Just a mystery to me what did it. If a hammer wouldn't there be round spots from hammer blows. A train wouldn't it be completely flat where the train ran over it. I believe it is damaged also but with what I wonder....
Not necessarily. I placed many a coin on train tracks in my younger days when I'd visit Chicago. What would happen is the vibrations on the track from the impending train would often move the coin either to the edge of the track and sometimes completely off of it without even going over the coin. This would frequently leave partially flattened coins as seen like the one in the OP's post.
Actually.. Yes it would. There are many stories of kids putting coins on train tracks to get that effect. You could put a coin halfway on the track and only half would get flattened.
Keep in mind that many National Parks have hand presses to distort a cent to make your own souvenir. Under some conditions, it's quite easy to flatten one.
You all are making me want to go metal detect an old train track bridge. Found three when I was there years ago.
Can't you set those detectors to discriminate against iron. I have placed coins on top of the other coins and tried to smash them together before went slow and fast over them back and forth several times.. they become elongated.
A wheel on a train car or engine the contact surface between rail and wheel is about the size of a dime, wheel is beveled, rail as someone on here said is not flat its sloped also. They sure look flat don't they.. That long piece of 136 lb rail 90 foot long bends like a piece of spaghetti.
You definitely can. Except I like finding old toys also, which tend to ring on the lower end Iron, nickel, pull tab.