Well, it's that time of year again, where everyone celebrates black magic and dead things for some reason. So let's all try and give our best scary train stories. I'll do the first one.
It was a bright and clear day on a weekend, and a long-time N-scale model railroader was at his LHS looking for something new for his layout. He stopped by the scenery section and noticed a "NEW!" figure of a grave-digger with an especially well detailed 1/160th stopwatch. He had just put a small graveyard behind a church building on his layout, so why not have someone digging a grave? He bought the figure, and after giving the layout a quick dusting and vacuuming, put it in the graveyard. Since it was such a nice day, he went outside to do some yardwork like his wife told him to (he'd been putting it off, and she was really serious this time). After some hours, he came back in to see if the glue for the new figure had dried yet. It had, but he noticed a brown patch by one of the gravestones that was green grass before. He also noticed a figure from another part of the layout was missing. Since he had just vacuumed, he assumed the missing figure and patch of grass weren't glued down well enough. After a good night's rest, the railroader went to his layout again to fix the parts that the vacuum must have damaged. Oddly, he noticed another patch of grass missing in the graveyard. "What in the world? I thought only one grave was damaged by the vacuum," he thought. The grave-digger was still glued tightly in place, so he went ahead and fixed the graveyard. When Monday came, he had to leave for a few days to go on a business trip. When he got back, every figure on his layout (except the grave-digger) was missing, and all but one grave in the graveyard was missing its grass. "Ok, this is just spooky," he thought to himself. Suddenly, he saw the grave-digger look up at him, and press the button on his amazingly well detailed stopwatch. The railroader then found himself standing 1/160th of his normal size on his layout, face to face with his layout's newest addition. "What's going on!?" the railroader said. then the grave-digger told him, "For 100 years, I've been cursed to live as a figure on people's toy train setups. To break the curse, I must first bury all of the toy figures in those layouts, and then finally the owner of the trains himself. This has to be done 100 times for the curse to be broken. So far, I've buried 99 people in their own train layouts, and now today, I'll finally break the curse!" The railroader tried to get away, but found he couldn't move because he was now made of the same plastic that his other figures were! He was then buried in the final grave of his own layout, and the grave-digger disappeared to rest in peace. The railroader was now cursed to be forever trapped in his layout, unable to sleep and unable to die, because he was now just a simple plastic figure in a place we like to call, the Twilight Zone.
_________________________________________________________________
you been in the Apricot/Pineapple juice again?
Bob
Must be nipping at the sacramental wine again, Bob! ROFL
Darrell, quiet...for now
As Rod Serling would say, "Presented for your approval."
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
That Apricot/Pineapple juice must be of good vintage----
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
MisterBeasley As Rod Serling would say, "Presented for your approval."
And after Ma Barker with the Thompson submachine gun under her coat shoots the trick or treater with the scythe, then what happens?
We Baptists call it "grape juice", can't handle the hard stuff.
dgwinup Must be nipping at the sacramental wine again, Bob! ROFL Darrell, quiet...for now
Nope, no alcohol here. I just like having some fun with my posting once in a while.
pastorbob you been in the Apricot/Pineapple juice again? Bob
Perhaps pumpkin juice?
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
BRAKIE pastorbob you been in the Apricot/Pineapple juice again? Bob Perhaps pumpkin juice?
Okay Brakie, you got ghosts and goblins over your way after your railroad?
BRAKIEpastorbob you been in the Apricot/Pineapple juice again? Bob Perhaps pumpkin juice?
...from a fermented pumpkin.
I thought the scary story was going to be that after Darth installed all of those Rapido poles and power lines, someone in the family decided to get a cat.
BOO! http://files.upperfirst.com/ghosttrain/
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted
That must be a true story. After all, I read it on the internet.
Tom
Pittsburgh, PA
What a story! Excellently told!
FlashWave - thanks for sharing!
Sir Madog What a story! Excellently told! FlashWave - thanks for sharing!
