Violence in railroading: track torpedoes, fusees and derails

[David Nebenzahl]

Read all about it:

(seen on another newsgroup)

[bladeslinger]

torpedoes are no longer used by any of the major carriers that I know of.

and for sure, I can tell you that NS stopped using them about 8 or 9 years ago.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 1/24/2010 2:44 PM bladeslinger spake thus:

Well, yeah; I think that was covered in the article.

And they seem to have gotten at least one thing wrong: they probably never used actual dynamite in them. (As someone on that other newsgroup said, they were probably using the term dynamite in the sense of "something that makes a really big bang when ignited".)

[Beachbum]

I can vouch for the "big bang". I worked for Uncle Pete in the wheel shop at Omaha. We had a 10 or 20 ton bridge crane operated by a man in the open cab for moving the traction motors and setting in the wheelsets during assembly. Horseplay was the norm back then (70s -80s), and someone decided to place a torpedo on the rail of the crane while the operator was on the floor for lunch. They went to the trouble of placing it strategically right outside the second floor wall of the foreman's office, so when the operator climbed up into the cab and made his first pass to the far end, just as he passed the office, the torpedo blew! I would swear the bridge of the crane rose a foot in the air on that side, and of course the foreman and office staff came running out. The operator's cab was on the opposite side of the bridge from the office, and two stories off the floor, but you could see his face go white nonetheless. Ahhh, for the good old days!

By the way, the torpedoes were about 2" square and 1" thick, somewhat pillow shaped with spring metal straps on the bottom for securing to the rails. Normally, you would place several in a row. There may have been a code too it seems, with regard to how many you placed. They were not "ignited", but rather were set off by the compression of being run over. They were pretty stable otherwise, judging by the way they were handled/stored. I am also fairly certain they were not flammable, as they were always kept on the loco, usually in the cab or toilet room, in the same portable holder as the fusees.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 1/24/2010 8:25 PM Beachbum spake thus:

I'm crossposting this back to the NG where I first saw this. I think they might appreciate your little story there (I know I did).

[Mike]

Thanks for the cool story. I did a search on youtube for train torpedos and found this excellent play list of videos of explosions. I particularly like the one where they dynamited that whale. The Oregon shakey bridge video is in there, too. Good stuff.

Mike

[LDosser]

Thanks for the cool story. I did a search on youtube for train torpedos and found this excellent play list of videos of explosions. I particularly like the one where they dynamited that whale. The Oregon shakey bridge video is in there, too. Good stuff.

Mike

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Perhaps you are referring to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge which, not surprisingly was in Tacoma, Washington - and as is the new crossing.

[Mike]

Well, the dead whale was in Oregon. Close.

[LDosser]

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Well, the dead whale was in Oregon. Close.

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Yes, it was. I knew some fools who rushed down there for the event ...