Where to look where to look?

[+frex3wv]

Went out this week - and looked for mark: GY0289 to no avail.

 

Here is the description:

 

DESCRIBED BY NATIONAL GEODETIC SURVEY 1957 AT MT GAY. AT MT. GAY, AT MONITOR JUNCTION ON THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO RAILWAY, 20 FEET SOUTHWEST OF SOUTHWEST RAIL OF HOLDEN BRANCH TRACK OF THE C. AND O. RY, 160 1/4 FEET NORTHWEST OF FROG POINT OF THE JUNCTION OF HOLDEN AND MONITOR BRANCHES OF C. AND O. RY., 16 FEET NORTHEAST OF NORTHEAST RAIL OF MONITOR JUNCTION TRACK, 8 FEET WEST-NORTHWEST OF A SIGN MONITOR JUNCTION, 11 FEET EAST-SOUTHEAST OF A TELEPHONE POLE, 1 1/2 FEET BELOW LEVEL OF TRACKS AND SET IN THE TOP OF A CONCRETE POST PROJECTING 2 1/2 INCHES.

 

I have to admit I was pretty turned around (due to the description) and unsure where to really find the mark, so........ thoughts from you all? I DO have pics of the area IF it would help.

 

(Off topic: haven't been on in awhile - I hope everyone is well!)

[+macatac1961]

That looks like it's on private property. Either the railroad or that service stations property.

[kayakbird]

frex3wv

 

Are either of the RR tracks at Y 51 still there, or their old grade still discernible?

 

Looks like W, X, Y & Z of this 1935 51 string (all but Y are State Survey disks) were set along a Railroad grade which at some time was abandoned and became a highway (read much wider ROW requirements).

 

kayakbird

[+frex3wv]

Kaya: My sense was I was on the original spot due to the clearly aging poles, metal and signs (VERY rusty etc) in the immediate area. That is the best I can tell.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

The red arrow points to where you should look. Try a different mapping program to see if the details are better.

 

John

 

[68-eldo]

To expand on what John said: I use ACME Mapper in the TOPO mode and use the coordinates from the data sheet. That gets me close. Then I look for the X BM indicating a benchmark, and take the coordinates of the X. It is usually closer to the mark than the scaled coordinates. In this case the scaled coordinates are very close to the location shown on the topo map for BM 669 which seems to be the one you are looking for.

 

Hope this helps

[+frex3wv]

2old: I am not sure how to use another map to see where YOUR arrow is.... BUT I think it looks like i was looking in the wrong general area - I was focused slightly north (looking at your map as it is layed out) of the STRAIGHT part of track that came from the bridge.

 

68: You and I both know those scaled coords can be WAY off so i wasn't paying much attention to them when i got in the area. In your estimation they are close - how close would you say?

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

OK. This is our favorite way of benchmarking. We have Topo 9 on our laptop and GPSrs and the BMXs on the topo maps are normally within 20 ft. We can drive along with me watching the laptop and then I say stop right here, John gets mad because I didn't tell him to stop soon enough, so he backs up a tad and then uses his GPSr to go to the mark (if he doesn't see it out his window).

 

Here is the link to the GC benchmark page where you can click on the topo map on the right side of that page. Zoom in all the way and you will see the BM "X" right where that red arrow is on the map that John posted.

 

Simple.

 

Shirley~

[68-eldo]

The Topo map as far as how things are laid out in relation to each other is about as accurate as you are going to get for scaled marks. As you probably know the Lat Lon on the data sheet came much later and was determined by someone measuring on the Topo map. That is where the error comes in.

 

Using Acme Mapper to get the Lat Lon is only as accurate as the image of the Topo map is laid over the Lat Lon grid. In my limited experience that is frequently a lot more accurate than the scaled coordinates in the data sheet. Also you can see how the surroundings are and you can get a better idea as to where the mark is. Shirley says within 20 ft and I would agree with that.

 

HTH

[Bill93]

Don't forget that the USGS topos (at least the ones I have) are NAD27. Around here there is maybe 50 ft difference between NAD27 and NAD83 or WGS84 and I think some places more than that. You may not be able to read the map any better than that, but why ignore an easy correction? Look at any tri station in your area and compare the superseded NAD27 to the current NAD83 lat-lon to get a local offset correction.

[+Holtie22]

Looking on Google Maps it appears that the RR tracks are still in place. If that is true, this should be a fairly straightforward search. From the description the mark should be very close to 2OF's red arrow, in the "Y" between the two tracks, 160.25 feet west of the junction switch (frog point). Find a point that is 20 feet S of the southerly rail of the straight portion of track that crosses the bridge a little further west, and 16 feet north of the northerly rail of the track that branches to the southwest. See if you can corroborate this location with the calls for the sign and telephone pole. Be careful, though, as you probably will be within the RR ROW.