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<p>Torpedoes were little pillow shaped explosive packs about 1-1/2" square by ½" thick with metal spring or shapeable lead bands on each side.  A torpedo was laid on the railhead and the metal bands could be wrapped around it to hold the torpedo in place.  They would explode when run over, even at a barely moving speed.  They are approximately as loud as a 12-gauge shotgun.  The signal sent to the engineer by torpedoes required two of them in succession something like 150 feet apart.  But even if only one torpedo explosion was heard, it meant the same thing as two.  I have never heard of any accidents involving torpedoes, but it is hard to believe that there were not many of them.  I don't know if they could be accidentally set off in storage by becoming unstable or if a whole group of them could set each other off by sympathetic detonation.  I am sure that one of them would be capable of blowing off a hand. </p><p>I wonder when they first originated.  They were used up to at least 1970 or so.  As far as I know, they only had one meaning, that was to reduce speed to some specific limit for a specific distance, but I can't recall the details.  </p>
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