Kenn Wrote:
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> Fantastic stories, thanks, had not heard of so
> many uses. I still have a few laying around, not
> sure how to dispose of them. They are definately
> loud enough that the conductor might need a change
> of clothes, but millions in a jury award is a bit
> much.


Kenn—
You need to dispose of your Torpedoes real quick.. They can “crystallize” and become dangerous like weeping dynamite.. They are considered a “CLASS C EXPLOSIVE” under Federal law. Your best disposal site is your local Sheriff’s Dept bomb squad office…
Several years ago, while still living in California, I was contacted by the family of a deceased SP Trainmaster who lived in the Pittsburgh, CA area. The man’s Son wanted to dispose or donate a bunch of rail items his Father had collected.
Common things like Employee timetables, colored flags in a carrying case, control handles for an SD-45 (??) (about a dozen), misc booklets, etc, etc…
I donated that stuff to PLA except for the control handles which I gave to one of the “known rails” at the railroadiana show in Sacramento…

The man’s Son also had a large cardboard box full of nasty looking Torpedoes… I took them as well and stored them (like a fool) in my garage for a while…..
One day my wife thought we should really dispose of them and I agreed—but WHERE ???? I called the local fire department and they didn’t want them, infact, they wouldn’t even come LOOK at them… They suggested the Sheriff’s Dept…

So, without phoning ahead, we loaded the box of Torpedoes in our car and drove to the Alameda County Sheriff’s substation office on 150th Avenue in San Leandro (right down the block from Fairmont Hospital) ….
We parked in their parking lot and carried the Torpedoes to their doorway, only to be met by a large sign that warned of the prohibitions of bringing Firearms, Explosives and the like, into the Station…..
Well, old “KeyRouteKen” and his wife plopped them on the front desk in front of Uniformed Officers and said “HI” … (grin)
They said: “What do you have in THAT box ?? I said: “Railroad Torpedoes” …
Well, they weren’t sure what those really were and so I explained that they were “Class C explosives” … THAT got their attention…. They called for the bomb squad lieutenant but he was gone for the day.. They finally decided to accept them—they put them high up on top of a file cabinet and gave me a receipt and we got the hell out of there….
So that’s my story of my only encounter with “railroad torpedoes” ….

Kenn-- Hope you have better luck disposing of them..
Cheers to all—

KRK