Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/210550
donc - Posted - 07/08/2011: 21:16:38
Today we were walking along the Burlington Northern tracks a few hundred feet north of the U.S. border. I noticed that among the gravel rocks are numerous small pebbles that resemble volcanic lava stones. They are quite similar [but smaller] to what my dad use to shovel out of our coal furnace. I would guess that the Diesel locomotive has probably been used for at least 60 years. Is it possible that these rocks came from the old coal steam engines, or did these rocks come from a gravel pit ?
Ronnie - Posted - 07/09/2011: 06:57:02
Could be. I remember when I was a kid in the steam era they used the residue from cleaning out boilers as ballast.
TrainmanCSZ4UP - Posted - 07/09/2011: 08:41:26
It is possible. Like Ronnie said they used to use the ashes from the firebox as ballast for sidings and branch lines. Its possible but unlikely in my opinion. But you never know it could be.
bubbalouie - Posted - 07/09/2011: 10:33:17
I used to work in a rail yard in Calgary & was talking to some guys on the crew & said how a buddy of mine & I used to look for fossils & meteorites back east.
The next day a guy came up with a meteorwrong he said he'd found.
I looked at it & told him it was a leaverite. He said "Really?".
I said " Yeah next time you see one leaverite on the tracks where you found it!."
Edited by - bubbalouie on 07/09/2011 10:35:24
ColdFingers-alaska - Posted - 07/10/2011: 02:59:39
My guess would be iron ore pellets. I worked on the RR at one time. We would pull 150 car trains loaded with iron ore pellets. The stuff is everywhere along the road bed. Google iron ore pellets and see what you think.
Mopick - Posted - 07/10/2011: 15:12:54
quote:
Originally posted by ColdFingers-alaska
My guess would be iron ore pellets. I worked on the RR at one time. We would pull 150 car trains loaded with iron ore pellets. The stuff is everywhere along the road bed. Google iron ore pellets and see what you think.
Yes! Me and my friends used to walk up and down the tracks and pick up the iron ore pellets. We would get a coffee can full of them, they make great sling shot ammunition.
Klondike Waldo - Posted - 07/10/2011: 17:13:01
Without seeing a sample, it strikes me as being among three possibilities: Iron ore pellets, "clinkers" (coal cinders) or coke.
vintagewells - Posted - 07/12/2011: 11:16:43
We use to find clinkers and coal along the tracks of the NH, NY and Hartford line. They did run some coal fired locomotives through town back in the '40s, and during hard times, people would collect the coal for their furnaces or for their bad kid's Christmas stockings.
pstroud1 - Posted - 07/12/2011: 14:34:56
The old steamers started a lot of fires along the track when the woods were dry in north central PA.
Clinkers were very popular around PA :).
We heated with wood and coal combination for years.
That pretty green colored smoke that came of soft coal when you poked the furnace could blow the doors off the furnace if you were not careful to let it ignite before you closed the furnace door. lol.
Paul
phwill - Posted - 09/19/2011: 12:39:44
I'm guessing that it's probably coal that dropped out of or off of an open top coal hopper coming to or leaving from a power plant. It's pretty common to see some of that type of residue drop off of cars in transit.
gshall - Posted - 09/20/2011: 07:14:34
Sheldon from Big Bang Theory could tell you.
Mopick - Posted - 09/20/2011: 07:45:02
Little round pellets of iron ore. Great sling shot ammo. We used to find them by the coffee can full in just a short time.
The pelletizing of iron ore produces spheres of typically 8-18 mm (0.31-0.71 inch) diameter. The process combines agglomeration and thermal treatment to convert the raw ore into pellets with characteristics appropriate for use in a blast furnace and grades of 67%-72% Fe. Additional materials are added to the iron ore (pellet feed) to meet the requirements of the final pellets. This is done by placing the mixture in the pelletizer, which can hold different types of ores and additives, and mixing to adjust the chemical composition and the metallurgic properties of the pellets. In general, the following stages are included in this period of processing: concentration / separation, homogenization of the substance ratios, milling, classification, increasing thickness, homogenization of the pulp and filtering.
Edited by - Mopick on 09/20/2011 07:48:16
Jim Cannon - Posted - 09/20/2011: 09:34:11
My grandparents were poor before the stock market crash of 29'. My grandfather was rather diligent at remaining in a state of poverty. During the few periods when he had decent paying employment he would do something outrageous and get himself fired. To help with maintaining the household my mother and her siblings would be given the task of going down by the railroad tracks with their express wagon looking for un-burned coals amongst the ashes...clinker picking they called it. When one of the big, old steam trains would come lumbering down the tracks the kids would all shout out catcalls to the train crews who would respond by reaching into the coal tender and throwing chunks of coal at the kids, feigning defense of the train from attack by the children. A real treasure to heat the house that night.
Oh, to get back to the original question: trains drop abrasives beneath their traction tires to obtain better adhesion on the steel rails...could the material found be from that?
