Western Railroad Discussion > Cal-P Debris

Speaking of the Cal-P, we were walking the dog on the beach Saturday, just below the ROW, about 200 feet RR west of CP Hercules, and found this. It appears to be an appliance or control rod from a rail car. It's iron or steel, so probably not washed up from the San Pablo Bay, most likely fell down from the ROW. Utterly useless question: what is it?

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Possibly part of a brake rigging.
Regards,DK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/14 16:19 by DKay.

Looks like brake rigging, the square piece with the bolts is most likley off the brake cylinder, the crank part has the rod for the other end of the brake rigging. Doug

Don't look like brake rigging to me, Nothing like I've seen in 8 years at work, Looks more like part of a linkage for a power switch, some high number switch's have a linkage that moves the middle of the switch points along with the motor that's moving the end of the points.

Looks like a peice of an old interlocking. The pipe still has a few support rollers on it and the handle is missing. Looks like a locking type lever that would be up in a tower. If not in a tower, a platform where a trainmen threw the lever and maybe a few more, to open a derail or switch. Too many "things" that would be under a car. Just my thoughts.


Nudge



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/14 20:43 by spnudge.

I agree, it looks like a portion of a manual switch control from an interlocking.
-e.b.

(This is of course a completely useless exercise.) I find it hard to imagine that it's a piece of an interlocking. I do like the switch hypothesis, although the rods seem a little lightweight for that. The plate-and-axle assembly clearly translates the pull action by 90 degrees, which would seem odd if it's a brake cylinder actuator. The queer thing is that I haven't noticed either track or car repairs being done recently here.

It's a piece of an old interlocking plant. There had been one at Davis in the distant past.

OK, I'll buy that. Davis, Niles, Elvas... how the heck did it get here, now? We walk that beach regularly; this is new.

It looks like the linkage for a long switch. Not the 60 mph but the 40 or 50 mph. The 60's use 3 machines to move the points and the frog. The 40's/50's use 1 machine to move the points and the linkage connects to the middle of the point rails.
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1434494
CP Grand is an example of this but it has 2 rods. The single rods may be older, different manufacturer or just a different design to do the same thing.

srlawton Wrote:
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> OK, I'll buy that. Davis, Niles, Elvas... how the
> heck did it get here, now? We walk that beach
> regularly; this is new.


My guess is that it came from CP Hercules. I agree with the previous poster that it looks like a switch point linkage from a 40 or higher dual control turnout.

Case closed. It's the crossover points linkage. Photo 2 is the replacement (looks beefier) and Photo 1 is the power end on the other track.

But, is it standard practice to discard iron like this alongside the ROW, off the property, and onto a beach owned by the State Lands Commission? Not that I've surveyed the property line. Doesn't the scrap have value?

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srlawton Wrote:
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> But, is it standard practice to discard iron like
> this alongside the ROW, off the property, and onto
> a beach owned by the State Lands Commission? Not
> that I've surveyed the property line. Doesn't the
> scrap have value?

More likely one of the many people wandering the shoreline relocated it. Years ago I saw a local scrap collector in that very area pull a red flag down off a pole that was for a maintenance of way form B. He tossed it in his cart of scrap and continued on with his search. The UP would at most have left it right near the switch that is was part of for later pick up.