Monday, March 27, 2006
Torpedos Away ....
On the train home tonight, I noticed a small, red locked metal box in the entryway to my car. The label appeared to read "Fuseless Torpedos."
Intrigued, I asked a conductor about the box.
He explained that:
-- The label actually read "Fusees & Torpedos"
-- Fusees are essentially handheld signal flares
-- In railway parlance, torpedos are something that used to be put under the wheels of a stopped train. If a stopped train rolled, the wheels would roll over the torpedos and cause them to explode, alerting the crew.
According to the conductor, the torpedos are no longer used by New Jersey Transit because when they exploded they sounded too much like gunshots and because train crew were taking them home and playing with them.
Very amusing but a little disappointing. For a few, brief moments I was thrilled to think I might be riding on a torpedo-armed train. Oh, well.
Intrigued, I asked a conductor about the box.
He explained that:
-- The label actually read "Fusees & Torpedos"
-- Fusees are essentially handheld signal flares
-- In railway parlance, torpedos are something that used to be put under the wheels of a stopped train. If a stopped train rolled, the wheels would roll over the torpedos and cause them to explode, alerting the crew.
According to the conductor, the torpedos are no longer used by New Jersey Transit because when they exploded they sounded too much like gunshots and because train crew were taking them home and playing with them.
Very amusing but a little disappointing. For a few, brief moments I was thrilled to think I might be riding on a torpedo-armed train. Oh, well.
