Full Version: Can someone explain this?
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
Pages: 1 2
"On the Victoria Line the explosion of a torpedo requires movement at restricted speed for one mile from point where torpedo exploded."
What part is unclear? My guess is the torpedo bit, but that's why I'm asking.

Galen
Yep, what the heck kind of torpedo is used in railroading? Obviously some kind of marker, but what exactly does it do?
Gary, a torpedo is an explosive device that was carried on a train and the brakeman, conductor had to run back and strap it to the track to warn a following train there was a train stopped ahead. They sound about as load as an M80 going off, and were detonated when run over by a train.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Railroad_torpedo_with_lead_straps.jpg">http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... straps.jpg</a><!-- m -->
Charlie
Torpedos were about the size of a teabag and had two metal straps that would wrap around the head of the rail. When the wheels of the locomotive or cars went over them went BANG!!!!! They had the force of a quarter stick of TNT I think they were removed from service in 2004 or 2005 as they were dangerous and unnescessary due to the requirment of flagging being removed. They sure wake you up when you go over them!!!
A torpedo is a little explosive that is put on the rail and explodes when a train/engine runs over it. The bang of the explosion is a signal to the engineer of the engine.
Torpedo have been use a lot when trains run by time table and priority only. No block signals and no radio. When a train had to stop somewhere on the line it had to protect it's back because the next following train might run into it. Therefor the rear flag man had run the breaking distance behind the trains end with a red flag and placed a torpedo in the track. After that he could return to the caboose and the rear end was protected by the torpedo. A following train that run over the torpedo was notified by the bang and slowed down not to run into the back of the train ahead.
We have them here in th UK too but they're called detonators, which may be slightly less confusing than a torpedo, but have the same use.
I think that the torpedo would be accompanied by a fusee (flare) -- the fusee would have a burning time long enough for the flagman to walk back to the train when recalled. The torpedo would be backup in case the engineer and fireman were doing something inside the cab instead of watching the track (there are legitimate reasons why they might be otherwise occupied).
Here is what I found in the GCOR about the placement of torpedo

3. Stopped on a Main Track
When a train stops on a main track, a flagman must immediately go back at least 1 mile, place
torpedoes on the rails, leave one lighted fusee, and may then return half the distance to the train.
Flagman must remain there until stopping a following train or until recalled.
(here is a figure with a distance of one mile)
If the flagman is recalled and safety will permit, the flagman must leave a lighted fusee and return
to the train. If recalled before reaching the prescribed distance, the flagman must place torpedoes
on the rails and leave a lighted fusee. While returning to the train, the flagman must also place
single lighted fusees at intervals shorter than the burning time of the fusee.
When the train departs, a crew member must leave one lighted fusee. In addition, until the train is
moving at least half the maximum authorized timetable speed for any train at that location, a crew
member must drop off single lighted fusees at intervals shorter than the burning time of the fusee.
Gary;

Here's a photo of a torpedo showing the torpedo and the lead straps used to secure it to the rail:[attachment=7154]
Also a YouTube video demonstrating a locomotive setting one off, although it doesn't do justice to the noise they make.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHU3NwgGEhY
We used them now and then on both the F&C and L&N. My first encounter with one was when I worked for the F&C and the Southern crew was in the yard at Georgetown. They had placed torpedos on the rails behind the Georgetown depot to warn us they were in the yard, and I was riding the front step of the 70 tonner when we ran over it. Wow! It was loud!
I should have done a google search but it is more fun interacting with you guys.

So let's say they get the stopped train moving again, and no train has come up and exploded the torpedo. Does someone have to get that torpedo off the track, or do they leave it there?

And, I can see why they don't use them anymore. An explosive device left laying about without supervision. No problem in the good ol' days, but in todays sue-happy culture, the liability would be there.
If the protection was no longer needed they were supposed to be removed by the person or crew that put them there. Not saying it always happened but that was what was supposed to happen.
How would the flagman be able to go get the torpedo when the train was leaving in the other direction?
The Philadelphia & Western High Speed Trolley Line (not actually trolleys ... third rail) ran near my house on the way from Norristown to 69th St., Philadelphia. As a fifth or sixth grader, my friends used to tape an M80 on the rail where those "Bullet Cars" would come ripping around this super super-elevated curve at about 70 - 75 mph and then hide in the bushes up the far hillside across the tracks.

Yeah ... we were terrible kids! That's what being friends with a bunch of priviledged kids will do to you!

But the panic stop was atonishing the first time I saw it ... that time when, not knowing what was going on, having only moved there the day before, and my new friend from across the street who had grown up there had said, "Hey! Watch this!"
Gary S Wrote:So let's say they get the stopped train moving again, and no train has come up and exploded the torpedo. Does someone have to get that torpedo off the track, or do they leave it there?
They would be left where placed. This protects the flagman as he walks back to the train and gives the train time to get moving again. There is no provision in Rule 99 that requires removal of the torpedoes, or extinguishing fusees. Would sort of defeat the whole purpose, as a following train could over take you before you got back to the train.

Any following train that encountered the torpedoes/fusees, would be required to follow the rules (stop and proceed at restricted speed in most cases) and could not resume normal speed until it was known that the route was clear.
Pages: 1 2