Torpedos were also used at night occasionally by the crews when making a pickup that required a long shove move back to the joint. After cutting away, the crewman would place a torpedo on the rail about 10-15 cars away from the joint.

When shoving back to the joint it is often difficult to locate your train in the dark, so the torpedos would warn the brakie he was getting close.

I say "used to" because torpedos are hard to find on the railroad now. (At CP anyway. I don't know about the others.)

We still make long joints in the dark........

Todd Jones


milw104c@charter.net