I agree - that is a well written story with a very nice railroad flavor from Flashwave
(Edit: reason that Ulrich and my post is displayed before Flash's post is because it was a Halloween story. Or more precisely because Milwaukee hasn't hit 3am on the first Sunday of November yet, while Europe is well past 3 am on the last Sunday of October.
http://geography.about.com/cs/daylightsavings/a/dst.htm.
And yes - only overly curious geeks wonder about such things ).
Grin, Stein
I'll bite
Half Moon has a rather terrifying story about a ghost engine. It was in the mid 1990s when a new crew hit the road for their first through run at night. The day, was Friday he 30th, and took place in the local restaurant.
Johnny, the engineer, was listening to the tales told by the crews of odd things when Fred walked up. Fred was his Conductor, who got his certification a year earlier. Normally, HO&N didnb’t like running rookies like this, bu at the time, it was necessary.
“And there it was.” An old conductor said. I could see right through it. The menacing crew, the screams echoing from the whistle.
“Oh cme on” chimed in Fred. “You aren’t telling those old ghost stories are you?”
“You don’t believe them?”
“No.”
“But you know the curses 13 carried, right?”
“The boiler crushing th two workment during her erection? The pipefitter bieing impailed? Her dropping her fireman? Or what about her killing her shop crew and the scrap dealer? It’s all phooey Johnny, don’t let him scare you.”
“It’s not phooey. Remember when Half Moon rebuilt that bridge, took the Chapel caboose with them? 13 would not cross that bridge for 7 months on its own power. It had to be shoved across.”
“More coincidence. And besides, Half Moon has never had any catastrophic accidents so far. Contribute that to the originzl builders blessing the line if you will, but we have nothing to make a Ghost Story out of.”
“That doesn’t mean ghosts can’t roam. The Lincoln Train is seen from DC to Springfield.”
SO they say. They also say it runs in two separate sections. Come on Johnny. We got the 90MAC tonight at point, let’s have a look at her.”
And they did. Both crews had an uneventful rest of the day, though they were delayed by a half an hour and didn’t leave until 8:45 that night with five engines and over a hundred cars.
“Clear” “Clear” They called a signal as they rounded a bend into single track territory. It was one of the few pinch points still on the HO&N, and the railroad had no room to feasibly widen it. All at once, the engine slammed itself into emergency, and when Fred and Johnny peeled themselves off the back wall of the cab, they found the in cab signal showing a solid red:according to the digitals, they blew a red signal at 60mph. Sure enough, along with the radiant brake shoes, the signal behind them was reflecting tomato against a boxcar.
“Dispatcher, this is HO&N 9009. We had a signal change right under us, and trip Automatic Train control. Confirm this is a malfunction on our end and the signal changed for our presence.”
“Negative 9009, that signal changed for an occupancy detector on the single.”
“aren’t we supposed to be the only ones out here?”
“Affirmative 9009. We don’t know what it’s reading. Hold on, a hotbox detector is chirping”
Johnny turned the radio over.
…Axle 12, 1500 degrees. Car temperature reading abient. Axle 13, 1500 degrees. Axle 14, 1500 degrees…”
Just then, a defect detector started. “HO&N Defect detector, MP 342. Locomotive present, not detected. DEFECT. Locomotive support vehicle present, not detected. DEFECT. Stock car registered audibly, not detected. DEFECT…DEFECT…DEFECT…
DEFECT…DEFECT…DEFECT…DEFECT…DEFECT…DEFECT…DEFECT…
DEFECT...DEFECT. Defect detector MP342. DEFECT. Inspect immediately.
As far as the railroad was concerned, 9009 was sitting dead. The engines were fine, the wheels hot, but the signals said they were going no where.
“Dispatcher, confirm flow traffic recognizes 9009.”
“9009, affirmative. All known trains in your district are being held. Are you within visual of the convergence switch?”
“Affirmative Dispatch, and the train is in the clear of that switch.”
“9009, what is the position of that switch?”
