Congratulations on your win Alan. If I had railroad track near me I'd be out looking for them to have a collection. Well done image.

Hi Tanya, Thanks :) Glad you liked my photo.. It's getting harder to find the glass balls. Hey winter is coming you might need to collect some coal to keep warm LOL..

Thanks :) Beverly... I guess I should add into the description what it is now that the contest is over. These glass balls are the raw materials used in the making of fiberglass. They were carried in open railroad box cars, so they tend to bounce out. When the freight car reaches the plant, the balls are unloaded then melted. Making the glass into balls made it easy to load and unload.

Thanks very much Ann and Lulu :) I never thought when I was playing around taking this photo that it would be enjoyed so much...

Congratulations Alan on your win of the "What is it" contest. I thought it was a great photograph as well as mystery capture.

Congrats on the winning photo!

Carol

Congratulations Alan, I never saw and heard of it.

Very interesting to see it, yes by photographing you can learn a lot.

Ciao Ikka

Hi Alex, I guess they only hauled the glass balls down certain tracks. We found them years and years ago, they worked on the track bed and now they are hard to find. Now you have to look for them a ways away from the tracks. Thanks very much Karen and Alandra for your nice thoughts about my photo. The grandkids did have a blast looking for them and would yell out every time they found one. I think if you do a search for glass balls railroad you might find more about them.

Even after reading your description, this is a lovely photo on its own. I had no idea other than a glass sphere.

Well I think it's time to reveal what my photo is. Have you ever been walking along a railroad track and found some glass balls? These balls are the raw materials used in the making of fiberglass. They were carried in open box cars, so they tend to bounce out. When the freight car reaches the plant, the balls are unloaded then melted. Making the glass into balls made it easy to load and unload the glass.

So for my photo I set one of the (glass balls) on the edge of my birdbath and the sun was hitting it just right. On our trips from Arizona to Barstow California we would always stop for a break along the tracks and pick up some of the balls. The grandkids like playing with them so now they are all around the outside of our house and in my shop LOL.. The glass balls are a little larger than the large marbles that we use to call shooters. The glass balls are roughly made and not perfectly round or smooth.

Alan, Is this an indicator reflection disc to identify the name, number of the railway track line?

Well Brian, nope it's not a pearl or bead, and sorry Alex it's not a button with a train on it LOL...

Ok here is another hint.. You can find these on the ground along railroad tracks.

thank you Allan,my brother was late as well.If its not a pebble is it a pearl or a bead

Is it a glossy pebble

to me looks also like a paperweight, but by a railroad maybe a light to show in the darkness some points, but what kind of points..

a spike for a railroad tie.

Nope not a paper weight or a marble. A marble is close but it's not smooth or perfectly round like a marble.

I also think it could be a glass paper weight.