know whats funny Not sure I could sell another one If I had it..I have regretted letting the first one go ever since I shipped it out.....

Im not even a RR collector but anything that says Georgia on it casuses my pulse to race..

so theres my Mistake..Multifaceted...

Keith



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2014 05:34PM by Keith Southern.

Wow what a beautiful lock Keith. I would have a hard time parting w that also.

Is that writing on the cover door?

Great story, thanks!

Aaron

!! \W/O\W/ !! Keith, You went to the kicking post after that deal and probably still visiting it,.. after reading that story. Did you sell it uncleaned? I may become a relic hunter after all.

N/T



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2014 05:40PM by Keith Southern.

Hey Aaron the writing on the cover was the manufacturer...Dayton lock I think it said..

Hey Ozzie I sold it like you see..

the collectors want to to see the patina..

I never even put water on it..That pic is from straight out of the ground condition..I cleaned it with a dry brush...

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2014 05:41PM by Keith Southern.

sigh. my back property line borders the Pennsylvania Northeast line....It is stories like that, Keith that might make me go walking along the tracks for a while....good grief.

Keith, I use to hunt the rr tracks where I use to live in NH, been in Maine for the last 11 years, they were abandon, so I coild hunt anywhere, found a bunch of old cellar hole near them and dug some cool finds, I have love the trains since I was a little kid, so being there was a trill, and finding things was evern cooler, I dug two things I will always remember, under the corner of one of the cellar holes, 3 feet deep, I dug a Warner cure bottle ,intacked, and in the small field near there I dug a small still, or steam engine, that fits in the palm of my hand, so search those tracks, in Maine, I dug a couple of cool things near tracks, not used any more, one thing was a 1929 chauffeur badge fron Quebec and a 1939 girls high school ring, gold, I like hunting the tracks

Keith........ was the Florida RR collector named Everett??? (((Goes by Lee though)))
Your pricing is correct for that RR lock. They command high premiums.

That IS a beautiful piece Keith --

I never seem to get that lucky with the locks I find - usually they are rusted/crusted unrecognizable globs of junk at best!

Sad story though and I know how you feel - I still miss my Bar Cent/Bar Copper to no ends and didn't get anywhere near what I should have for it :-(