“Unsure. It’s DARK. We’ll check.”
Locking up, Fred and Johnny climbed down to inspect he switch ahead of them.
“It’s thrown against us Fred.”
“Odd Johnny. WHatcha think?” Fred asked while turning around to mske sure no one took his train.
‘We need an inspection tr- oh god…”
Fred whirled around. There charging them, was a blood red light. Johhny! JOHNNY! OUT OF THE TRACKS” No response, the engineer ws frozen in panic. Acing quickly, Fred leapt into the light beam and ripped his engineer from death’s grasp. A Mars light threw beams of fire from side to side. Fred pulled his crewman along the towards the safety of 9009. each throw of the light boiled the crew, to immediately freeze them in the midnight air. Fred prayed loud and hard for the workers who built the tracks, hoping the estranged engine cared what the switch behind them said. And sure enough, at hellbat speeds, the sounds were heard of a steam locomotive slamming it’s weight through a curve. It’s whistle screamed of death. No crew as seen though. The fast pacific locomotive had behind it 4 stock cars. Fred described the engines being foggy. He could see details, the boiler fire, and the mountains to the other side. In fire yellow were the numbers13. below the light, and to the side of the cab. The tender and train was comparable, though he distinctly remembered the tender as being dry as a bone. Behind were four stock cars carrying creatures reminisicent of bulls amd sturdy horses, red eyed, with back horns and steel hooves. A Drover’s car, an old coach converted to a kitchen and reclined seats, carryed very tired cowhands. What looked like more coaches than Half Moon owened equipment poured past nex. No way could a Pacific pull the train. Was it eight or eighty cars trailed with souls. Some gambling, as was done in coaches of the age, others sitting positively angelic enjoying the company of the people beside them. As the train shot past him as nnatural speeds, he swore he saw the beasts plow out from the side of the train. With the same swift pace, the drover’s vcar emtied as well, as they jumped from the car to their horses in perfect sync. What Fred couldn’t get was the gorge underneath them, and that the train didn’t care. And no matter how hard he tried to ratuionalize what he saw, he couldn’t.
Johnny awoke from his shock paralysis within a minute of the train being gone from Fred’s sight. But no sooner had they climbed into the engine, then another fearful sound pierced their ears. The mountain itself roared. Operational alarms blaired from the entire train. An auto tune kicked in.
AVALANCHE WARNING. Mile post 280. 281 282 283 284 285 286 288 292 293 297 299 301 AVALANChE WARNING mile post 305 306 307 308 309 310 315 316 317 318
“9009, you are authorzed to leave the train. GET OUT OF THERe NOW!”
“Dispatch, we copy” Though the mil\eposts were counting away from them, no one wanted to be there. Fred and Johnny made the fastest cuts in the history of HO&N. they figured almost two dozen operating rules were broken, but in minutes, they were sure that their train would stay put, cut the 90MAC out, jogged into the single track, and flew back after the mystery ghost train as fast as they could. In htier ears rang an unwelcome sound
AVALANCHE WARNING: Mile post 272, 271, 270 266 265 264 263.
When crews returned the next day, solid rock had claimed the front 2 locomotives, as well as the spot that Fred, Johnny, the Ghost Train, the 90MAC, the faulty? Defect detector, the hotbox detector, and eighty percent of Rock Valley Pass. The left lead engines joined the gorge, the remaining two had the coupler system and the floor upt to the truck bolster ripped out from under the 3 engine. The fourth had pretty well grounded the train. Ahead of them, the pass was filled. Rock Valley and HO&N could find no affordable way to clean out the mess. Thy drug what remained of their train back, and replaced the rail line with a car fairy that reconnected on the other side of the pass. Ebveryone agreed that aside form the psychotic break, neither man did anything really wrong in their flight. They might not have made it safely trying to back the monster train. And on foot, they’d have joined the bottom of the cliff most likely.
