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Top 10 "Operator Error" mistakes that you hate making

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  • Member since
    May 2012
  • 1,855 posts
Posted by angelob6660 on Thursday, April 19, 2018 7:49 PM

Eric White

Cutting a bunch of parts for a project. Benchwork, a model, it doesn't matter.

I need to cut one more part, pick up what I think is a random scrap of material, cut it to size, then realize during assembly that last piece was cut from another, already cut piece.

I hate when that happens.

Eric

 

Was this during the construction of the Canadian Canyons bridges? In those videos that workbench was totally messy. I'm surprised you didn't lose your mind.

Modeling the G.N.O. Railway, The Diamond Route.

Amtrak America, 1971-Present.

  • Member since
    January 2018
  • From: Douglas AZ.
  • 635 posts
Posted by Little Timmy on Thursday, April 19, 2018 9:36 PM

A few year's ago.....

I got a set of Microscale decal's for T & N O boxcar's. I also got a few Accu-rail 40 foot boxcar's , pre-painted Tuscan red.... but no logo's ,reporting mark's or data. The roof's were wrong so I cut them off ,and replaced them with "Correct " one's.

I had been "wanting"  ..... "Yearning" .... "Begging" .... for a set of T & N O car's for a while, so I was Excited to get started !

I completed the first side of three car's and set them aside to dry overnight. In order to NOT smudge up the decal's already on the car, I Glosscoated them , so I could start on the other side ......

After letting the Glosscoat dry ( about 2 day's later ) I "discover " .... TO MY HORROR..... I had decaled all three car's ..... UPSIDE DOWN !!  How doe's this happen, you may ask ? ... Because I Installed the roof's where the floor was suppose to be !

Had to get more decal's ..........

Rust...... It's a good thing !

  • Member since
    April 2009
  • From: Staten Island NY
  • 1,734 posts
Posted by joe323 on Friday, April 20, 2018 6:41 AM

angelob6660

I dropped ATSF F7s into the ground (2 out of 4). They still work, with scratching paint.

I dropped numberboards into the carpet. Also lost details, couplers, springs. Etc. Yes carpet gets parts lost. Can't see black parts within brown.

 

 

One of the many reasons the new SIW train room has laminate floors.

Joe Staten Island West 

  • Member since
    April 2009
  • From: Staten Island NY
  • 1,734 posts
Posted by joe323 on Friday, April 20, 2018 6:48 AM

Byvf the biggest mistake is running over incorrectly set turnouts.

Joe Staten Island West 

  • Member since
    March 2018
  • 688 posts
Posted by BNSF UP and others modeler on Wednesday, April 25, 2018 7:54 PM

That reminds me...

I also really hate general mistakes caused by ignorance and low budget Bang Head. It makes model railroading more difficult

 

I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.

  • Member since
    June 2007
  • 8,892 posts
Posted by riogrande5761 on Thursday, April 26, 2018 6:24 AM

BNSF UP and others modeler

I was curious, do people make and hate the same model railroading mistakes that I do? Here are ten among my many:

1. Installing a coupler upside down.

Really?  #1 is a problem?  I'd think if you did that, you'd turn it around right away and it would never really be an issue that would make the top 10, or even worth a mention. 

Believe me, I make a lot of mistakes, but a piece of rolling stock has never made it to the layout with an up-side-down coupler before.  I'm not that for gone yet but as spacey as I am, it could happen some day.

2. Being oblivious and leaving a metal tool on the rails while track power is on.

For sure, and almost always that "tool" is a Kadee height gauge.  

3. Buying the wrong size/scale of things like ballast, figures from China, etc.

I think I have some wrong scale signs I somehow got at a hobby shop closing sale - didn't pay much for them.  Fingers crossed, never mail ordered anything wrong scale.

4. Dropping that mint brass 4-8-8-4 (haven't done that yet, but I dread it).

Bite your tongue.

5. Loosing that pin sized detail to the abyss below the work area.

Countless times.

8. Buying something after meticulous bargian hunting, and then find it cheaper.

Sure, happed a few times.  Didn't loose sleep over it.

9. Purchasing something that you think is a splendid deal, but then find out you bought junk.

This is where it helps to know your product.  So far knowledge has been power, but AFAIK, I haven't gotten any junk so far.

