Nostalgia & History > Train Signal Devices - Torpedos, Fusees, Flags

In their day, these were common signaling devices on most railroads, but nowadays with technological changes, they no doubt are items of the past eras, other than the fusee. I've seen the fusee available yet to the public for emergency traffic signals. The only flags I see used now are by MOW personnel when marking work areas and for some short-line operations on the coupler of the rear car in lieu of a FRED. In the mid-1960's I recall seeing green and yellow as well as red flags used by the Northern Pacific MOW department. I presume the fusee is still carried on some locomotives for use when protecting train operations at grade crossings during fog or other areas times of low visibility. The torpedo, an explosive device applied to the rail head to be detonated by a following train as a stop signal, probably has given way to the higher tech radio communications and likewise, for safety reasons.

In my adolescent years I was led to believe that after some aging, the fusee's and torpedos material was unsafe/unstable and might easily detonate if improperly handled, and especially that the torpedo contained some elements similar in nature to that used in nitroglycerin. I do recall that the Olin-Mathieson and Lakeside Chemical fusee usually carried a manufacturing date. Would this have been for instability reasons or more for proper coloration? The torpedos that I saw were not dated to my knowledge. I've seen in some rail related museums an example of a torpedo, but would assume the explosive charge would have been removed from within the paper wrapper prior to displaying. The original torpedos having the lead straps, would now be required to be "lead free". These straps were later replaced by a spring-like material for attaching to the railhead. Today I'd presume the torpedos are considered an illegal explosive, to be controlled as other explosives by the ATF division of the Federal Government. With past and current railroaders here on TO's, I'd like to hear what their safety training and take was with both these devices and whether anyone suffered any accidents from such ignited devices.

While switching at Bassett, California, (just West of City of Industry), about 1964, I spilled some of the molten matter from from a fusee into my wellington boots. Wow, did that hurt! It was months before that damn burn healed. That stuff is really hot!

Norm

LOL, my green conductor just did that a few nights ago! I'm always quick to put them down somewhere once they are lit.

aronco Wrote:
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> While switching at Bassett, California, (just West
> of City of Industry), about 1964, I spilled some
> of the molten matter from from a fusee into my
> wellington boots. Wow, did that hurt! It was
> months before that damn burn healed. That stuff
> is really hot!
>
> Norm

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

remember a conductor on the end of a caboose on a shove move was the recipient of two blasts from torpedoes placed by supervisors doing a deficiency test...seems he collected a tidy sum and soon after the torpedoes were gone for good.......

Sometimes I would find an old wet fusee in the ditch, cut it open, and sprinkle that yellow granular stuff on top of the rail for a few feet. Whet a train came by and ran over it, it crackled & smoked. Or, I'd sprinkle it down on the rail ahead of my own train at a meet, and see if the conductor noticed the sound when we left.

I was told it was the same powder in fusees & torpedo's, as previous post said about putting some on the ball of the rail.

The torpedo's were sealed in a waterproof wrap. It not only could be heard in the cab at speed but they gave off a puff of smoke and the smell of sulfur.

Nudge

I know that melting material is hot and can't imagine one getting it in a boot. WOW!!

Back in the mid to late 1950's I recall on the Missouri Pacific RR at Horace, KS that there was always a good stock of fusee's in the car inspectors store room. Not only did some of the railroaders, but some towns people got access to some of these fusee's and used them in their dugout residences or beneath the crawl spaces of their houses to supposedly control rodents with the sulphur aroma. I never knew of anyone burning anything other than the fusee, but guess they thought that helped for the occasion before other baits became available. I sure don't like the rodents, but I can't stand the sulphur smell either and I guess they had a stomach for it.

