Mission impossible?

[Anonymous]

A late night channel showing a B&W fifties cowboy movie had the hero (Randolph Scott, I believe) shoot at some train torpedoes wrapped around a coupling, just as the baddies arrive. The torpedoes explode and the coupling come apart, and the baddies are left swearing on an uncoupled car.
Could train torpedoes actually explode when fired at? I suppose, theoretically it's possible since torpedoes explode when iron wheels run over them.
Any opinions?

[sooblue]

Yes.
now to find out how much force is released than you would know how high the pile of torpedoes would have to be in order to break a coupler.

[Anonymous]

They are contact explosives, so yes, under the right circumstances contact, like a bullet might detonate a torpedo, although the realistic percentages are against it in a BIG way. But, hey, that's Hollywood...

LC[8D]

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a longshot to me. If I cant jerk a drawbar apart with a junk remote, it would probably take more than a few torpedoes to break one. The old heads told me that they would tape a pile of them on the knuckle and make a joint. Kaboom! The yardmaster was awake then!
Ken

[cabforward]

mr noble1,

why is your post for this topic the same as for cowboys & torpedoes?
jus' wonderin'.. don't make no never mine t' me!!

'there are two kinds of people: those who say there are two kinds of people and those who don't'

robert benchley