I'm puzzled by the trucks. They're obviously not limited by space, so it must be by weight. If they had chosen trucks with a third back axle, they could carry more weight, which means more of these tube thingies per trip, and save costs. yet they didn't.

Is this a red herring?

How about now ??
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6228/...743447c5_z.jpg
BFMB3 by zippyt, on Flickr

They are Rail car Axles ,
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6177/...d898ddd5_z.jpg
Photo070 by zippyt, on Flickr

Whoah, are those big suckers on the truck blanks that get cut down on a lathe or something?

No, because they are looking less and less like torpedoes.

pic 1 is blanks , pic 2 is hammer Milled Blanks , Pic 3 is finished Axle , pic 4 is lame , but the best I have for a rail axle

This is kinda wild. A few days ago I was sitting, waiting for a freight train to go by, and I thought "Those three bolts on the ends of the axles would make a good What Is It? picture."

What's with the one short guy at the front of pic 3 ?

Different rail car type , I suspect a Smallish Coal Car ???

maybe its for one of these. :)

That would be fun , the tricky part is the Steering

but it rides like it's on rails.

alright i might just have one here. here goes....

That's a shock absorber for the new mini mini mini cooper.

lmao! close but not so close!