I happened on this on ebay this evening, and boy, did that bring back some
memories. Our
front yard down in Corpus Christi, TX was interstate 37.
From our front porch, the feeder
road (2009 Antelope St at corner of Doss,
go google earth it) was about 10 feet away.
Across the street is a hill up
to the big interchange of Crosstown Expressway and I-37,
which heads to
downtown less than mile away. On Water Street where I-37 ends (because it
deadends at Shoreline and Corpus Christi Bay) was All American Motors one
of the
dealerships my dad worlked at.
I never knew the names of
these things we played with as a kid. The work crews would drop
them off
and they were filled with kerosine(?) but would burn all night. It was fun to
ride our bikes and kick them and watch them roll around as a fireball. All
the kids in the
neighborhood, about 20 of us, seemed to have a collection
of them. Don't know why, but the
work crews would turn them off during the
day and simply toss them in pile in our, or
other yards for later use, so
we kept a few.
Now these have been replaced with those flashing round
lights. My kids have whole
collection of those from wrecks we have seen on
I-10 about a mile away, so we pick them
up. They have big battery in them
and will flash for about a week. What is neat about
those is somewhere in
the darned thing is a eye, that is, when you shine light on it, or
sun
comes up...it turns off automatically. So the kids use flashlights on them in
back
yard.
Back to these Toledo Torches.....
http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Toledo-Torch-Rail-Road-Flare-Smudge-Pot_W0QQitemZ260480814582QQcategoryZ95147QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D10%26ps%3D63
I
am not sure this big link will stick, but if not, simply go search
www.ebay.com for
'toledo torch' and you will see these little bombs. Sure
brought back some memories from
40 years ago seeing one and sometimes I am
Rambler slow, but took 40 years to learn the
actual name of one.
Eddie
Stakes
713.464.8825
eddiestakes@planethoustonamx.com
www.planethoustonamx.com
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