texture, tactile experience with artifacts

How could I forget my toys? Wonderful objects they are...some structurally fragile, others cold to the touch. All of them have one thing in common: a unique tactile and textural opportunity. Even the artifacts made of the same material or are of the same "type" all hold a special experience by themselves, almost like a personal genetic code. The two items shown here were once very important to a train car but were discarded and forgotten about, much like everything else we found on our adventure.
If I had to take a guess, I'd say this device once connected and held two train cars together (not by itself of course). The iron latch, aside from its rusting outer layer, is in better shape relative to the rest of the other artifact material types. It carries a heavy appearance, a solid mass that weighs just as much as it looks.
Moving the latches on the end is still fairly easy as they surprisingly haven't rusted tight. One can only imagine the immense tension occurring within this locking device between two train cars. Running my fingers across several areas, it reminded me of sand paper although there was a substantial difference between the different mechanisms.
The sides have a finer feel then the center faces, perhaps because of a combination of the object's center of gravity (central mechanism) and inability to stay upright. The joints are distinctly rougher then the various surface areas.
Tiny craters seem to be in high concentration in that area but are also scattered about the entire artifact, like there is some sort of organism that can eat through the metal and carve out a home. The serial number is still visible and offers its own identity to my finger tips, subtle depressions in the iron skin allowing me to read without my eyes....

The second artifact, the train car wheel break...another device of action. How many breaks are there on a single train car? On a whole train (cars included)? The amount of force required to stop an object with such tremendous momentum is unbelievable...not so much when there are a couple hundred breaks to help out I suppose.
It seems to be a composition of iron and type of ceramic (break surface). While the iron side has a similar sand paper texture to our first artifact, some of the skin is flaky and easily chipped off when brushed up against. There also appears to be a decal of some sort although I can't tell what it is anymore because of the deterioration caused by the hostile environment it was in.
The cylindrical negative space has the same ceramic surface as the pad on the underside of the break. Both are severely cracked and fractured, worn down by the numerous times it was responsible for applying pressure to the wheels of the train car.
The smaller perpendicular cross opening in the cylindrical form might have been where another mechanical piece was connected to another form within the negative space.
This was my favorite part about the break...it actually looks like it might be a map. No X marks the spot for buried treasure.

Maybe next time.