Pipe Bomb found under RR Tracks in Indiana

[gabe]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edbenton

If you look at the Iowa class firing their guns the never fire a broadside of 9 at once I have a cousin who served on them in the 80's when Ronnie brought them out of mothballs and a Gunners mate from WW2 told the captains and the admirals never fire all 9 at once. He told them firing 6 at once was pushing it. In WW2 they did it once and the ship rolled 42 degrees almost putting water over the decks. As for the Yamato's 18 inch having a higher muzzle speed they did not. The 16 inch US gun had them beat by around 1200 ft per minute due to better powder and gun design. The 16 incner we used had the same length as the japanesse gun. Muzzle speed is based on power of the propellant and the length of the barrel.

I have personnally witnessed a full broadside from the Missouri.

[dharmon]

In all it's quite amazing the amount of effort and research we've done to more effectively and efficiently kill our fellow man.

[gabe]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

In all it's quite amazing the amount of effort and research we've done to more effectively and efficiently kill our fellow man.

I couldn't agree more. When I was younger, I was really into naval warfare. Now that I am older and have more difficulty lying to myself about the fact that it is all for the purpose of killing people, my only real hobby is trains.

Gabe

[CopCarSS]

QUOTE: Originally posted by chad thomas

Chris,
Sounds like you have also played with explosives a bit. Is this a sign of a mis-spent youth?[}:)]

[;)][8D]

Mwuhahahahhahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)]

You can't prove a thing, though! [;)]

[CopCarSS]

QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe

(1) I don't know. I like lively debate—I am a lawyer; I live for it. I am not trying to stunt lively debate. But, when someone on a thread has an incredible amount of rail knowledge and is currently employed in an occupation that involves the affect of explosives on rail offers their experience and insight to our benefit, I think it is kind of bombastic to disagree with that person without backing it up with some serious facts. The benefit of disagreements on here is that it leads us all to greater knowledge and insights about the industry. When someone with such knowledge and insight offers it to us and is dismissed without proper backing, it discourages their future posts and we all lose.

(2) As for the Iowa Class battleship, I think that supports Mark's point. The ability of the shell to which you refer to penetrate armor is not done by explosives. Rather it is the weight and velocity of the shell that penetrates the armor. Should the shell explode prematurely upon impact of the armor, the armor will not be compromised. The explosive contained in the shell does its damage by causing a larger explosion in a boiler, magazine or something like that—the shell’s penetration power from weight and velocity is the true destructive force. I think Mark's reference to the railhead and explosive will be the same. I have no doubt that the black powder would do a lot to scatter debris, but I don't think it would compromise the railhead.

Gabe

1) True. And I do greatly respect Mark's knowledge in both fields. If this were anything more than just a barely on topic thread on an enthusiasts' discussion board, you can be assured that I would quickly bow out of the way. I guess my main interest was in defending the law officer to a degree. Seriously, those guys do know a thing or two about explosives, especially in the day and age we live in. As was also pointed out, he was probably making some determinations after detonating the thing, and seeing what it was capable of.

2) I doubt the railhead would be compromised. I was thinking more along the lines of throwing the entire rail out of gauge, or heaving the rail, etc. Granted, this would still take a LOT of force. But, as I stated prviously, there were unknowns. We only vaguely know the size of the pipe bomb. We don't know it's placement. We don't know the condition of the tracks that were to be affected. I guess this is why, while I trust Mark with his knowledge, I'd also have a tendency to trust the law officer that investigated, and knows all the conditions involved.

Once again, my apologies if I've torqued anyone off.

Chris
Denver, CO

[techguy57]

QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe
[
I wi***hey had a way of deputizing rail fans. Some kind of explicit agreement, in exchange for giving your name, birthday, address and keeping it on file, promising not to tresspass, and agreeing to call in suspicious activity we could show the police some kind of I.D. card and be allowed to go on our way.

Gabe

Gabe,
I know what you mean but as I'm sure you also know, authority is easily abused and if it turned out to be a railfan crying wolf when there was nothing wrong it would take too many times before John Q. Law sais enough was enough. I'm not saying that there aren't railfans that are responsible enough to perform the task, as a matter of fact I think the majority of railfans such as many of us on this forum would be excellent at it. I mean, who better to recognize when something is unusual or out of sorts! I think the danger would be having someone running around like on Andy Griffith, yelling "Citizen's arrest! Citizen's arrest!" That too would give railfans a black eye.

All we can do is keep going out there and enjoying our time trackside. Railfanning on its own is not breaking the law, so as I see it all we can do as individuals is try not to do anything stupid that we know is stupid (or if we don't know but guess it might not be smart, we air on the side of caution). AS JoeKoh says, "stay safe."

Just my two cents.

Mike

[Anonymous]

Kind-a off topic....

My uncle had this one tree that was too big to easily cut down with a chainsaw, but he is a hunter who makes his own shells... Yea, you guessed right, but not only did you blow the tree up, he lunched it 30 feet into the air and it came down in "manageble" size... the tree was 30 feet tall to begin with... Pretty cool video. lol!

(and yes, it was legal, he is a ex-fireman, and he lives on a farm(ish) place.)

[gabe]

QUOTE: Originally posted by techguy57

QUOTE: Originally posted by gabe
[
I wi***hey had a way of deputizing rail fans. Some kind of explicit agreement, in exchange for giving your name, birthday, address and keeping it on file, promising not to tresspass, and agreeing to call in suspicious activity we could show the police some kind of I.D. card and be allowed to go on our way.

Gabe

Gabe,
I know what you mean but as I'm sure you also know, authority is easily abused and if it turned out to be a railfan crying wolf when there was nothing wrong it would take too many times before John Q. Law sais enough was enough. I'm not saying that there aren't railfans that are responsible enough to perform the task, as a matter of fact I think the majority of railfans such as many of us on this forum would be excellent at it. I mean, who better to recognize when something is unusual or out of sorts! I think the danger would be having someone running around like on Andy Griffith, yelling "Citizen's arrest! Citizen's arrest!" That too would give railfans a black eye.

All we can do is keep going out there and enjoying our time trackside. Railfanning on its own is not breaking the law, so as I see it all we can do as individuals is try not to do anything stupid that we know is stupid (or if we don't know but guess it might not be smart, we air on the side of caution). AS JoeKoh says, "stay safe."

Just my two cents.

Mike

I don't disagree, but just to clarify. I never suggested giving any non-officer the power of arrest. I was merely suggesting allowing them to use their cell phones. Giving civilians the power to arrest would be a legal and civil nightmare.

Gabe

[techguy57]

I know Gabe, I was exagerating an already broad analogy. Even with cell phones there still be someone crying wolf, I'm sure. Like the people who call in false bomb threats. Still I think there is merit to your idea, a rail watchdog group like Crimefighters or something. Wow, did I just use "watchdog group" in a train related sentence. Maybe I should check myself for a fever.

Sorry everyone if I'm being grumpy, stuff at work is leaving me more jaded than normal.[:(!]

Mike[:(!]

[rvos1979]

Maybe we should write the boys at Boom! and see what they can do.[}:)][8][}:)]

Randy

[RudyRockvilleMD]

I would not discount the damage potential of any confined explosive material, especially black powder.

[wabash1]

Rudy you are right. and this bomb would have made the carolina accident look like a wal mart fender bender..