Thanks for the info Taylor. In the perfect world of conjecture, one might guess they would have used the plates on curves, but there were curves in the area between Larch Summit and Johnson's that I have hiked and I know you have as well, and no plates, but lots of ties with spikes. Same thing over between Tipton and Carol and on down toward Whitney. Lots of ties with spikes and lots of curves. Jane (my wife), Jim Grigsby and I hiked from Tipton to White Pine depot site a couple years ago which has the two loops (major curves) and no plates, but I don't recall that there are a lot of intact ties in that area either, which could mean nothing, because they might have salvaged the plates. Did you bring any samples of the plates to the yard?