I agree with leaving artifacts for others to find, but there is a danger in this as well. If an artifact has some intrensic value it will disappear sooner or later. Things like spikes and tie plates are common enough, and usually have little historical significance. If they are collected there is not a great loss, but on the other hand there is no reason to pick them up either. I do not like to see artifacts taken for private collections, but if they are collected for a preservation organization I am okay with it if they are properly documented. A lot depends on how interesting and how accessable the piece is. For example, on an easily accessed logging grade in Sumpter Valley country I found a grease cup, probably from a geared locomotive, and an angle cock with air hose. I collected the grease cup as it was in an easily accessed location and was small enough to be easily carried. I left the angle cock for others to find, and they did. When I looked sometime later it was gone.
Railfans are not the only ones to worry about though. There was the tank from a scrapped Sumpter Valley locomotive on the Middle Fork John Day River that was apparently used as a water tank by the Oregon Lumber Co. It was no longer on a trestle work, and someone had cut out most of the side sheets for the steel. We contacted the Forest Service about collecting the remains before they disapeared entirely. The F.S. refused, saying the remains had to be preserved. The SVRR representative replied; "Look at that. You call that preserved?" They would not give us permission to remove it, but finally agreed to look the other way.
Probably the most interesting artifacts I have found are the remains where OLC Shay # 102 was wrecked in a side draw off the N. Fork Burnt River. The lokey was salvaged and returned to service but at the site were part of the sand dome base, parts from the gypsy engine mounted on the pilot beam, several bent and broken grate bars, one of the two rear sanders, a small wrench, and the almost complete whistle mechinism. On early Shays this consisted of a lever attached to the cab roof, a rod leading through the roof and attached to a bellcrank, another rod to the whistle valve lever, and the valve and whistle. All of this was there except for the whistle bell. The valve lever is broken but otherwise everything is intact though bent. The whistle we have on our #3 Heisler is from the 102, but we do not know if the whistle bell was on it at the time of the wreck.
There are several log car frames laying around the woods, some of which still have part of their brake rigging. Other things I have found include a link and pin coupler, a wooden brake beam, wrecked car parts, wooden tank spouts, and three wooden snow plows. These were aparently fastened to the pilot beam and just slid along the rails.