Derailed? (p2)
If your looking off into the woods when walking the old Q&TL grade just east of the roundhouse you are bound to find the wrecked tender sitting upside down. Its rather large and hard to miss. The second car that sits wrecked nearby is a little harder to find. We had almost missed it the first time, until we literally tripped over it going back up to the trail. Once again I’m not sure what this was, but it looks alot like the other cars you can still se scattered across the Quincy mine property. I think this was a side dumping car, one that off-loaded its contents by tipping over to one side. Whatever it was there really isn’t much left today. Either the crash took a heavy toll or time did. Or both…
This car is mostly made up of a collection of iron straps and bars, connected to the remains of wooden slats. This car is still right side up as far as I can tell, rectangular in shape, and roughly 2-3 feet in height. The wheels are missing on this guy as well as the tender, and I assume that when salvaging a wreck those wheels were priority. The wood is bleached a light grey, and the iron straps are covered by a good layer of oxidation. This baby has been here awhile.
Most of the wood has rotted away over the years, leaving strips of iron strapping such as this in its place. I assume that those bolts once fastened a piece of wood down to this strap, but the wood is long gone.
It is the closest end to the old grade that is in the best shape. Here is a series of angle iron and straps connected to a wood face with a series of bolts. If this was a side dumping car, this tangle of metal was part of the dumping mechanism - a pivot of sorts where the top portion of the car would be tilted for dumping. Check out the BIG PICTURE to get a better look.
These bolts and rods run along the long side of the hopper, probably used to keep the thing from splitting apart from the weight of the copper rock inside. We have seen these on more ore car remains along the line.
A closer view of a pin holding the whole thing together. This pin would seem to suggest that the rod sitting behind it was meant to be removed for some reason. I find it interesting to think that this metal pin was placed here over a century ago by a man who’s been dead for probably over 60 years. His legacy still remains to this day however.