[Novalug] OT : Thermite anecdote

[Ken Firestone]

On Sun, 31 Dec 2006, Beartooth wrote:

   On Fri, 29 Dec 2006, Dan Arico wrote:

   > On Fri December 29 2006 4:03 pm, Beartooth wrote:

   >>  	I have it on good authority that a .45 ACP will not put a
   >> hole clear through even an old low-gig drive, but that a
   >> .30-06 will.
   >
   > Thermite.
   >
   > Dan Arico

    	Someone here may know a thing I've long wondered about.

    	The exploits of MIT students have been legendary since
   who goosed the moose, of course; one that was already part of
   Harvard folklore fifty-odd years ago went as follows. I hope
   someone can tell me if it's authentic, or urban baloney.

    	It seems a group of guys at MIT once managed to get into
   the MTA after it had closed for the night; found a train sitting
   on a track in a station (rather than in some carbarn out past the
   end of the line); and placed a suitably-sized thermite bomb
   against both a wheel and the track.

    	According to the legend, it worked : welded the wheel to
   the track, with consequent effects on the morning rush till poor
   old MTA could get a welder in there ...

    	So did it happen? When? In what station?


I heard a different version, from a number of MIT folks (2 I think),
around 45 years ago. Early one morning, like 2 am or so, one student
stood with one foot on the streetcar step, and one on the ground
asking the motorman for directions. He was acting very
drunk. Meanwhile his associates placed and set off the thermite
bomb. The perps were able to witness the results immediately. I also
remember reading this version in an MIT student magazine. It
supposedly happened several years earlier, which would be the late
50s. Has anyone checked with snopes.com?

-- 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
CONFIGURE YOUR E-MAIL TO SEND TEXT ONLY, see http://expita.com/nomime.html
============================================================================
Ken Firestone, W3CAT     | For every problem there is one solution
kenf at speakeasy.net	 |  which is simple, neat, and wrong.
ken01 at gmail.com          |   -- H. L. Mencken
============================================================================