Trackside Iron Works

A bit of gun oil, a rag, and a bit of polishing and up comes BRITISH MADE, and H. Brindley 1943!

Some days it's just nice to have a seat at the work bench, and clean up a couple nifty old tools someone found in a tunnel far beneath a WWII gun pit near Victoria a half-century ago⏳

An expedition along Vancouver Island's old railways yielded a number of treasures yesterday💰

Recovered from the forest floors for preservation were numerous glass insulators, still commonplace if you know where to search🔦

Less common is the iconic, diamond-shaped steel whistle sign⚠️ Used to indicate crossings on the tracks ahead, the W is still discernible behind the rust🔎

Also unearthed was a railway spike pry bar, with its wide-set claw and recognizably pronounced, heavily forged iron heel for maximized leverage🔧

Fourth on the inventory, but forty-third on the route🚂 marker post 43, still sporting its decades-old hand-painted numbers indicating its position forty-three miles from Mile Zero in Victoria🗺️

Four of the thousands of artifacts discarded by the railway companies throughout the last one hundred and forty years on Vancouver Island, these will be preserved and their stories told, instead of sinking below the surface of the ground, lost to mud and time⌛️

Testing out the new, *highly* portable ArcCaptain 130 gasless welder with brand new, future welding ace Alex👨‍🏭

Prior to telephone and internet📲 communication over land was accomplished in one instance through telegraph lines, strung along the fastest existing avenue of transportation of the day, the railway🚂

Although communications have upgraded and supposedly improved since the days of tap-tap-tapping on a telegraph key, it's still possible even now to dig up remnants of the old telegraph lines along Vancouver Island's railways🪏

These glass insulators, manufactured by Dominion and used by Canadian Pacific Railway for decades along their tracks, sat on these accompanying wooden pegs atop telegraph poles🪜

A new set of wooden pegs and accompanying cross arm has been constructed for the purpose of re-creating a telegraph system along the rail right-of-way outside the shop👨‍🏭

These treasures of yesteryear were chopped down 50 years ago and left to rot by the railway companies, but glass endures forever, and the wood's high creosote content has preserved it, in some cases in excellent condition👌 These have been recovered and added to the Trackside Ironworks historical collection, and secured inside out of the weather for visitors to examine and enjoy📜

Their like won't ever be made again. Once they're gone, they're gone⌛️

Emergency services are always looking for solid team mates to join their crews, and you don't get any more solid than this iron firefighter💪

Composed entirely of 100% recycled, solid steel construction, and based on a railway spike, the weight of this firefighter alone could breach a door in a hurry🪓
He's been permanently assigned to keep watch in a local firefighter's living room, following fierce competition at a Secret Santa event a couple of weeks ago🎁

Watch for more solid iron figures coming soon!👨‍🏭