Patton Clay Manufacturing Company Paver

The summer of 2022 has been a very dry one here in Massachusetts.  While taking a walk along the old Boston & Maine Railroad's Fitchburg line in Ayer MA, I noticed part of an antique brick embedded in the compacted dirt which makes up the parallel access road.  I found a nice stick and started to excavate the brick, resulting in a fine dirt "powder" mixed with what looked like a century of coal and/or petroleum product residue floating up and over my brand new shoes, the ground was so dry.

What I didn't realize at the time was the ground (and brick) was rather hot, too!  I burned my finger tips without even knowing it until later in the day.

What I ended up with for my effort was half of a reddish clay paver.  Being only a casual accumulator of old bricks, I posted photos of it on two Facebook groups to see if anyone could tell me what brand of paver I found.

One person answered: Patton Paver, made by the Patton Clay Manufacturing Company Inc. of Patton PA.   

Patton Paver "in situ", Ayer MA

Post-excavation

 

Patton's products were shipped as far as Paris, Rome, and the Panama Canal.  The company was founded in 1895 and closed for good in 1984.  

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So I now know who made this paver.  But WHY was it where I found it?  

This ROW (right of way) is very old, and still active.  There used to be a second rail line at the location, the Stony Brook line, so there may have been a third rail where the current dirt access road is.  But as far as I can tell, there has never been a station and/or depot at this location.  So was there once a derailment or other accident in the distant past which deposited this brick along the ROW?  If so, shouldn't there be more of them around?

How does only one paver end up in the access road, and stay even remotely intact after decades and decades of rain, snow, ice, heat, and heavy truck traffic?

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RELATED LINKS:

http://www.pattonboro.com/patton-paver-clayworks-memorial/