Hello RYPNers,

Our hiking group this morning went on a hike to document the abandoned portion of our railroad, and found this in the mud... I know it's B&O in origin and has been sitting there for 60+ years. Anyone have any idea whatsoever what it was? I'm thinking milepost based on the shape. Numbers on it read A9077 or A9071.

- Chris B.

It might just be me, but that does not look much like a sign. To me that round portion sticking out on the end indicates a piece of machinery that was meant to rotate through some portion of a full circle. Maybe it is a part of the ash pan from a steam locomotive. These pans had "louvers" that would seal together to contain the ash during a run. Then at the engine house these louvers would rotate about 90 degrees to dump the ash. A lever on the side of the locomotive would operate a linkage that moved several louvers together to open the ash pan. They where several feet long with a pivot on each end, looks like maybe you have just one part of a unit that broke out on the road and fell down off the locomotive.

But that's just a guess on my part, but it sure looks like something meant to rotate.

The "A9077" is probably a casting number put there by the manufacturer, probably one of the folks that made firebox doors, stokers, etc like Standard ?

Cheers, Kevin.

it looks like a broken off piece, the knob makes it apparent its mounted on something meant to swing about. The numbers might be a part number. Only throwing guesses around to clue a solution. Perhaps from a derailment/wreck? Couldnt say its from a sign or equipment, or signal, or switch.

I was thinking ashpan as well, what else might be wandering around a railroad...
Its always around heat and may had faulty metal and broke out or a shaking action, a piece stuck it broke it out...

the games afoot...

I have a old B&O R.R. roadway and track standards with signage book and i don't see anything it it that resembles what you found with that number/s. What are the actual dimensions of this pc.? If it didn't have that round heavy duty casting portion sticking out at the bottom end in your photo it sorta almost looks like one of the older larger cast journal box cover lids as the top portion in your photo has that curved middle part like on most jbc. lids.

I found a copy of a signage book in our offices. This isn't a sign in any way. We also have a few derailments in the general area of steam locomotives on record, so this could support those claims. Anyone have any specific photos or links of an ashpan?

Flanger blade?

Too small and looks nothing like one.

I'm taking a slightly different thought, like a side track maintenance piece or a track maintenance piece, or a mower part, it obviously is meant to block flow and turn out of the way to release something, like gravel, or ashes. A steam derailment could knock a rear trailing truck into the firebox grate and do this.

Looks like to me this thing went on top of an automatic switch. Here is an example, but the top is round instead of square

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... CkQMygLMAs

I think this helps narrow it down, this piece is fairly sizable, its laying on a sofa.



the louvers rotate for access into the firebox to clean it out.

obviously broken, it shows rustyness and pits, notice one side is pitted more than the other, closer to the fire heat.

I see what you mean, but there is a stub at the bottom of it. I think it was attached to a pole and used to signal the engineer what track he was going on to. Was the area of the person finding it close to a switching yard?

We don't have the other end to know how it was mounted, and there isnt a way to secure down this part as noted from the above link. It needs to be held from both ends. The above shows a pin bar going thru to hold the louvers, but like this one it has a stub pin like its mounted at the end. This could be from something completely different but the dig is interesting. Finding this on top after several years you would think material growth and dirt would cover it but things happen and like the sands of time reveal it. The poking continues.

Dinwitty, that is an interesting CAD picture you included. It looks like a modern design with welded parts. I see grates (the surface where the coal is burned) on the top, doors on the bottom that release the ashes, and louvers along the right and left sides that appear to rotate. I think these are actually dampers that can be rotated to adjust the volume of air reaching the firebox itself. The part in question from the original post does look somewhat like a solid cast iron version of those dampers (broken in the middle).

So, I'm changing my original wild assed guess (WAG) from an ashpan louver to a firebox damper. Still just a WAG. But an interesting find, cast iron parts are certainly decades old. Welded parts became the norm after the 1950's and 1960's.

Cheers, Kevin

I found some group working on to restore an old engine so they're CADing up new stuff and designs.

http://www.machineconcepts.co.uk/baldwin242/baldwin.htm

oops not restore but re-create the engine (seems a number of enthusiastic projects like this running around)

I'll swap my search thinking around, as noted there may have been accidents in this area, maybe other parts are laying about too.

I am not sure how many modern engines would have louvers like this, could help date this, they need all the air pouring thru for the burning power.