Re: How many artifacts per mile

I don’t think there is any consistency in the amount of left over artifacts along an abandoned line. But the two general categories of buried artifacts and surface artifacts can differ greatly. There are also two categories of whether the artifacts were left in the dismantling process or if they were left and lost over the time of operation.

I would say the latter offers the most artifacts and the majority of them are buried. But this also depends on the length of operation. Also this lost over time category has a greater potential for more interesting, unique, and older artifacts than does the dismantling process category. Most artifacts left from dismantling are track-related, whereas those lost over time can be train-related.

By far, the most fertile sites are the locations of train wrecks. They produce many artifacts that were lost and buried during the cleanup operation. These artifacts can be train or track related, and also cargo related. In some cases these items were intentionally buried.

Along any old roadbed, it is possible to find significant items lying on the surface, even after 100 years. In some cases, they may have gone from being exposed, to being buried; and then erosion exposed them again. They are most likely to be found on the sides of fills. Iron objects tend to sink into the ground over time. They are gradually swallowed by the seasonal frost action. But on the sloping side of a fill, the sinking effect is offset by the erosion of rain runoff.

I feel that the best artifacts that are relatively common are the oldest journal box covers which are cast iron and have the railroad’s initials and other designs cast into them.

A metal detector is quite useful, but just careful visual scrutiny of the surface can find surprises too.