Railroad slag?

[Artfuldodger]

I was hiking down a trail that was a converted railroad track. I found some tiny pieces of what appear to be something melted. Mostly little pieces that look like slick little kidney stones.
Thinking it may be slag. Was slag something that came from the boilers or was made in kiln and dumped on the tracks for ballast?

 

[Artfuldodger]

Also found some little pieces of what looks like Jet.

This was the trail over in South Carolina;

https://www.savannahlakes.com/trail

 

[cohuttahunter]

This is different than what you are describing but I've often wondered about the history of this piece of molten metal that I found in Rough Creek that comes off the Big Frog into the Ocoee. This is a lonely place nowadays but there is lots of logging history in that area from the early 1900's and there is no telling how it got there or what is was from.

 

[NCHillbilly]

That trail runs right by my land, and through the middle of my buddy’s farm. It is a major source of bitter hate for every landowner along it in McCormick county. It was built illegally, as the railroad bed easement reverted back to the landowners when the track was abandoned, it says so on the deeds. Then the county decided to grab it 30 years later, and now folks have people they don’t know walking all over their land and through their backyards. Lawsuits are in progress.

What section of it were you on?

 

[Ruger#3]

http://www.nationalslag.org/common-uses-slag

 

[Nicodemus]

Sounds like clinkers.

As for Rails For Trails, I have no use for that organization.

 

[Artfuldodger]

That trail runs right by my land, and through the middle of my buddy’s farm. It is a major source of bitter hate for every landowner along it in McCormick county. It was built illegally, as the railroad bed easement reverted back to the landowners when the track was abandoned, it says so on the deeds. Then the county decided to grab it 30 years later, and now folks have people they don’t know walking all over their land and through their backyards. Lawsuits are in progress.

What section of it were you on?

Where the railroad trail crossed State Rd. S-33-110. We walked parallel to state road S-33-7 past over a Trestle at Mill Creek. It was actually the back waters of Clark Hill Lake at that part of the Trail. You can see the trestle from hwy 7, it has a US flag on it.

The we returned to hwy 33 and walked towards Huguenot Parkway. Going that way we saw a sign that said location of Bordeaux Railroad Depot which is now in the middle of the woods.

You can see the railroad trestle over Mill Creek to the left of the Hwy 7 bridge in this Google map image;

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9376315,-82.4276852,299m/data=!3m1!1e3

I think the trail continues in that direction to Willington. There are two highways headed into Willington with the old railroad in between them. Hwy 81 and Moss Ave.(state rd s-33-196.)

 

[Artfuldodger]

Sounds like clinkers.

As for Rails For Trails, I have no use for that organization.

Yep looks more like clinkers. I googled locomotive clinkers. The pieces I found were very small. They looked really cool. It was near the old railroad depot/station.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Where the railroad trail crossed State Rd. S-33-110. We walked parallel to state road S-33-7 past over a Trestle at Mill Creek. It was actually the back waters of Clark Hill Lake at that part of the Trail. You can see the trestle from hwy 7, it has a US flag on it.

The we returned to hwy 33 and walked towards Huguenot Parkway. Going that way we saw a sign that said location of Bordeaux Railroad Depot which is now in the middle of the woods.

You can see the railroad trestle over Mill Creek to the left of the Hwy 7 bridge in this Google map image;

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9376315,-82.4276852,299m/data=!3m1!1e3

I think the trail continues in that direction to Willington. There are two highways headed into Willington with the old railroad in between them. Hwy 81 and Moss Ave.(state rd s-33-196.)

Yeah, I know the area well. That trestle is only a few hundred yards from my buddy's land. Mill creek runs across my land a ways upstream. My place is right off Moss Ave, within a stone's throw of the old rr bed.

 

[Artfuldodger]

This is different than what you are describing but I've often wondered about the history of this piece of molten metal that I found in Rough Creek that comes off the Big Frog into the Ocoee. This is a lonely place nowadays but there is lots of logging history in that area from the early 1900's and there is no telling how it got there or what is was from.

Maybe that's slag, is it magnetic? Is slag magnetic? That is a pretty remote area. Was also some sawmills in the area. I'm not sure what of that industry would produce molten metal.
Any old maps of railroads where you found it?

I'm not sure in that exact location but in the Cohutta Wilderness 70 percent of the area was logged between 1915 and 1930. After the Depression, the Beech Creek, Rough Creek, Rock Wall, Poplar Creek, and Penitentiary Creek areas were logged.

The railroads were dismantled and the rails removed in 1937. Remnants of ties and trestles can be found today. Also one can occasionally find dynamite drills in rocks, spikes, cables, steel support rods, horseshoes, and old building foundations.

https://www.sherpaguides.com/georgia/mountains/blue_ridge/western/cohutta_wilderness.html

 

[Artfuldodger]

Was slag even used for railroad beds in Georgia?

 

[Stroker]

Was slag even used for railroad beds in Georgia?[/QUOTE

Probably mixed in, back in those days they had plenty of it, had to do something with it. It was used on the play ground in my elementary school days, but it came from the coal fired furnace under the school.

 

[cohuttahunter]

Maybe that's slag, is it magnetic? Is slag magnetic? That is a pretty remote area. Was also some sawmills in the area. I'm not sure what of that industry would produce molten metal.
Any old maps of railroads where you found it?

I'm not sure in that exact location but in the Cohutta Wilderness 70 percent of the area was logged between 1915 and 1930. After the Depression, the Beech Creek, Rough Creek, Rock Wall, Poplar Creek, and Penitentiary Creek areas were logged.

The railroads were dismantled and the rails removed in 1937. Remnants of ties and trestles can be found today. Also one can occasionally find dynamite drills in rocks, spikes, cables, steel support rods, horseshoes, and old building foundations.

https://www.sherpaguides.com/georgia/mountains/blue_ridge/western/cohutta_wilderness.html

The piece I have is Not magnetic. And you are correct, the cohutta area is full of leftovers from the logging and railroad days, over the years I have found spikes, rails, chains, grab hooks, flywheel from saw mills, coffee pots, the list goes on and on. After the flash flood on conasauga and jacks river earlier this year I saw an insulator for a telegraph line, that was a first for me.

 

[Artfuldodger]

The piece I have is Not magnetic. And you are correct, the cohutta area is full of leftovers from the logging and railroad days, over the years I have found spikes, rails, chains, grab hooks, flywheel from saw mills, coffee pots, the list goes on and on. After the flash flood on conasauga and jacks river earlier this year I saw an insulator for a telegraph line, that was a first for me.

Interesting, you need a metal detector! The piece of molten metal you found, is it attracted to a magnet? That was what I meant instead of being magnetic itself.
Anyway with that much activity going on back in the logging days, who knows. I'd love to find some old bottles. The insulator was a good find.

The closest I've ever came to the Cohutta was looking at it from Fort Mountain. I'd love to hike the Conasauga River or Jacks River trails.

 

[cohuttahunter]

The piece I found in the photo is not attracted to a magnet, that's what I meant too.

 

[gunnurse]

Could it be molten pieces of brake shoes or rail wheels from friction braking?