Robby Raccoon
Trash Digger
Several years ago I moved to a dead-end road that lead off onto the rail line. Over a period of about five years or so, I amassed a basket-full of railroad-related and non-related finds (whatever hit the rails) and have today rediscovered those finds. Everything from common spikes and bolts to a train-wheel break-pad (two pieces anyway, that make's you feel safe when they're ripped off far from a train-yard. No breaks to stop?) as well as the metal plate that holds the rails from vibrating (attaches to the wooden cross-ties--I've forgotten the name for it--) and a trellis, as well as antique and vintage tools, insulators, coins, Hydrochloric Acid warning tag (The braided steel cable was still attached. So... where's the acid?)bottles and this, uh....? I had initially thought it to be a chisel of sorts, about 9 inches long with 8 panels stopping about four inches in. It's old and worn, rusted and pitted, and so it sat in the locker-basket I'd found and over filled and forgotten after we moved. Today, having showed it to my mom, she believes it to actually be a telegraph climbing spike. The telegraphs are still wired and standing (more-or-less) and were in use still by the '50s I do believe. But from what I recall, I found this on the right of the tracks, not the left where the telegraph poles (and modern telephone towers) soar (or lie dead on the ground.) So, now I'm wondering: Is it a chisel as I'd originally thought years ago, or is it something used to climb a pole or tree? I researched into what's used to climb poles, and did not see this exact kind of piece. Mom claims it 1800s--and indeed the rail-line has been there well over a century-- but I had thought 1950s like many another thing. So, anyone know what this is and it's use, along with the all-important date? I've found early 1900s stuff out there, so it could be. But I really don't know.