A few weeks ago, I was exploring the ghost town of Kaymoor in the New River Gorge in West Virginia. I walked the old tipple lead past many ruins of coke ovens and house foundations. When I got to where the lead once joined the CSX (ex C&O) main, I decided to save time by walking the main tracks since the tipple lead had many tree branches and grape vines over it. While walking back, I found something that could be interesting to model. At a spot, there was about 40 ft of tarpaper that was between the rails. Next to this section of track, there was also something that resembled a pipe with a flat cap sticking out of the ground vertically about 10 inches. From the object, there were two lines that ran to track joints inside the rails in the center of the tarpaper. From the ends of the lines, there appeared to be black grease looking as if it was expelled from the lines. Could this be a device that lubricates wheel flanges?
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Something Different (Wheel Flange Greaser?)
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That is exactly what it is, and it is easy to model because Details West has the flange lubricator kit. You won't have to worry about the EPA on a model railroad but you can still model the tar paper. This must be an area of heavy greasing and higher speeds or they wouldn't be worrying about the splatter of grease and it getting into the ground.