could this be an old MILW signal post block

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

i was wandering in my woods one day and i syumbled upon a large block of cement with a hole in it and looked to have a post in it at one point an my only thought that it was a spot where there was a signal for the iron ridge to mayville sub in my town if iron ridge. it is only about 50ft from the tracks and thought that it is exactly what it is. I have many pics but can not post them i can email you them

2

That is such an interesting (and historic) area, and there are indeed rail artifacts to be seen in isolated areas.

We can’t rule anything out but somehow that distance from the rails, 50 ft, makes it rather far for a railroad artifact, unless there was a long gone siding or spur to the area, or if the old yard reached that far. Old farms, old industries, old lot lines/fences, and even old houses might all have accounted for such a block of cement. Do we have an approximate mile post for the area? Somewhere I might have an old track chart for the line.

Dave Nelson

3

Following information might also be helpful to identify it:

Dimensions (approx.) of the block of cement ?

Shape and dimensions of the hole for the post ?

Anything in that hole - like a steel or iron sleeve or pipe, etc. ?

  • PDN.
4

well the reason thatit iwas for a signal pole was becuase it looked like it had been there for a long timeandthere still is a part of a pole sticking out of it very rotten but still there and noticeable. But the real cather is that it is on the inside of the railroads property line fence towards the line so i am assuming that it was for the iron ridge yard or to go to the mayville line

it is about only a mile away

i believe the MP is 132 or somethin of the sort

butbeing it is the wsori dont know if itwould havechanged

itused to be the milwaukee road some time ago before theyabandoned it

5

Can you be a little more specific?

MP 131 is right at Highway WS in Woodland, the angled crossing. MP 132 is near the old canning plant just on the outside-skirts of Iron Ridge, in the curve just east of there.

Which side of the tracks, the side you live on or the side closer to the road? What kind of pole, metal or wood? Could be the post for a phone box, plenty are left all along the line. I think this line only had train order signals at the stations. Iron Ridge and Woodland both had stations way back when.

6

If it was a foundation for a signal there would’ve been 4 mounting bolts sticking out of it.