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[SL] - Overpass Traditional Geocache

Hidden : 2/28/2016
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

The [SL] series is a trail of geocaches following the abandoned Maldon - Shelbourne railway. These caches are centred around the hobby of Railway Archeology, which involves tracing the remains of abandoned railway lines. I recommend beginning the series at Maldon. For a full history of the line see the geocache page for GC5MWN5 [SL] - Shelbourne Station or GC6X3P9 [SL] - Laanecoorie Junction.

This cache is located at the point where Nuggetty Road crossed the railway. Although I've never seen any photographs of it, I believe the road used to cross the railway on an overpass. The deep cutting towards Maldon as well as the height at which the road crosses the railway indicate the presence of an overpass which would have been removed when the railway line was closed to save on maintenance costs. This would have been the only overpass on the line.

Have a look around and see if you can spot any evidence of the overpass. A big piece of evidence is the large square of concrete sticking out of the road embankment on the Maldon side of the road. This would have been a foundation for one of the posts holding up the bridge. One of the farmers has also utilised some of the old bolts and metal rods as part of the fence which can be seen around the cutting. There are also two old rail joining plates incorporated into the fence at the top of the cutting.

The railway cutting towards Maldon:
Taken from the fenceline with the road and cutting behind me, this shows the railway alignment towards Shelbourne.

The cache is located beside the road - please don't disturb the fence as it isn't hidden on there. I was thinking of being really evil here and putting a magnetic nano, but I thought I'd be a little nicer so you're looking for a bison tube inside a larger camo. Plenty of spots for a bigger cache around here but I wanted to hide something a little more challenging. If you like caches with swaps then you have the rest of the series to Shelbourne to look forward to!

Please mention in your log if you find any additional evidence for the overpass (and please make sure you leave it there for others to discover!) and remember the old railway line is on private property on both sides of the road. Please also respect the natural environment when looking for the cache.

Thanks for visiting and have fun!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Angheny pnzb, ybbx ybj.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)