I'm pouring over B&O engines and I don't see these side louvres, something like this might be more internal, a good wreck, an engine going at high speed with a good pileup I can see a part like this flying off. It might be internal, break, and roll out to the ground.

poking around I find this



some very stocky 2-6-0's there for some space saving and pulling power, reminds me of the N&W doing the M2-s take a wheel arrangement and pump it up.

I think Indiana Jones said, "98% of archaeology is done in the library, and 'X' never marks the spot". The thing to do would be to determine if a wreck occurred on the former rail bed, then try to identify the locomotive or type of train in the consist. Since you know the location ("X"), it's back to the microfilm.

Cjbdiesel, As i mentioned in my earlier post could you possibly provide us with some measurements of this cast iron item? A picture of the backside may also give some additional clues? I personally find any old discarded or broken iron RR items that fell off locomotives or trains interesting. Wether one goes out in search of or even if you happen to stumble on this stuff it's alway's fascinating if you can figure out what the items were. Over the past 25 years i've been finding and digging up old RR iron along old abandoned row's and have 5 gallon buckets full of the stuff i've brought home. It could have been from wrecks, things that fell off or just discarded from passing trains or track workers. Items i've dug up at old hand car set offs range from tools, pocket knifes, buttons,and brass harmonica reeds.

As Richard mentioned the library is the place where the majority of the research is done. The old newspapers on microfilm can give many clues as to the dates,locations, and even sometimes the locomotive numbers ect. This has helped me on many a quest. Years ago i dug up brass tag along a old LS&MS Ry. row with a name stamped on it. The pc. was curved like it had maybe once been affixed to a oil can. I did some research and found the name and the guy was a fireman on the LS&MS back in the 1880's, turned out his father was also a engineer for the RR. Although whatever type of RR can the name tag may have been attached to i thought it was really neat to find the name on the tag connected to the RR.

I also once stumbled on a wreck site digging up several iron items. In my research at the library a few years later i found a old article describing a wreck in the late 1860's east of town near where i dug up the items. The article gave a clue as to the property owner of the land along the RR where the wreck occured. I found some old maps from that era and there was the property owners name shown right on the map where i dug up the items. For me to find the connection knowing the exact date/year and where the wreck happended connecting the items to it was fantastic!

As for some of the cast iron items they sometimes still leave you scratching your head wondering what the heck they came off of!

I've got a whole box of unidentified railroad metal items in one of my closets. One piece that I did eventually identify was a small section of iron strap rail. As a railroad historian, I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that it took me a few years to figure out what it was.

One good spot to look for stuff was along the creek bank under the TVRM Chickamauga Creek Bridge. The railroad's been there for more than 150 years, so undoubtedly a lot of stuff fell off trains into the creek. There was also at least one major derailment on the bridge. A couple of our members had checked it out and reported finding various things. I found a cast iron coupling link (which I still have).