When I was a about 14 or 15, we did the Starlight "Redding Turn", taking the northbound and waiting for the southbound to return. While waiting in Redding, we couldn't resist exploring the cab of the idling SP GP-9's for the local across from the depot. My friend pulled several torpedos from the rack and handed me several.

When I returned to Palo Alto, I hid them in the shed, but of course being a teenager and an ameteur pyro, I had to see one go BOOM. I biked down to the California Avenue station, walked a couple of hundred feet north on the southbound track, and stapped a couple of torpedoes to the track (they have a built-in metal strap, for those unfamiliar). I waiting on the platform as the next southbound approached in the dusk. There were two bright flashes followed by two loud booms. I never saw a passenger train stop in such a short distance.

Distant sirens started to wail. Though it was far too soon for a response, I was sure they were after me. I sped into the pedestrian tunnel and didn't stop peddling until I was two miles away.

Many years later my dad found the torpedoes in the shed, with scary crystals growing on the outside, indicating possible instability. I don't remember how he disposed of them, but he was none too happy. Maybe he never did, and mom will call tomorrow to tell me the shed exploded in the night.

Too bad we didn't have YouTube back then. I could have told a tale of having watched someone else blow one up on my computer screen.