Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Railroad tracks anyone?

Mozhoven

Mozhoven

Full Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2012
Messages
171
Location
Middletown, CT
Ok,

We all got 'em. Miles and miles of track going every direction. Anyone both to hunt them? I've always been curious if anyone has found anything interesting along the tracks.....
 
So these two blondes were hiking and came across some tracks. One says, wow, look at those bear tracks, the other one says you idiot, those are deer tracks. They continue arguing back and forth.....bear tracks....deer tracks....bear tracks...deer tracks....and along comes the train and hits them both.
 
Ha, ha ...point taken. :laughing:

Seriously though, I imagine that if one hunts well to the sides of the tracks they could be relatively safe. Certainly not a place for closed headphones or earbuds though....
 
Unless you do some research, blind detecting tracks are a waste of time. at least in my experience, NOW if you have OLD OLD track, and do research and find that there was a depot or station from 1920s or older, then its worth detecting in the old station area. but actual track hunting usually only nets me rail road spike and random iron, but you never really know, just like hunting anywhere else
 
Well before I had to come to SC, I was in Arizona and was tracing the old defunct lines for their maintenance shacks. Out west they used to have men stationed at 5 to 10 miles to keep the tracks up and for emergencies. Those are the sites I planned on detecting when the ground thawed up there.
 
I assume that you are talking about tracks no longer in use. Since 911 they have become pretty strict about anyone around railroad tracks. Digging a target could easily be mistaken for planting some destructive device. I wouldn't detect around any still in use.
 
CTCurt said:
Stations and depots only.....Curt:grin:
Click to expand...

definitely! :yes:
when the tracks behind my place were still active, there was a right-of-way running parallel and i've had some success finding older coins and other misc items along there. along the actual tracks themselves, the digging is extremely difficult and you'll have a ton of iron signals. digging there is not very fun at all. :no:
if you can find any of those old depots or stations, check out the areas where people traveled to and from the station. that's where they lost stuff!
i searched around an old station last year, but not on the rail side of the building but on the other side towards town. i dug over 100 coins from that lawn, several from the 1800's as well as some other goodies. :D

Pete
 
I work for the railroad and there is no way I would consider wasting my time searching on our lines. The rail bed and right of way is littered with scrap iron and metal from rail maintenance and junk falling off from rail cars. Just my 2 cents.
 
Hunted them many times - here's one display I have, steve in so az

SPRRdisplay.jpg
 
Silversmith45 said:
I assume that you are talking about tracks no longer in use. Since 911 they have become pretty strict about anyone around railroad tracks. Digging a target could easily be mistaken for planting some destructive device. I wouldn't detect around any still in use.
Click to expand...

Good point. Honestly never occurred to me. We thought the local PD causes us problems, how about Homeland Security? :(
 
The original tracks put here in the late 1800's for the mining companies is still here.
All 3 sets are defunct and semi-buried and lay next to the newer tracks. Son found the original switch. Looked lonely sitting by itself in the woods. Still connected.
We found a small shack (10x15' or so) that seems to have been a weigh station. had a huge scale in it and nothing else. Need to follow where the rails split off and went up the hill to the mines.
We've found common bottles and a ton of seagram's 7 pint bottles. Haven't brought the MD yet...
I'd say hit the side of the rails. The flat areas and gullies.
GL
 
I think they shredded an entire train and spread it around the tracks in my small town.
 
Unless you like to dig iron for scrap value, the only places along a railroad, active or not is at the stations and depots. Check though on old maps too if you had any trolleys in the old days. Their stops should be excellent places too.
 
i once lived in a house that bordered on a rr. the property was seperated by a stockade fence. we had a shed that was about 3 feet from the fence. my son, who was only about 12 at the time, built a fort between the shed and fence. the roof he made layed across the top of the fence for about 3 inches. the railroad sited him for trespassing even tho he took the roof off when told to do so. thats right... we had to go to family court over this even tho the fort was dismantled. the roof was not fastened to the fence with any nails. it was just laying on it. just a kid and his fort. just a railroad cop who disliked kids. i won't go near a railroad.
DMD
 
mhallack said:
Unless you like to dig iron for scrap value, the only places along a railroad, active or not is at the stations and depots. Check though on old maps too if you had any trolleys in the old days. Their stops should be excellent places too.
Click to expand...

i did find a streetcar token from the early part of 1900s. most likely 1902 to 1930s. an IRC token, good for one fare.
DMD
 
Little off topic but when i was younger i worked for this rich guy who when they closed down the railroads in englnd he bought a 15 mile length of it for a few hundred thousand pounds (this is back in the 80's).

First he ripped up all the metal rails and sold them as scrap, make a big chunk of his money back there alone, then he sold off the sleepers to gardeners for landscaping and landscape designers for retailing walls etc

Then he ripped up the grass under the rails and it was made from the slaggy coal from the local mines that were no good for burning but it turned out the coal fire powered electric companies needed the old slaggy coal because otherwise the coal burned too hot and would burn through the walls, he made four million pounds selling scrap coal to the electric company, then finally sold the land off to the farmers on each side of the railroad, he made a few hundred thousand pounds into more then five million.

He was a total B*****d but a smart B******d...lol
 
Little off topic but when i was younger i worked for this rich guy who when they closed down the railroads in englnd he bought a 15 mile length of it for a few hundred thousand pounds (this is back in the 80's).

First he ripped up all the metal rails and sold them as scrap, make a big chunk of his money back there alone, then he sold off the sleepers to gardeners for landscaping and landscape designers for retailing walls etc

Then he ripped up the grass under the rails and it was made from the slaggy coal from the local mines that were no good for burning but it turned out the coal fire powered electric companies needed the old slaggy coal because otherwise the coal burned too hot and would burn through the walls, he made four million pounds selling scrap coal to the electric company, then finally sold the land off to the farmers on each side of the railroad, he made a few hundred thousand pounds into more then five million.

He was a total B*****d but a smart B******d...lol

Back to the at hand, my town has the old rainroad (boston albany) but i havnt looked at it yet though they are leveling off the mounds so might be worth a look as they shave the trash off the top
 
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