While being checked out, Fred and Johnny met four people who claimed to have been camping in the ridge long the now buried line. They claimed that a train appeared out of nowhere, locked up its brakes, and the conductor tld them they needed to clear out now. The mountain rumbled, they jumped in, and the train shot off. They said they felt like it was a rocket launch from a cartoon. The passengers resembled folks of various eras, some vile, some well mannered. They remembered falling asleep next, and waking up deposited on a sation platform with their stuff, that they had not put on train. It was hastily folded, the tent a mess, but it was all there. An old piece of paper, with a shiny new penny for ballast lay atop, signed simply
MWD meaning, maybe, one of HO&N’s first and best loved conductors.
Fred and Johnny took to the City of Half Moon Port Authority and haven’t left since. Afte hteir nerves settled, they decided that a 45tonner was a comfy alternative.
Inspections determined several things.
Factually, no one has proposed a good explanation for the sighting by Fred and the hikers. Theorists toss out dust and smoke reflecting the headlight, but how were the people carried. Not by 9009, we know? If they had simply slept on the platform, how then could they have described the cliff in such detail befoe the slide, and the same exact train that Fred saw? And for the religious, they say that old 13 had been resigned to Purgatory, to race out those who perished in the area to occupy their proper realms and not be trapped for eternity in the slide, as well as be a warning to the train crews. They say that the religious blessings spread in construction were what allowed the detectors to read 13 in it’s plight, and keep it from acting up. Or maybe, it simply couldn’t stand it’s mortal coils. Others over the years have reported similar malfunctions, but nothing to the degree, and not followed by such a catastrophe.
Fred believes, do you?
----
Disclaimer: I'm borrowing 13 herself from another gentleman who set her tale darned close to one of the possible settings for HO&N.
-Morgan
I wanted to thank you guys in public too for the compliments. I also encourage yas to see if you can find a reference I make to a song.
Also, thanks Darth, I've wanted for a while to get myslef to flush out what happened in the Rock Valley Pass for some time. This was a fun way to do it.
That post reshuffle is rather annoying.
Since I will likely be moving out and on my own in the next year, I wanted a way to tie into the layout at Dad's and the one I start. I would take Rock Valley, who is serviced by Ferry, which would represent the distance between me and Dad. Rock Valley would not stand to be cut off, nor economically sound for the railroad to have done so, the ferry was an alternative. It may be more costly in the long run, but fuel prices can be stretched out. the only real catch is the limits in railcar volumes. Rock valley holds at least two major cities and a healthy farming community, each requiring a possibly huge rail car supply.
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
Both tales are great - and I can imagine both done as stories in black and white video, in that style we older folks know from the 50's. Both would make great Twilight Zone episodes. Mr. Serling himself would be proud..
Hmmm.. .maybe a new series is in order.... "Railroad Tales"....."Come with us tonight for a journey few men take today. Out where there's few roads and fewer people, only the twin steel ribbons trace a route between high mountain and deep valley... where, under the gleam of headlights and in the thunder of massive machines, strange events may happen, and what is seen is often not possible..... "
George V.
Ya'lll want to hear some horror stories?
Another manufactuer is making F-units and big boys.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Flashwave, I honestly think your story was a lot better than mine was. Great job!
PackerYa'lll want to hear some horror stories? Another manufactuer is making F-units and big boys.
>Gasp<
I'm guessing it's MTH? Now the Marx/Model Power F2 is a real horror story. I've seen $3 toys that were more realistic.
Darth Santa FeFlashwave, I honestly think your story was a lot better than mine was. Great job!
Thank you. And sorry to steal your thunder.
georgev Hmmm.. .maybe a new series is in order.... "Railroad Tales"....."Come with us tonight for a journey few men take today. Out where there's few roads and fewer people, only the twin steel ribbons trace a route between high mountain and deep valley... where, under the gleam of headlights and in the thunder of massive machines, strange events may happen, and what is seen is often not possible..... "
I love it. I think we tried a thread like that when I was new. It went a weekend, and fell to the bottom of the deck. I did love reading the Coal Belt stories MRR published a few years ago.
