Another railroad relic found on my property today my favorite so far

[TKgal]

Veteran's Day I found a RR spike today a date nail. They were found with in 25 yards of each other. In my driveway gravel (at 6-8")

 

[jwbro]

Looks more like a boundary marker instead of a railroad spike.

 

[digger460]

Have never seen a RR spike with a round shaft.

 

[pepperj]

I was going to agree with jwbro but reading up again on the date nails it looks like one for sure. 11 is the number? Here's a link on collecting and info on the nails.
Date Nail Info

 

[TKgal]

Yes Pepperj, the date 11 would be in concurrence with when the Southern Pacific Railroad Company owned our property. On my deed history the property transferred sometime in 1913. I have noticed when I dig down about 6 inches under the large gravel, there is chunks of old deteriorating road base. From what I read about date nails, the earliest known was about 1897-98, then the were widely used by the 30's and dropped off in 1969. Very interesting. I will walk my property now to check all my railroad tie fencing. Thanks for the info.

 

[TKgal]

JWbro, the picture is deceptive- when by itself, it does look large like a spike sized nail. I have a picture of the RR spike on the the today's finds from Veteran's Day posts.

 

[TKgal]

I will walk my property now to check all my railroad tie fencing.

I found a "32" in a RR tie fence post yesterday, but it was raining so the boy's and I did not look long.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Nice find! I have a few around here somewhere. I had a lot of them years ago but I have no idea where they are, possibly at my moms house somewhere.

 

[ivan salis]

date nails tended to be in used in telegraph line poles to tell the company when the poles were put into place --(they need replacing every so often) - telegraph lines were used by the train companies in the old days to tell each station which train was up or down bound on the line to avoid them running into one another

 

[Trezurehunter]

Very nice.