I wish I could, but there are no records, it took weeks to just find the parcel and I'm still looking at quite an area
Buried Locomotive.. Best Detector?
- Thread starter waynger
- Start date
The Rebel
Forum Supporter
Have you looked for maps? If not Lidar will be a good idea as it will show the line, especially as the ground is so compacted.
Yes, old railbed near a tributary,I am going there tomorrow to check out the site then will return with a magnetometer at a later date
Yes!! 12 mile bike ride and 2 miles of scrambling Found the roadbed and stream thanks to lidar! Looks like a 100 foot x 200 foot area to search, now I have to figure how to get a metal detector and shovel and long probe up there to do a rough search. If I can't get a magnetometer can anyone suggest something that won't break the bank to search for this?
Any detector would do, I would suggest an Ace 400 because:
* You won't have to wade through menus and spend hours watching youtube tutorials to use it, and
* You'll have a very nice detector once the train thing is done
As I opined earlier, I think its very possible a target this large might overload circuitry, so I'd start out with mid to low sensitivity. Essential to learn the pinpoint function, very simple just a continuous press of a button. Practice on something visible, say a quarter, and see how the sound alerts then cuts off when waving the coil. In this way, you can define the boundaries of a metal object underground. Of course a quarter you will move the coil inches for results, for an engine would be many feet, so you are going into areas which not too many have gone before.
Also, if you get an alert, raise the coil half a fool while swinging, if it still alerts raise it more - If it is still alerting 1ft+ in the air, you can be fairly certain that you have found a large metal object, next will be to define it using pinpoint as described above, after that would come the digging. When you have defined an edge/corner, best to mark it with something, rocks should do since I'm sure you don't want to carry marking flags with you. I have found sewage traps like this, pretty easy. You could very well end up with a denied, rock outlined profile of the object, and you should be able to determine if it fits the profile of what you are looking for.
Lots of variables though, one would be if there are railroad tracks buried there too, could throw you off. But a railroad track by itself would be simple to define, you wouldn't have to go very far at all width wise before the signal cuts, so if you have something screaming in length and dying in width, you'd know that is a track.
I'd look for one used at a nice discount, craigslist/facebook is often loaded with them.
* You won't have to wade through menus and spend hours watching youtube tutorials to use it, and
* You'll have a very nice detector once the train thing is done
As I opined earlier, I think its very possible a target this large might overload circuitry, so I'd start out with mid to low sensitivity. Essential to learn the pinpoint function, very simple just a continuous press of a button. Practice on something visible, say a quarter, and see how the sound alerts then cuts off when waving the coil. In this way, you can define the boundaries of a metal object underground. Of course a quarter you will move the coil inches for results, for an engine would be many feet, so you are going into areas which not too many have gone before.
Also, if you get an alert, raise the coil half a fool while swinging, if it still alerts raise it more - If it is still alerting 1ft+ in the air, you can be fairly certain that you have found a large metal object, next will be to define it using pinpoint as described above, after that would come the digging. When you have defined an edge/corner, best to mark it with something, rocks should do since I'm sure you don't want to carry marking flags with you. I have found sewage traps like this, pretty easy. You could very well end up with a denied, rock outlined profile of the object, and you should be able to determine if it fits the profile of what you are looking for.
Lots of variables though, one would be if there are railroad tracks buried there too, could throw you off. But a railroad track by itself would be simple to define, you wouldn't have to go very far at all width wise before the signal cuts, so if you have something screaming in length and dying in width, you'd know that is a track.
I'd look for one used at a nice discount, craigslist/facebook is often loaded with them.
The Rebel
Forum Supporter
Wouldn't one of the magnets that people fish with work?
atomicbrh
Elite Member
I was trying to explain that there is a good chance small items of historical significance related to the locomotive may be buried in proximity to the locomotive. Could you clarify? Was the small locomotive used to haul wood to a small steam driven drag line engine?
Probably, all the wood was lifted out on pallets on a skyline. On another note I ordered a minelab Go-Find 44, I know it's not perfect, but I have zero experience with metal detectors and this one will easily fit in a backpack, as you know the only way in is a 12 mile bike ride(6 in 6 out) so I need light weight, I am also going to bring a probe that screws together and I can probe the ground maybe as deep as 4 feet, and a folding shovel
hoser
Forum Supporter
Well, I hope you find what you are looking for. Sounds very interesting. My thoughts are if the locomotive is buried as a whole unit, anything small related to it will be even deeper. My question is if and when you find it, what are your next moves, excavate the whole thing or get the historical society involved?
I will dig enough to verify it is not something else, Big IF here, then let others take over
hoser
Forum Supporter
That is a good plan for sure. Good luck.
The Rebel
Forum Supporter
My guess is if you actually swing over it, it will probably be an overload signal.
Test out what happens when you swing over your car.
Test out what happens when you swing over your car.
markinmichigan
Forum Supporter
You might get lucky if the stack is intact, vertical or semi vertical. The stack and even the roof maybe closer to the surface and hit with a conventional detector. If you were standing on the roof w 3 feet of dirt over the loco it should sound on a detector. Wild A Guess...kinda. Practice next to the biggest car you can find!
BobOso
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2023
- Messages
- 276
depending on how deep a 2 box detector might work. But I have found large items with a minelab 800 so just about any detector would work. It was a metal pipe used for hydraulic mining buried about 3 feet, about blew my ears off, so a train, I'm sure you would get 10 feet with ease.
