An old railroad shovel

usually, in good shape, they will sell for about 25 to 35 dollars (US). Is it the "D" headed coal shovel? Is the shovel end in good shape? Sometimes theyve been torn and then repaired by soldering a rod along the tear. Repaired ones can actually be worth more because of the workmanship.

The letters (I assume its along the wooden handle) were probably carved in there by some fireman or Gandy dancer who was topping off the coal tender.

Ive got a few and since its not a hugely valuable artifact, I soaked the wooden handle in some ketone based wood hardener (Not the kind thats like Elmers Glue). The ketone hardeners are HDPE and this
plastic sets among the wood fibres and keeps it from dry rotting if it got wet and the wooden handle seems "punky".
Hardeners will also dress it up without changing its color or structure. it wont give the wood a high gloss either.

The metal is usually a rolled steel and just keep it from rusting too badly. STABILIZE this , dont paint it with black paint

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=****%20off%20a%20shovel

Yummy.

Yes it has a wooden D handle and it's in perfect shape

The most I spent was 30 bucks. So If the fireman was Casey Jones helper, its in that range.
Any documentation?
One of the shovels I have was from a place called "Duffy's Cut" and was used to feed the engine that brought in track and ties.