11/14/21 Report - Identifying Spikes: Two Types of Railroad Spikes. Surf To Get Bigger Soon.

 Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Four of Hundreds of Railroad Spikes.From Single Site.

I've been planning on doing this for a while now but put it off while we had a period of higher surf and tides.

People sometimes confuse railroad spikes with shipwreck spike.  I hope this helps you.

If you've been following this blog, you know I dug hundreds of spikes at a site near the tracks.  They were of a variety of sizes - several sizes between those shown here.

The largest spike is about 7.5 inches, top to bottom, and the smallest is about 3.75 inches tall.

Here are the heads of the same spikes.  

Offset Heads On Same Four Spikes.

The larger spikes are the most common.  They are generally more modern.  The very small ones are rare.

But that is not the only type of spike I found on the railroad site. Here is another type 

Another Type of Spike Found On A Railroad Site.

These spikes are longer, thinner and have a completely different type of head.

Two of these spikes seem to be made of iron and two appear to be made of a less corrosive metal.  All are pretty much the same size and have the same type of head, although the heads of the iron spikes are very corroded.

Heads of Spikes Found At Railroad Site.

The heads are not in good shape.  And they are fairly complex, having a six-sided top sloping to what seems to be a flange.  

I don't know how these spikes were used.  They were rare as compared to the other type of spike - just four compared to hundreds of the other type.

Of course there were also many bolts from the same site as well as nails and other things.

I hope this will help you be more aware of different types of spikes so you won't assume that any spike found in the water or at the beach is a shipwreck spike.

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Turtle Trail Area Saturday.
Photo by DJ

DJ sent in the above photo and following message.

Beach conditions seemed to be as expected. At Wabasso, the concrete on the seawall that had 4 feet of air under it is almost sitting on the sand that built back. Saw about four hunters there. The front was sloped and the coarse sand was about 8 inches down.

Turtle Trail had about four hunters as well and looked like a summer beach. The two indicator posts we talked about last week were completely covered. Some shreds of blue bags were visible. Last high tide did not quite reach up to the dunes but brought in a large amount of small plastic bits...

Washed Up Debris.
Photo by DJ.

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Looks like we might get another chance before long.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net