With the nice weather we had today i managed to spend a few hours earlier this afternoon doing a little metal detecting along my favorite old abandoned RR line close to home.I dug up a old cast iron rust encrusted hinged journal box cover about 8" deep where it had landed from a passing train close to 100 years ago.At first i wasn't sure if it was a RR marked one or not because it was so rust encrusted.After i got home i chipped a little rust off and could see some lettering on the bottom a U T L for Union Tank Line.See first attached photo of what these things look like when you dig them up and this photo even has some of the rust chipped off.Most people wouldn't even bother to bring stuff like this home and if you did your wife would probably think your nuts.

Now look at the second attached photo of the same jbc. on the right all cleaned up with a coat of clear polyurethane on it.The jbc. on the left is another Union Tank Line cover i dug up 2 years ago with the name spelled out in raised letters wich was just as rust encrusted as the one i dug up today.Both of these covers probably date from around 1891-1919 and are small compared to the larger journal box covers most of us see on the friction/plain bearing cars at RR museums or at tourist RR's that operate the older vintage equipment.I did a little searching on the web and found that Union Tank Line was incorporated July 14, 1891 and became Union Tank Car Company in 1919.

http://www.utlx.com/history.html

Here's the photo of what they look like cleaned up.

Fritz -

That "magic" metal detector of yours, sure has found some wonderful stuff!

Les

Those are wonderful. They take me back to a lost world. I wonder how many hundreds of tons of lost journal box covers are sleeping in the ground out there. It is amazing how much individuality journal box covers once had, considering how standardized they finally became.

F. N., what did you use to properly remove the rust and encrustations? I'm asking because we turned up some old hardware while doing trackwork on the SRC main this month.

Getting the occluding rust off without destroying the lettering is a trick. That you painted them, then polyurethaned them, is key to the preservation. Well done!

Of course you see the irony of finding something labeled "UTL"!

Richard, Yes it is a trick and to clean one it is rather tedious and time consuming as you have to be very careful.No paint on these 2 UTL ones! just a good coating of clear polyurethane brushed on both.I'll admit one goof i made to one several years back and thank goodness it was a duplicate and somewhat damaged one missing a bolt ear and one of 6-7 of the same kind i've already found and was one that had laid in a rather wet low laying area along a grade.

I got out my 4" mini grinder with wire wheel to clean some of the rust off it and off came the letters along with the rust! Some jbcs. are made of much better quality iron than others and alot has to do with where they were found and the soil conditions.Some i've found on higher dry ground burried a good 8" to 10" in clay like dirt and they cleaned up remarkably well.While others burried not so deep were pitted with rust badly.

I don't know if theres a proper way or guidebook out there on how to clean up or restore old burried RR iron and i'm by no means any expert as i've learned and experimented myself with different things over the years with cleaning and coating them.I've tried flat and gloss black paint on some but prefer the natural rusty patina with a clear coat of polyurethane wich seems to seal and protect the iron better.I also try and take before and after photo's and document what i can when i find things.It's a hobby i enjoy and one that few people i know of take the time to go out and look for.Last week i spent 4 hours hunting and didn't find a thing.Two days ago i spent 3 hours and found a old rusty pocket knife and a hefty large bent hook with a iron ring maybe from a old derrick.You never know what your going to find!

Not nearly as exciting as the Union Tank Line journal covers in this thread, but here are a few generic journal covers I found.

The one on the right came from the NP right-of-way in Montana. A search on the maker, "McCord" turns up some interesting info, including this 1904 illustration from a trade magazine.

Flo, All rusty journal box covers are exciting to find! I've found a couple of those McCord types like yours also and some are different sizes with different patent dates on them,one is a 1897 and the other one a early 1900's date.Somewhere in my file cabinet i have a old blueprint of a McCord journal box lid with specs.If you'd like me to send you a scan of it let me know.I have a old set of D&RGW arch bar narrow gauge trucks and all but one of the jbc.lids on the journal boxes are McCord lids.I'm not sure if the actual boxes are marked McCord though like on your diagram posted but the journal
sizes on them are marked 3 3/4 or 4 x 7.

A friend of mine started a website called Railroad Iron last fall.

http://www.railroadiron.com/smf/

Check it out sometime as other people post pictures of old rusty iron stuff they dig up or find along old abandoned RR row's.