Not only buildings show the history of Bodie. There is plenty of machinery that gives some insight into what had gone before in this town. As soon as you leave the parking lot, a selection of machinery from one of the mines has been relocated to let you see how the mines got everything up and down.   The big steam pistons, cable reels and the lift cages the guys went down in are there to wander around.

That isn’t all though.   There are quite a few bits and pieces scattered around the town where they were left. A couple of vehicles are on display in good condition. These are interesting but the ones that were unreserved interested me far more.   The metal parts of small trucks have survived while the wooden frames have rotted away. They leave the skeleton like parts slightly sunk into the ground giving the impression that the whole vehicle has sunk.   The missing bits leave scope for the imagination to wonder at how the whole thing looked.   It is also a detective task to work out exactly what some of the remaining parts are and what joined them together.

Vehicles aren’t the only things to find. Some other machinery is scattered about and that involves even more thought as to what it was for and how it ended up dumped in its current location. The condition of the metalwork is remarkably good. I have no idea whether the park service has done anything to sustain the items but they seem to be petty resilient. I imagine the climate helps to keep things in good shape so hopefully they will be there for generations to come.