Detonated Blasting Cap Found On Tracks Near Train Station
June 29, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
Wenham Mass. Kids looking for rocks along the train tracks yesterday made a puzzling discovery: a detonated blasting cap on the tracks near the commuter rail station.
The discovery temporarily shut down a section of the parking lot near the Shoppes at Hamilton Crossing and police made a passing train continue to the Ipswich station without stopping.
Police Sgt. Jeffrey Tobey said there was no evidence of any explosive material on the tracks or else they would have shut down the Newburyport line.
In fact, the detonated blasting cap wasn’t even on the tracks anymore.
Tobey said the two kids brought their discovery to the Hamilton police station down the road.
Hamilton police contacted MBTA police who are now working with the FBI on an investigation, Tobey said.
via Detonated blasting cap found on tracks near train station – SalemNews.com, Salem, MA.
it is highly unlikely that it was a blasting cap as they would not be used in an urban setting. the more likely explanation is that it was a railroad “torpedo” a device which resembles a blasting cap but serves an entiely different purpose. they are placed on railroad tracks intentionally by railroad switchmen at a pre-determined location allowing the engine crew to know the distance they have traveled when switching cars. the “torpedo” is placed when the distance that a train must back up is measured, based on length of train, to reach a switch in track to switch cars to or from a siding. when the crew hears the blast of the last car (sometimes 1/4 mile long)crushing the torpedo on the rail, they know they have traveled far enough to switch the cars without crashing into other trains or a dead end. the fact that it was found, crushed, near a railway points to it being a torpedo. as far as the local police commenting, i seriously doubt they would know a torpedo if they held one.