Railroad Construction - Questions

GoldAudio · Nov 2, 2015

Preface:

So I stumbled upon a place directly on the railroad that may have been something (and its pretty major but sorry no clues). Let's just say it's most likely a water stop along with something else.

An old topo map shows a road crossing the tracks at this point which is now 60 feet in the air. As if they filled in this valley to reduce grade at some point. In turn burying part of this site. That is my theory.

While searching I notice the use of small timber bridges. This is an area where there would have been several in a row. Maybe you used to drive under the bridge? Where the bridges would have been is where they filled with ballast and made it all rock bed.

Questions:

Is there a place to research railroad projects like this (Missouri)?

Did the old railroad beds used to be a lot lower in general and have more grade changes? (we just found it hard to believe they moved that much ballast stone way back then)?

Does my theory sound feasible?

Conclusion:

Didn't expect to find this so no pictures. Had my big coil so did no good during our visit. My buddy didn't even bring his detector as he thought I was full of it. There will be good things

Its gonna be a bit before we can go back. We do have permission just in BFE Ozarks and its deer season UGH

EDIT

realize a visual may work better... there WAS a road here but how?
this isn't the place but good example, my spot is even higher because they did this in several places raising the rail bed way up... just trying to find out WHEN which will lead to WHAT hopefully

Mud-puppy · Nov 2, 2015

Cool! Yeah, its hard to imagine, but people moved a lot of dirt and rock back before Caterpillar was even thought about...Panama Canal comes to mind, thinking steam power and horses/mules...anyway, good research, get in there with your rig and see if what you find verifies your thoughts...people are amazing at what they can do and have done...lots of dirt moved on this planet...besides us, beavers are the only other animal here that changes entire ecosystems by moving dirt to suit their needs. I doubt it was beavers though, they dont have the proper hands to run a train, or I'm sure they would!
Mud.

GoldAudio · Nov 2, 2015

Added edit up top

mikeingeorgia · Nov 2, 2015

I can confirm that your suspicions are correct. I used to run trains in Alabama, and there was one spot in particular that is exactly like you describe. There had originally been a bridge, but at some point they decided to turn the valley into a fill, and just kept piling up dirt until it consumed the bridge. At the very top you can still make out some of the bridge parts. It's cheaper to maintain dirt and rocks than a bridge, and they probably had some other project going on that they needed to get rid of some dirt from. Farther down in the valley, closer to a river, is a complete roadbed still in place, just no longer used. It was the original, all built by hand. Being so close to the river made it prone to flooding, so the entire railroad was moved further up the hill. When the new track was ready, the trains were diverted onto the new track and the old track was torn out, leaving just a really nicely graded trail. You can even look up in various valleys and find bridge abutments that no longer have bridges on them. The bridge girders could be reused, but the abutments will probably be there for a very long time.

GKman · Nov 3, 2015

As soon as i saw this post, I recalled an image that was in one of our local history books. It shows a road not far from me with a high trestle alongside it. The image from the 1890s shows trains riding along the trestle and then dumping loads of material below essentially burying the trestle itself. The old tracks where forty or fifty feet above the surrounding area for quite a ways to cross the valley. I was always amazed at how much work it must have been but realized it may have been a bit easier than I imagined once I saw how they did it...

GoldAudio · Nov 3, 2015

Mike and GK you are both very helpful... thanks!

either version could have worked... filling in the bridges
OR moving the rail to higher ground... because river is near

there is also a lower "roadbed" on the downhill side paralleling the tracks but need to look into that a bit more. there are some oddities on that side as well which we cant figure out. I don't think that lower road was rail though... but would solve several things about the site.

need to get back out there... cant wait

TheCoilist · Dec 7, 2015

Not sure if any of my previous research will help you. I had questions about railroads in general and made some fascinating discoveries. Check out these links. The first one started my inquiries.. has old historic pictures of the actual site in question and then my pictures I had taken when researching.

Eventually, this research lead to my best two finds ever, a silver coin cache, and then a 2nd coin cache with silver and gold. All these posts were referring to the same area/railroad track location.

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=92273&highlight=railroad

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=158695&highlight=railroad

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=165544&highlight=railroad

If you go to my youtube channel you'll find the other coin cache find. I did not post it on here as I was trying to verify the gold coin authenticity and never got around to creating the post.

But when it comes to railroads, scope it out do the research and hunt it! This particular railroad was relocated at least twice (raised to higher locations) and then eventually completely pulled.

Railroad Construction - Questions

GoldAudio

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Mud-puppy

GoldAudio

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GoldAudio

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TheCoilist

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