Re: NG Abandoned Line Exploring In Ontario - One Day's Finds
| October 15, 2020 08:10PM |
|
James Wrote:
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> You must have a pretty good metal detector to find
> anything in that area. Not much left there--at a
> glance--to suggest there was once a railroad.
Yes, have a good detector that gives depth and differentiates type of metal. I ignore any hits deeper than 5”, and there’s a lot of them, but hope those materials will migrate up with future plowing. The plowing also moves many items quite a ways from the actual ROW, so it takes 10 or 12 passes to do a stretch of line. The journal lid was found about 20’ off the former grade.
Not
> many 1870's-era photographers seem to have made it
> up that way while the "Bruce" was narrow gauge. A
> lot of midwestern narrow gauge railroads in the
> U.S. have similarly poor photographic
> documentation because they didn't have the
> population density of the east nor the grand
> mountain scenery of the west.
Correct, only about a dozen known photos. Posted some here earlier and would love to find more. [ngdiscussion.net]
>
> Odd place to find a journal cover. Those things
> don't normally just fall off. Wonder if there was
> a derailment or other similar mishap nearby.
I have access to early newspapers and could find no incidents at that location in the narrow gauge era. Perhaps jarred off in a minor derailment that wasn’t particularly newsworthy. Back in 1911 there was a major passenger train derailment on the embankment that used to be there. The farmer’s family has “only” owned the land since 1940, and they hadn’t heard about the accident so they were quite interested to read the accounts of it. Happened almost right outside their back door.
>
> I can't imagine too many farmers mind you pulling
> large hunks of thick metal out of their fields,
> for free. Sounds like a mutually beneficial
> service.
There was probably a 50/50 split between railway and broken farm machinery stuff. I’ve joked that his field has become iron-deficient and he’ll now have to amend the soil.
Cheers,
Ralph
-------------------------------------------------------
> You must have a pretty good metal detector to find
> anything in that area. Not much left there--at a
> glance--to suggest there was once a railroad.
Yes, have a good detector that gives depth and differentiates type of metal. I ignore any hits deeper than 5”, and there’s a lot of them, but hope those materials will migrate up with future plowing. The plowing also moves many items quite a ways from the actual ROW, so it takes 10 or 12 passes to do a stretch of line. The journal lid was found about 20’ off the former grade.
Not
> many 1870's-era photographers seem to have made it
> up that way while the "Bruce" was narrow gauge. A
> lot of midwestern narrow gauge railroads in the
> U.S. have similarly poor photographic
> documentation because they didn't have the
> population density of the east nor the grand
> mountain scenery of the west.
Correct, only about a dozen known photos. Posted some here earlier and would love to find more. [ngdiscussion.net]
>
> Odd place to find a journal cover. Those things
> don't normally just fall off. Wonder if there was
> a derailment or other similar mishap nearby.
I have access to early newspapers and could find no incidents at that location in the narrow gauge era. Perhaps jarred off in a minor derailment that wasn’t particularly newsworthy. Back in 1911 there was a major passenger train derailment on the embankment that used to be there. The farmer’s family has “only” owned the land since 1940, and they hadn’t heard about the accident so they were quite interested to read the accounts of it. Happened almost right outside their back door.
>
> I can't imagine too many farmers mind you pulling
> large hunks of thick metal out of their fields,
> for free. Sounds like a mutually beneficial
> service.
There was probably a 50/50 split between railway and broken farm machinery stuff. I’ve joked that his field has become iron-deficient and he’ll now have to amend the soil.
Cheers,
Ralph
| Subject | Author | Posted |
|---|---|---|
|
tgbcvr | October 15, 2020 04:45PM |
|
tgbcvr | October 15, 2020 04:57PM |
|
James | October 15, 2020 05:41PM |
|
tgbcvr | October 15, 2020 08:10PM |
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.