 

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

  • Member since
    March 2018
  • 688 posts
Posted by BNSF UP and others modeler on Sunday, August 5, 2018 9:57 PM

I have another one: When assembling my first P2K kit, I cut the thick parts of the sprue so I could access a row of grab irons better. Neglected to cut the little sprues attatching them to the row below... Result: an entire row of broken grabs. Good job, ya idiot. Lucky thing the kit comes with multiple spares!

I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.

  • Member since
    March 2017
  • 8,173 posts
Posted by Track fiddler on Sunday, August 5, 2018 10:19 PM

BNSF UP and others modeler

8. Buying something after meticulous bargian hunting, and then find it cheaper.

9. Purchasing something that you think is a splendid deal, but then find out you bought junk.

I will go along with 8 and 9. 

They do fit into the fun of train shows and eBay.... That fun comes with risks. Zip it!Oops - Sign

I must admit I am beginning to become a little wiser and getting a little better at avoiding 8&9 though.Wink

  • Member since
    January 2017
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Posted by NWP SWP on Sunday, August 5, 2018 10:30 PM

OK I've got one, let me set the scene.

It was yesterday at the MSMRC op session, the railroad is in full swing, the dispatcher is doing his best to keep things moving. I get the instruction to take my road train #200 the siding at Alexandria and await for the branch line local #906 to proceed onto the siding and main ahead of me. When the branch local clears out and heads northbound, I get track and time on the siding and main at Alexandria to do my setouts and pickups, I also receive control over the switches from CTC.

Now here's the Op error, I throw the switch at the north end of the siding and proceed to run my train up the siding and out to the main so I can set out and pickup from the yard tracks. Well the fella (one of the new junior members) decided he needn't not set the switch leading from the branch and yard ladder back to the siding, so as I'm going north through a turnout that faces southbound the two SD40s on my train get derailed. So easy fix right I rerail the motive power and continue my work.

Well this story gets better.

I'm done with my work and am now waiting in the siding for clearance to proceed.

So I take a stroll to find train #906 and it's operator, well I find him and tell him of his mistake and remind him to not make it again. He gets defensive and says that dispatch told him to leave a hand throw turnout fouling the siding while a train was in said siding.

So I head to dispatch and ask him about it, dispatch tells me to tell train #906 to get his head out of his backside and to stop being a horses patoot in so many words. So I go and in less vivid language to not make the same mistake again. 

Well he gets defensive and says that I make the same mistake all the time and it's not his fault, so I drop it head back to Alex and get my train moving.

Now to clarify I have been on the back end of that situation before, but it's a rare occurrence and I definitely know better than to not pay attention to such things during an op session. And when it does happen it only snafus my train.

So I luckily have waited at Alex long enough that I'm not right behind #906.

#906 is going to have to loose his attitude if he plans to operate on the railroad in the future.

He even once got snippy with the dispatcher (who was the clubs El Presidente)

My point is always no matter how dumb the mistake admit your wrong and move on.

I know I kinda went on a rant. I'll step off the soapbox now.SoapBox

Steve

If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!

  • Member since
    January 2006
  • From: Sandy Eggo, CA
  • 1,279 posts
Posted by Ray Dunakin on Monday, August 6, 2018 10:17 PM

I bought my first hot glue gun when I started my layout. It took me an embarrassingly long time to learn not to wipe up drips with my finger. For a while I just started keeping a bucket of cold water close by, since there's no other way to get the stuff off without further burns.

Been there, done that: Upside down couplers; cutting the wrong piece of material; gluing the wrong side; scribing the wrong side; leaving a coupler gauge or other tool on the track; etc.

Outdoor layouts only: Finding out the hard way that large scale brass track gets HOT in the sun. Finding out that 18 volts of track power and sweaty skin aren't a good mix. 

 

 

 Visit www.raydunakin.com to see pics of the rugged and rocky In-ko-pah Railroad!
  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Thursday, August 9, 2018 6:42 AM

I hate flipping the master switch to power up the layout only to find that a throttle is not in the off position, and then a locomotive takes off and runs into something.

.

Ugh.

.

-Kevin

.

Living the dream.

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