Re: Mystery item

I have found a lot of iron items along abandoned railroad grades. Many of them are common and easily recognizable. Some items, such as journal box covers, are common, but have undergone a lot of evolution in design; so early examples may not be so recognizable. I have two very old broken drawbar fragments, which I can only conclude are part of the drawbar connecting and engine with its tender. However, since this feature is always more or less hidden, I have no reference to compare my fragments to.

I also have a category of items, like the one shown in the first post here, that seem to defy identification. These are quite fascinating because you don’t know if you will ever discover what they are. In some cases, information comes to light several years later that clearly reveals what the mystery objects are.

With the one posted here, I conclude that it was captured in place when in use. I wonder if it is wrought iron or cast iron. Assuming that it played some sort of structural role, the slender tangs, lack of big fillets, and uneven wall mass, would seem to correspond to the use of wrought iron or cast steel rather than cast iron. Generally cast steel would tend to move the time frame forward from the era of wrought iron. But I am not sure when cast steel actually was introduced. Was it used in the 1800s? If part of of the mystery object had been broken off, there would be a likelihood of strong visual evidence of wrought iron if that is what it were made of.