I have a couple torpedo's and fusees and would like to display them in our museum. Where and how would be the best and safest way to do this? Could I take this to Fort Riley and have somebody there do this? Any and all info would be appreciated. upkpfan

rrman6 Wrote:
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> I know that melting material is hot and can't
> imagine one getting it in a boot. WOW!!
>
> Back in the mid to late 1950's I recall on the
> Missouri Pacific RR at Horace, KS that there was
> always a good stock of fusee's in the car
> inspectors store room. Not only did some of the
> railroaders, but some towns people got access to
> some of these fusee's and used them in their
> dugout residences or beneath the crawl spaces of
> their houses to supposedly control rodents with
> the sulphur aroma. I never knew of anyone burning
> anything other than the fusee, but guess they
> thought that helped for the occasion before other
> baits became available. I sure don't like the
> rodents, but I can't stand the sulphur smell
> either and I guess they had a stomach for it.


Every spring I light one or two and stick them in mole runs & let them burn a few minutes in several locations. It doesn't hurt the grass, and since the runs ventilate, the smoke & fumes are carried quite a ways, The moles usually relocate after that.

It may be possible to use motor oil to make the explosive materials inert. That might be pretty easy with the fusee which might be punctured through the bottom. If the bottom can be punctured it might be possible to remove the bottom plug and drain the material out and replace it with sand.

The torpedo will be more challenging. It is possible to cut the wrapping paper and remove the charge. I think this could be dangerous if something sparks. The charge could be dropped into oil and might become inert. The charge could be replaced with Femo? clay from a craft store and rewrapped when it dries.

Your local fire department or police might help you with this. If you have a half dozen or so of the torpedoes ATF might find issue with your storage and possession of these devices. The fusees should not be a problem since they can be purchased in any auto parts store.

Fusees used to come in red, yellow and green. It was too hard to differentiate the green from yellow so they were discontinued. Some red ones had spikes on the bottom so they could be stuck standing up in a tie for visibility. You could find some cabooses where a dartboard target was drawn on the plywood walls and these fussees were used as darts. So the spiked fussees went away as well.




upkpfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a couple torpedo's and fusees and would
> like to display them in our museum. Where and how
> would be the best and safest way to do this? Could
> I take this to Fort Riley and have somebody there
> do this? Any and all info would be appreciated.
> upkpfan

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

With the statutes of limitation safely on my side I'll tell about a prank a friend and I pulled with a torpedo around 1961. Growing up in San Francisco the Espee was my railroad to watch trains. While wandering around inside some SP and WP wooden caboose on the Bayshore deadline in 1959 I found a supply of torpedos in one of the SP cabooses. I knew what they were and how dangerous they could be if used improperly.

My friend, who was also a budding railfan, asked if I had ever put a torpedo on the Muni Railway's streetcar tracks. I said I tried with limited success. Yes, they would explode loudly when streetcar wheels went over them, but since it was streetcar girder rails in the street, there wasn't a good way to secure the torpedo with the lead straps. Sometimes a passing car would run over and move the torpedo off the tracks.

One evening we rode the L-Taraval streetcar to the Forest Hill station, which was one of the two stops underneath Twin Peaks in Muni's Twin Peaks tunnel. It was late in the evening (probably around 10:00PM) and we waited for the streetcar to depart down the line. We were the only two people in the cavernous platform area. I jumped down to the tracks and ran about 50 feet to the north (towards Market Street) and wrapped the torpedo around the rail and ran back. Streetcar traffic was light at this time of the evening so I felt safe.

There were elevators for passengers to use to go between the streetcar tracks and the Forest Hill station high above at street level. We were thinking of using one when we heard a streetcar approaching, so we started running up the many stairs instead. We pushed through the doors into the lobby of the station and a few seconds later... KA-BOOM!!! The resulting echo from the explosion only amplified the noise more.

We were laughing so hard we barely made it outside to the street withing falling down. There were a few people inside the lobby, and a employee from Muni near the front door. We didn't look at the passengers but we happened to be looking at the Muni employee when the torpedo went off. He jumped a few inches off the ground, which made it funnier to two goofy teenage railfans.

There was no harm done, except perhaps a few people ordering a change of underwear.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/13 08:20 by TonyJ.