Re: How many artifacts per mile

I have been wandering old railroad grades since about 1961, not that I collect objects that I find. But I do enjoy spotting a tie or a tie plate or some other goodie on my walks. The oldest grade I've followed was that of the McCauley Mountain RR in Pennsylvania, which was abandoned in 1869(!). It still amazes me how much of the grade remains -- even a stone bridge abutment still standing in good shape after 147 years. Up in the northern part of the state, I've found some bits and pieces of a locomotive that suffered a boiler explosion in 1924 (front end netting way up in a tree and a chunk of the mud ring), and ash piles where logging engines were parked in the woods overnight. There are plenty of spikes and broken joint bars out in the woods. One of the most interesting artifacts I've come across is a section of bandsaw blade, along a grade several miles from the site of the mill. I wonder how it got there? I still have hopes of someday finding one of those locomotives that someone saw sitting in the woods |"just a few years ago."