Old Civil War Railroad Track

[dsterry0578]

I just bought a house back in my home town of Mine Run, VA. There's an old Civil War railroad track that runs right beside our house through the woods. I know that the soldiers use to use it as a lookout point during the Battle of Mine Run during the Winter of 1863. There were major battles throughout that area starting with the Battle of Chancellorsville & the Battle of Wilderness. I plan on hunting the old railroad tracks soon, very soon since it's right beside our house. A mile & a half away, my uncle found an un-discharged artillery shell, it was about 10-12 inches tall. I know there's a lot of stuff around, it's just the matter of finding it and finding a good spot. If I find anything I will post pictures.

 

[Ken from Atlanta]

if there's an electric box chances are it was a relay station for telegraph lines or railroad signals, probably would have been a big rack of glass shelled batteries inside.

 

[dsterry0578]

In the top picture, there's a tree angling up towards the right and if you look behind the tree and to the left, there is an old electric pole that's about 10-12 feet tall. You can't see it in the picture, but it looks like there's an old transformer at the top of the pole and what's left of a real thin single wire. The pole sits about 10 feet away from the structure in question. Right across the road from my house is where the old train depot use to be at. There's a bunch of old creeks that run beside it that have long been dried up. The railroad tracks are no longer there. I know the Confederates used that old railroad during the Battle of Mine Run in 1863. I'm going to hit it hard this spring, before the snakes come back.

 

[RuffandTuff]

Mr. DSTERRY0578, thanks for getting your pictures posted. My memories of the Mine Run area in the 1980's including being at the location of a uranium mine (I dont think it was worth mining then but maybe today because "yellow cake" is more valuable). My prime interest at that time was panning for gold in Mine Run, VA. Thanks, RuffandTuff

 

[ivan salis]

the "single thin wire" your talking about is telegraph wire --when trains were going north bound up a streach of rail road track they wired ahead so that another train was not sent down the track south bound causing a head on crash --- the box might have been booster station --the glass insulateors that kept the wires from touching the pole and thus shorting out are often collectible to rail road buffs and civil war buffs.

 

[Old Dog]

Keep us posted, you have many folks chomping at the bit to hear what you find.

Thom

 

[Monty]

The side view of the old house looks like it may have been part of cistern. The electrical wires probably were added later to run a pump to lift the water up for the train that was a steam engine. Just a guess. Monty

 

[Old Dog]

Either that or a well with a high return volume.

Careful Brother these things can be really deep and cold.
Hard to get out of if you should fall in.

Thom