John,

It may not be a truck equalizer bar. I only speculate that it is because of the four different radii showing in the profile. I cannot think of any common part that has those four curves, except for every truck equalizer bar. The size of the radii and layout of their center points vary among differing equalizer bars, but every one has those radii in the profile is exhibited on the artifact.

A key factor would be the thickness of the artifact. Mr. Wilson mentioned that he was told that the thickness varies from about ½” on the left, down to about ¼” thick on the right. At that thickness, I would rule out it being part of an equalizer bar, and would have no idea what it might be. However, at that thickness, it seems unlikely that it would weigh approx. 40 lbs. as the owner has specified.

I understand your point about stress risers resulting from the raised lettering and the three holes. But I do not know whether all possible stress riser features were omitted from truck equalizer bars. Freight car trucks frames and bolsters have lots of raised lettering. Another point is the question of why the railroad’s initials appear on the artifact, and what clues that gives as to the identification of the part. I would not expect the railroad’s initials to be on flanger blades, but they are common on truck parts.

The three holes are curious. They are relatively small holes, and placed in a pattern and location that would seem to minimize their effect of weakening the part. If this is an equalizer bar, I wonder what the holes would be for. In photos of equalizer bars, I see a kind of saddle part which bears the bottom of the coil spring at each end of the bar. Are these saddles normally cast or forged as a fixed feature of the equalizer bar; or are they separable parts that are bolted to the equalizer bar? If they are separable parts, the holes shown in the artifact might be for mounting those spring saddles.

Another question, which doesn't seem to have been addressed.

If this is, in fact, from the Lancaster and Chester, can anyone tell me why a 29 mile long line in South Carolina would even have a flanger? Not exactly Donner Pass territory.

Also, if it did have a flanger, or maybe a Jordan Spreader or some other type of MOW equipment, exactly how did it end up in Colorado? I suppose they could have sold it to a line out west, anyone have info on something like that? Seems like the L&C would have a pretty small equipment roster.

Otherwise, I'm having trouble with finding a plausible reason for a flanger blade to end up there. "OK, so me and the boys were plowing west out of Lancaster, and the hogger fell asleep. By the time the plow hit a big rock, snapped in two, and woke him up, we were west of Denver!" Uh, yeah, not real likely. ;)

Could it be from a different line? If not, the freight car truck explanation seems more likely.

[quote="BobharbisonIf this is, in fact, from the Lancaster and Chester, can anyone tell me why a 29 mile long line in South Carolina would even have a flanger? Not exactly Donner Pass territory.[/quote]

Kudzu on the line.

dave

Has anyone given any thought to the fact that it might just be a broken portion of a cast iron stove? Lots of railroads had their initials cast into stove parts, since stoves had usefulness to non-railroaders, and therefore were always in danger of sprouting legs and walking away.

All,

Here is a reply I received yesterday from a volunteer researcher at the Colorado Railroad Museum:

There is a book published by the Museum as Colorado RR Annual Bulletin #25. Title is "Rio Grande Narrow Gauge Varnish". Author is Herbert Danneman, had 325 pages, hardbound, photos on almost every page. This book catalogs photos, drawings, builder, cost paid, year built, and year scrapped or sold for every known D&RGW and RGS passenger cat known.

Searching it I can find no reference to any L&C or ET&WNC cars that might have been purchased from either of those railroads.So far as the data shows, the D&RGW only purchased two passenger cars form any other railroad, and those were from a DRGW owned line in Utah. Everything the RGS had except for one or two cars came from the DRGW.

But the DRGW did build some baggage and other cars in their own shops and it is possible that they may have purchased used trucks from a dealer in used railroad parts....ot possibly from the L&C or ET&WNC of those companies advertised they had parts for sale in Railway Age or some other journal.

I have Attached a scan of a drawing and in examining it certainly seems that your piece could be part of an equalizer bar, although I still think it would be unusual to find that part as a casting. It should be about 1 1/2" thick.

We have all the reference books and others that list all the cars and locomotives a railroad had in any year. But these would not give detail beyond numbers of locos and cars types.

You could, of course, contact the people at Durango but again it is virtually impossible they could provide any detailed history on such a part. After a period the railroads simply discarded the huge quantities of paper work, cancelled checks, and even personnel records due to the huge accumulated volume.

Chuck Yungkurth
Library Researcher
Colorado Railroad Museum

Signed, Brooks

P.S. In reply to why would a 29 mile railroad have a flanger: they primarily used flangers for ballast work on the D&RGW, but also used them for snow work.

The owner mentioned the part being a casting. We need to confirm whether or not it is a casting. This conclusion cannot be drawn from the photo. I wonder if such equalizer bars were ever cast in the early days of this artifact. One big clue would be the appearance of the broken faces.

In a message dated October 25, Mr. Wilson tells us the piece is between 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. If it's a portion of an equalizer bar, someone has done a lot of work with a file.

That information on the thickness raises a discrepancy for which we need more information to resolve. As I mentioned earlier, it cannot be an equalizer bar if it is only that thick. But Mr. Wilson has also stated that the estimated weight is 40 lbs. By the photograph and dimensions given, I estimate the profile area to be 1 sq. ft. So that would be 1” thick if it weighs 40 lbs.

You're kidding. Given there is a 12" ruler in the photo, it appears that the fragment would barely fit in a 2' square; 4 sq.ft. Since the fragment is roughly triangular, it means its area is half that, or 2 square feet, and the weight calculation would indicate a thickness 1/2", which agrees with what Mr. Wilson was told. Let's leave the equalizer bar idea behind.

The dimensions given on the right side of the photo say:

Height 14.5 inches

Width 23.5 inches

That is 2.315 square feet.

Just by visual estimate, it appears that the fragment profile occupies approx. 50% of that area, so that is 1.158 square feet.

So, I’m sticking with the equalizer bar unless Brooks confirms the thickness to be .25-.5”

Looks to me more like the telegraph pole anchors we found on the 1869 Denver Pacific at Terry Ranch....just with letters embossed on them....could have transported from anywhere for use.....

Mike Pannell

Something different. Doing some tidying today and came across these. I picked them up at an old wreck site many years ago. Just thought they might be of interest? They are both marked GTR for Grand Trunk Railway. The site was on an abandonned right of way that had been the Great Western Rail Road (of Canada) Hamilton to London main line and was later GTR and used as a spur by CNR until about 1963.
Journal cover is approx 13" long and 7" wide.
Bearing brass is approx 7" long and 4" wide.
All the best.

Great Western,

Those are really nice artifacts. I wonder what era they date from. I would guess they are pre-1900. Were they buried at the site or lying on the surface?

Mr. Travis,
The former owner of the property had done some digging and allowed me to pick over the area. This was something like 30 years ago.
There were an alarming number of wrecks in that area, including a passenger train disaster that killed 11 people in 1889.
We think this particular derailment was November 5, 1891 when two freights collided as newspaper accounts place it in the correct spot. If not, it was either 1901 or 1906!
Thank you.

Great Western,

If it is a wreck site, there are probably more artifacts buried there. I have no idea what the site is like today, but I wonder if it would be possible to do some metal detecting there. It is interesting that you are able to correlate a specific wreck to that site. There is always the possibility that the historical record and the actual site can yield details that mesh and reinforce each other. Generally, there were a lot more wrecks everywhere in the late 1800s. They all deposited iron and metal parts and fragments, many of which are there today.