Carborundum

I was just bored at work so I started reading an article about the Special Operations Executive during WWII on the BBC website. One of the things it mentions is the use of carborundum-

'an abrasive grease when smeared on the right spot could bring a locomotive to an immediate standstill.'

Does anybody have any more information on this? Not that I want to try it, but would just be interested to know!

Also in the article it mentions sabotage operations taken against railways and trains in occupied Europe, any ideas on what they could have been? Or books to look at?

Many thanks,
Dan

 

What a good job you have got! Getting paid to surf the internet. People I know, their feet don't touch the ground when they are working. Managers on their back all the time "do this, do that".

 

If only it were that cushy... Waiting for a computer system to start working. Once upon a time wasn't there a thing called paper that made things a bit easier? Think I've heard of it somewhere...

 

Blimey you banked with Coutts then Ralph

 

As usual Wikipedia can tell you most of what you need to know:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carborundum

These days the word is usually found in the mock-Latin expression, "Nil Carborundum Illegitimi" which you should be able to work out for yourselves.

 

Did a Civil Defence course back in the late 50s which included a 3 month railway sabotage course. Mainly consisted of damage that could be caused to steam and electric locos by useing commonly found/available materials with demolition applications confined to track and infrastructure.

For obvious reasons I will not go into details but ruining lubrication and breaking vital parts was a main theme.

 

I'm sure they would have pursued the case as far as possible Ralph, given the balance of time allowed on the case and the resources available?

 

Whilst I have never seen them, a friend of mine once saw a copy of the LMS instructions for action to be taken in case of invasion. Very much a case of denying the enemy rail resources, there were all sorts of instructions for carrying out sabotage such as pulling down water columns, overheating firebox crowns and cutting axles and motion. There was also the trick of overheating bearings as was depicted in "The Train" film with Burt Lancaster, which saw the French driver getting shot for his troubles.

 

One decisive use of carborundum paste was on the eve of D-Day. 2 SS panzer division was based near Toulouse under orders to make for any invasion site by train. By D plus one the oil in the axleboxes in the trainloads of flatcars had been replaced with carborundum substitute. Instead of around 24 hours, Das Reich took many days to reach the battlefront, and the resistance threw everything they had at it on the way. Some elements of the division took over 2 weeks to reach Normandy

Tim