I found this unusual spike years ago in Farmington, Maine, where the SR&RL interchanged with the SG Maine Central. You will notice the point is oriented 90 degrees off from the usual orientation, which suggests to my mind that it was intended for some application in which the rail was running
parallel to the tie rather than perpendicular. I have wondered if it might be from a diamond crossing (indeed, it was found in the general vicinity of the SR&RL/MEC diamond), but it's also been suggested to me that it could be from a switch guardrail. Have any of you ever seen anything like this before?
-Philip Marshall