MSGID: 1:153/716.0 dc797c61   
   REPLY: 777.englisht@1:2320/105 2229cdbc   
   CHRS: IBMPC 2   
   Hi, Mike!  Recently you wrote in a message to Dallas Hinton:   
      
   MP>  A "torpedo" is also railroad slang for a small explosive   
   MP>  device that would be set out on the tracks to warn oncoming   
   MP>  trains that another train was unintentionally blocking the   
   MP>  tracks (due to mechanical issue, accident, etc.).  The noise   
   MP>  would alert the crew that they needed to prepare to stop   
   MP>  quickly.   
      
      
              Interesting.  Until now I wasn't aware of this definition, but both   
   of my Canadian dictionaries agree with what you said....  :-)   
      
      
      
   MP>  I am guessing that those are not often used now in the age   
   MP>  of electronic signals, radio, etc., but they were used in   
   MP>  the steam era.   
      
      
              Makes sense to me.  I didn't fully appreciate until Dallas & I rode   
   on the Royal Hudson... an old steam train which served as a tourist attraction   
   in our area until the upkeep became prohibitively expensive... how limited the   
   field of vision must have been for the driver.  And because mechanical signals   
   could be tampered with they weren't 100% reliable.   
      
      
      
   MP>  Since I would not expect a young child to be putting those on   
   MP>  the track, I could only assume it was firecrackers or the like   
   MP>  because the author mentioned that the 4th of July was soon.   
   MP>  Either that or the kid had got ahold of some railroad explosive   
   MP>  devices he should probably not have.   
      
      
              Now that you mention it, I think the boy might well have been using   
   railroad explosives.  The author describes him as "gray"... perhaps suggesting   
   he hadn't bathed for awhile, and "scrawny"... perhaps suggesting he didn't get   
   enough to eat.  Tom's remark also implies the setting is not in a particularly   
   nice neighbourhood.  If the family's socioeconomic circumstances did not allow   
   the purchase of luxury items such as firecrackers, one has to wonder....  :-))   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)   
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