Just some general recall -

My grandfather worked in the NYC Baker Street roundhouse and told me a few stories about torpedoes, and I used them occasionally when I was in T&E at Conrail. His favorite story was that they had a third trick roundhouse foreman who liked to set everybody to work then hole up in his office and take a nap. Occasionally when there was an engine in the stall next to the foreman's office, someone would climb up into the cab and strap a torpedo to a hammer and toss it out onto the concrete floor next to the office door, naturally scaring the crap out of the sleeping foreman. His descriptions of the foreman's reactions were great. One time the torpedo-launched hammer went through the (closed) office window, showering the desk inside with glass, which slowed the use of 'wake-up calls'.

On Conrail, I remember when using them as shove markers, they were only good for about 25 car lengths, and you had to have your head out the window to hear them. If there was snow on the ground or the wind was blowing, you couldn't hear them at that distance. When we used them in the same location, there were rarely any straps left nearby - most of them went flying as shrapnel. At 50 MPH they sounded slightly louder than if a kid had hit the side of the cab with a spike or tie plate with the windows closed. They got more use around the 4th of July and New Year's Eve than any signal use at that point (late 80s).

There is no proper way of displaying a torpedo at a museum. Honestly these things do not need to be in a museum or around General Public. Black powder is acidic and does eat through whatever it's in eventually. I heard of museums having these things on shelves for 20 years and they blow up at the slightest touch. If anyone has these at a railroad museum I would highly recommend you call the bomb squad and get them removed especially if they've been there for 20 years. Most people who run a railroad museum are not explosives experts

Everyone's alleged that. No one has said just where and when.

The definition of an "urban legend."

As stated above, such over-reaction to a prospective hazard has the ability to backfire. It's the same mentality as digging a pit and burying the chopped-up remains of a steam locomotive in it because some leftover asbestos was found (and I remember that actually happening to one park-display loco!).

As an engineer I can say with certainty that inside a closed engine cab on today's engines, with either the AC or the heater fan blowing... a torpedo shot is barely noticed.

Either yesteryears torpedos packed more explosive power than the ones I've had access to in the past 20 years, or they've got the cab extraordinarily soundproofed on modern locomotives.

I'd venture that the reason they laid more than one in succession on the rail to alert engine crews is that the chance of not hearing one go off is high because they're not really that loud in the cab... they're not even that loud when you're standing on the ground next to them when they go off. The more that explode, the better the chance of hearing one of them go off.

If I get a chance, I'll put some down and video them going off... next installment.

Oh, and P.S.~ back when they were a common item, one of my switchmen took a whole box of them and put them in the closed knuckle of a boxcar and kicked another car down on top of it... made a hell of a boom and the joint didn't make and the car rolled away from the joint. Don't know if the pin failed to fall cause of that, or because it just didn't fall. Same switchman was also fond of making "sparkler bombs"... youtube has a few videos of those, if you aren't familiar with the concept.

Ummm, note that "Captain Steam" just joined with post no. 1 in this thread.

Yup.

My observation is Sandy is getting soft. :-)

Bob

Well let's see... we have now had people claim that these things are dynamite, TNT, black powder, and that they sweat nitroglycerin... also that they'll creep into your house at night and steal your young'uns. Has anybody actually looked up an MSDS for these things?

Turns out they are mostly Potassium Chlorate and sulfur, same as common book matches.

Lets not get over excited here.

I think I'd be more concerned with the disregard for 20lb propane cylinders and 5 gallon cans of gasoline......those have some real potential.

Bob D.

The general public probably recognizes that a propane cylinder or a gasoline can is hazardous and they should be cautious, but they don't know what a torpedo is. Old steel propane cylinders and old gas cans rust out and leak so don't try to set off a torpedo in their general vicinity,LOL. MSDS sheets were first required by OSHA in 1981. Torpedoes that were made after that date may not be the same as those that are much older. It would be interesting to see a Safety Sheet or instruction sheet from torpedoes that were made in the fifties or sixties. These things continue to turn up, sometimes fastened to a lantern that hasn't been used in more than half a century or in a flagman's fusee kit, or sometimes in large numbers in an old supply room. Who knows how old they are if you can't read the date on them and who knows what the contents are? If there is a chance that they are unstable do you want to rummage around and handle them? I do know that when we found a supply of them in an old explosion proof box that was used by the B&O, the Cleveland Division Of Fire and the Cleveland Bomb Squad were extremely cautious about handling them. In 2006 Trains Magazine published an article about railroad safety devices and they stated that torpedoes "contained a small portion of dynamite", and unstable dynamite sweats nitroglycerin. Perhaps that is where the urban myth started, and Trains Magazine may not have checked that "fact". Or maybe a long time ago torpedoes were much more hazardous.

If I were a firefighter I would also be extremely cautious around something called a "torpedo", or around ANY old flammable or explosive material. No matter the material stuff does degrade as it ages, and when you don't know exactly how it was stored or exactly how old it is that gives additional reason to be cautious, especially if there is a whole crate of the material.

It is still not uncommon for old dynamite to be found in farm sheds. Perhaps the fire department simply applied the same response to that box of torpedoes.

Fusees do indeed go off with a bang when run over, just like a torpedo. They also burn hot enough to melt and/or burn through steel, which comes in handy if you have run through a switch and want to repair it without the boss finding out... and they are still stocked on every locomotive.

While I would not be surprised to learn that the chemical composition of torpedoes has changed over time, or varied between railroads and manufacturers (was there more than one?), I would be hesitant to accept that they once contained dynamite without confirmation from an official source (I.E. not just because Trains Magazine said so).

This is coming from someone that hauled stuff way more dangerous than RR torpedoes. I hauled stuff that tended to make holes in the ground that swallowed tanks. I hauled 1.1 explosive's for a while and we laughed when the paperwork stated 1.4 on the placards we would install. Consumer grade fireworks are 1.3 rifle ammo is not even considered hazardous material. That's right a self contained FMJ round is not considered explosive. Yet your losing your shirt over something that is less dangerous than a brick of firecrackers we all played with as kids. Sorry but you all need a wake up call. Yes 1.4 is still dangerous to a degree but it is less dangerous than Tannerite ammonia Nitrate and flour and grain dusts. Yes those are more dangerous than your torpedoes by a longshot.

Dude... no they don't.

Maybe melt was the wrong word, but fusees will get steel red-hot and soften it somewhat. Fortunately I have never run through a switch, but I know others who have had to use that trick.

I have wrecked and burned holes through some steel pails and barrels with fusees, not sure what they would to to thick steel plate (suspect not much). My point was that fusees/road flares are not as benign as some people would think, and the railroads still see fit (are required) to have them around. But when stored and used properly they are not dangerous.

Hmmmm..... So that's where they went. Thought it was awful quiet for the last few weeks....