I have two words for you Darth that will become words of woe and terror to you..Keystone Shay
Muhuahahaa!!!!
(inside joke from another thread)
Have fun with your trains
vsmithI have two words for you Darth that will become words of woe and terror to you..Keystone Shay Muhuahahaa!!!!
Actually, I would find it more fun than anything if you consider what else I've done for fun. (Chattanooga, DD40X, 4-4-0, E6A, Royal Blue, and a whole lot more...)
We'll see
The Legend of the “Big Joe”
Bang, BANG! Then FOOOOMM! An enormous cloud of super hot steam erupted from under the creature, the engine had buckled the rails and track under it own enormous weight and now somewhere super hot steam was jetting out onto the permafrost, the lost of steam pressure and the impact of derailing triggered an overload on the reactor and now it started racing out of control into a meltdown. Stalin, dignitaries, workers and technicians all ran for there very lives, the huge cloud of steam rose as the heat of the melting graphite heart of the giant which began melting the icy soil under its belly. As the ground gave way, the behemoth buckled, with it whistle screaming, steam & mud boiling and with metal gnashing, it upended, then began sinking under its own titanic weight under the muddy mire, its melting atomic heart burning its way to the center of the earth!
Nothing was ever said about this terrible event by any of the survivors, most were too terrified. Those that did would soon disappear, never to be seen again in the Siberian gulags. Only hushed hellos and unspoken nods were ever exchanged if they met on the streets. To this day no official records exist, no plans, no maps, nothing, it was all destroyed in the name of Soviet history and pride.
Attached is a PDF drawing I made from his description in my memory, if I ever hit the lotto, a scale model of this will grace whatever layout I build.
*Edit* for some stupid reason I cannot edit this format to make it esier to read it keeps compressing it into one big ugly text pile. thanks Kalmbach
vsmithThe Legend of the “Big Joe”
Love it, Very realistic. I could see the Soviets screwing soemthing up that badly.
vsmithhttp://gold.mylargescale.com/vsmith/Big%20Joe%20Model%20.pdf *Edit* for some stupid reason I cannot edit this format to make it esier to read it keeps compressing it into one big ugly text pile. thanks Kalmbach
Copy the tale from MS Word or comparable, it;s how I kept the formatting in mine.
Thanks, the Ruskies also built the largest non-articulated engine in the world, the 4-14-4 AA20. Heres a link to website of it.
http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/russ/russrefr.htm
btw I did copy and paste it from Word, I think thats why its so messed up, thanks to Bill and the collective techno-ninnies in Seattle. I should have just rewritten it in the text box.
Maybe a little late, but here is yet another story, from the other side of the Big Pond, for you to enjoy!
This is a story my grandfather told me years ago. He himself had heard it from his grandfather, an engineer with the Royal Prussian Eastern Railway.
It was an icy cold night at the end of October 1872. Snow had fallen the previous day, covering the land with a pale white blanket, sparkling in the moon-lit sky.
Oskar Schneidereit, the engineer and his fireman Maslonka were waiting in the staff´s quarter of Dirschau station for the courier train to Konigsberg to arrive and to relieve the train´s probably weary crew. The train was running late, due to the unexpected spell of cold and the snow. Schneidereit and Maslonka sat in silence, enjoying the warmth reflected from the iron stove in the room. The silence was only interrupted by an occasional puff of smoke from Schneidereit´s pipe, giving the scene a peaceful atmosphere.
All of a sudden, the entire place was turning busy, as word was given that the delayed train was about to arrive. Schneidereit pulled himself up from the chair with a slight groan. At the age of 48, he was not an old man by years, but working with the railway was taxing one´s health in those days.
