Magnet fisher pulls railway track explosives from Long Melford river

[Trestrol]

I have got experience of handling them - and of disassembling them for QC purposes!

Knowing exactly how they were / are constructed, I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of them were still viable. Tinplated steel, sealed by crimping then dipped in paint might well mean that there had been no moisture penetration so the black powder inside might be OK. The percussion caps might have degraded and become unstable though... I wouldn't play with them!

Too true my thoughts exactly. 50+ years in water and there will be very little left of them. I know older versions were more substantial than the modern ones but still.

 

[snowball]

Wasn't there another incident a few months ago of a non-railway person coming across some detonators?

I've discovered that I was thinking of this.

 

[Skutter]

The line closed in 1967 and was lifted in 1970 according to Disused Stations. As the B1064 does not seem to be closer to the Stour than about 100 yards they were either playing very safe or there were a lot of detonators.

Probably where the fishermen was parked. Find an interesting tin can, take it back to the car and open it ... oh dear! Full marks to them for calling the police, not just chucking them back in the river.

 

[Trog]

............................. Although I doubt it's as simple as lining them all up at the end of a siding and asking the shunter to do the honours...

I have known it to be done that way, sounds like machine gun fire if you are getting rid of a few hundred.

 

[AndrewE]

Although I doubt it's as simple as lining them all up at the end of a siding and asking the shunter to do the honours...

I have known it to be done that way, sounds like machine gun fire if you are getting rid of a few hundred.

...but not at the end of a siding please! Complaints of dets not exploding have been found to be because the loco was going too slow. It is apparently possible to squeeze them flat slowly enough that the caps don't fire. I think the test spec said after soaking overnight in a bucket of (initially) hot water, lay them on a line and run over them at exactly - or maybe "at least" - 3 mph.