When the two stepped out of the room onto the platform, an icy cold wind blew into their faces. There were only two glowing lights in the distance, growing bigger, as the train approached Dirschau station. But what a sight to see, when the train finally stopped! The locomotive, one of those new-fangled “Americans” 4-4-0´s, was thickly covered with ice and snow, as was its crew. The Royal Prussian Railway Administration did not believe very much in protecting their crews from the influence of the elements, as not to distract their attention. The cab was a mere windshield with a roof, but open sides, and the crew had no provision to sit down and relax a little while driving the train. Schneidereit and Maslonka climbed onto the loco and performed the routine tasks of a take-over with the parting crew. The train consisted of 7 coaches, in which the passengers were seated comfortably, enjoying the warmth of a little stove sending little plumes of smoke over the coaches´ roofs. They did not know the hardship the train crew was exposed to. Every second coach had a brakeman´s seat. Air brakes were unknown in those days and the trains had to be stopped by handbrakes. The brakemen were still in the station building, warming up before service commenced. But what is that? The brakeman of the last coach was still in his chair! Maslonka went down the train to call him – but he saw no reaction. Fallen asleep during service? No, the man was nearly frozen to death. It took quite a few strong hands to move the half-frozen body from the roof of the coach and move him inside the warm building to recover.
Moments later, the station master blew his whistle, signaling the departure of the train. Schneidereit carefully opened the throttle and the train started to move slowly out of Dirschau station. Shortly after having left the station, the train crossed the big Weichsel bridge and was heading through Eastern Prussia´s vast country side. Only now and then a light could be seen – little signs of human life in a sparsely populated country.
The two people in the cab did not talk much. The ride was bumpy, the icy wind blowing directly into their faces – no reason to talk . Maslonka now and then got a bottle out and took a drink, but Schneidereit pretended not to see it. He knew that his fireman was suffering from rheumatism which he had acquired in many years of service. Life of a railway man was not a walk in the park!
Two hours had passed when they reached the next station. Both climbed down from the locomotive to warm up for a moment in the station building. The station master greeted them with the words “Turned cold early this year. Probably a lot of critters will come from Russia this winter”. Schneidereit nodded his head. With critters wolves were meant – still a fear for many people. Schneidereit was not worried, as they were quite safe on the loco. After a few minutes, the train left the station again, heading out into the dark. A little while later, as they passed a whistle stop, they could see the station master holding up a sign. When the light of his lantern lit up the scene, the crew could read one word:
WOLVES!
Both crew men were not really worried, but you could sense an uneasy feeling. After all, there were many reports of wolves attacking railway men while walking along the track! The train moved on, but both men trained their eyes into the dark. It did not take much time, when a signal, showing red, made them stop the train, Schneidereit blew the locomotive´s whistle twice to signal the brakemen to close the brakes. The train came to a halt right in front of the signal. Maslonka got out a hose and fastened it to the boiler valve. You could feel the tension grow, as Schneidereit and Maslonka were looking around. Wasn´t that little spot moving? There, one , two three, four – more and more little black spots to be seen in the distance! A wolf pack – closing in on the train. You could see their yellowish glowing eyes zeroing in on the train! But what the h*ll is that, right ahead on the track? A man, walking on the track, holding a lantern. The wolves, have they seen him? Yes, they are after him – oh my god...
Schneidereit pulled the throttle open, and the locomotive started to move, the exhaust bellowing in the dark. But, quick, close the throttle again, we don´t want to run over this poor soul! As the train came to a halt, a young man climbed up. “The signal is frozen” he told Schneidereit. “I had to inform you”. “ Man alive, didn´t you see the critters?” Schneidereit replied. “Yes, but I had to inform you – it is my duty!”
When the train had reached the signal post, Schneidereit slowed down and the man climbed off the locomotive. The rest of the journey went on without any further incidence. When they finally reached Konigsberg, the locomotive was uncoupled and pulled into the loco shed.
“That was close” Maslonka said – the first words from him since they had left Dirschau...
I think you guys are eatin pizza before bed Bill
Don't you remember the COal Belt stories the guy wrote? Of Red the new guy? Luck draining out of the open rear coupler? Among other things?