Interesting that this thread should revive, as it is the source material for Neil Besougloff's "From the Editor" column in the February issue of MR. But he has kept it anonymous, so for those of us who made the column, our secrets are safe here with our forum buddies!
George v.
Lehigh Valley 2089 BroadwayLion Eh? The LION had a subway train catch fire. LION has a huge 15A regulated power supply to run up to eight trains (12 locomotives) all at once. The layout is automated and uses resistors to slow the trains as they approach the stations. A train derailed causing a short which overloaded the resistor which caught fire, not much more than a lit match that burned itself out by the time I got there, but it did burn a subway car. I think I can repair it, or at least paint the whole thing yellow and use it on a work train. (Which is what NYCT does with such cars). I had read about using an automotive tail light in series with the track, the train does not draw enough current to light the lamp, but if a short occurs the lamp will come on and there is no short. It works fine with one locomotive, but when all 12 are running, there is more than enough current to light the lamp and put a load on the railroad. If I want to use this system, and I think I do, I'll need to use a lamp for every power district, but then it will tell me where on my 14 miles of track to look for the problem. ROAR I think that if you haven't done any work on the car yet, you could put it on a low boy trailer to make it look like the car is being replaced. I know someone did this with a Lionel Trolley car that caught fire.
BroadwayLion Eh? The LION had a subway train catch fire. LION has a huge 15A regulated power supply to run up to eight trains (12 locomotives) all at once. The layout is automated and uses resistors to slow the trains as they approach the stations. A train derailed causing a short which overloaded the resistor which caught fire, not much more than a lit match that burned itself out by the time I got there, but it did burn a subway car. I think I can repair it, or at least paint the whole thing yellow and use it on a work train. (Which is what NYCT does with such cars). I had read about using an automotive tail light in series with the track, the train does not draw enough current to light the lamp, but if a short occurs the lamp will come on and there is no short. It works fine with one locomotive, but when all 12 are running, there is more than enough current to light the lamp and put a load on the railroad. If I want to use this system, and I think I do, I'll need to use a lamp for every power district, but then it will tell me where on my 14 miles of track to look for the problem. ROAR
Eh? The LION had a subway train catch fire.
LION has a huge 15A regulated power supply to run up to eight trains (12 locomotives) all at once. The layout is automated and uses resistors to slow the trains as they approach the stations.
A train derailed causing a short which overloaded the resistor which caught fire, not much more than a lit match that burned itself out by the time I got there, but it did burn a subway car. I think I can repair it, or at least paint the whole thing yellow and use it on a work train. (Which is what NYCT does with such cars).
I had read about using an automotive tail light in series with the track, the train does not draw enough current to light the lamp, but if a short occurs the lamp will come on and there is no short. It works fine with one locomotive, but when all 12 are running, there is more than enough current to light the lamp and put a load on the railroad. If I want to use this system, and I think I do, I'll need to use a lamp for every power district, but then it will tell me where on my 14 miles of track to look for the problem.
ROAR
I think that if you haven't done any work on the car yet, you could put it on a low boy trailer to make it look like the car is being replaced. I know someone did this with a Lionel Trolley car that caught fire.
Eh? Well, the LION does need that car on his railroad. Maybe when I buy some spares this summer I can replace the body with a good one, for the moment, I fixed it the same way the MTA does, I got out the BONDO and went to work on it. I used modeling clay to hide the melted plastic, and painted that side of the car. I lost a window set but it still runs.
This summer I will buy a four car set and repaint them yellow to match the MOW cars, and so I'll hold one out for this train, and paint this car for MOW service.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Breaking a coupler is the least of all railroad problems. The big guys do it all of the time, and those things weigh 80 pounds each.
LION has emergency stop buttons all around his layout room. They have red buttons with blue lights in them, and pressing one of them will cut all power to the railroad, it will also stop the timer and the clocks. It is like pausing the entire railroad. They can only be reset by the master control tower. (Hey, just like NYCT! -- How prototypical)
It does nothing to stop all disasters, That 1:1 oaf in the tower still has to have his act together, but it sure helps to hit the panic button.
Do you mean biggest disasters just this week????? You mean like things happening in slow motion and there is nothing you can do to stop them??? Like this week when I saw the derailment starting to happen as i was backing a train through a turnout that is way too close to the edge. I started to hit the Emergency Stop button on the throttle and nothing would stop. So as a couple cars headed for the concrete I realized I wasn't hitting the right button and literally ran to the master switch killing power to everything. I did find out, however, that you can break a Kadee coupler when it hits the floor hard enough.
There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
On the evening of May 29, 2009 I returned to find my entire home, including my HO layout, shop, all tools and all equipment 100% destroyed by fire. A disaster of the highest magnitude.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Route of the Black Diamond Express, John Wilkes and Maple Leaf.
-Jake, modeling the Barclay, Towanda & Susquehanna.
Well I to had several different derailments with my trains also.
1) Back in 2009 my AT&SF F7 A-B-B-A consist. The track was very close on the layout and it fell to the ground with minor stretches on it ruining the silver paint on all four units. It happened when I was taken the train off the layout.
2) Most of my all my freight cars are accidental dropped with broken stepladders, wheel trucks, two semi-truck trailers, and couples that need to be replaced and missing parts like tank car brake handles. These are all like early-mid 1990s.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
One of my prized brass B&O locomotives hit the floor with some damage to the cab. I was able to get it looking ok. A near miss once when my oldest son Shane was running our two BLI Pennsy M1's as a doubleheader, and the lead loco derailed in front of me, and as it fell, I managed to get my foot under it just in time to break its fall to the floor. No damage at all.
-Stan
The worst I can remember? Boy!!
My layout is a three deck layout, point to point. Covers an area 30-32ft by 35ft. I worked on a problem in a hidden helix between the top and middle deck. While inside the helix working away, my wife said I had a phone call. I retreated from the helix, turned off the railroad, and took the call. It was three days before I had time to return to the scene of the crime to see how the fix worked. Turned on the master switch, all the command stations started blinking immediately. Not just one, or two, but three. Turned off the power switch, tried again, same results. After lunch went down, tried again, same results. After supper, went down, tried again, same results.
By this time my frustration level was at an all time high and so was my blood pressure. Stayed away a few days, then returned to the spot at the helix that I had been working on, there laid my needle nose pliers across the rails. Removed the needle nose, the flashing light went away, not only on the part of the layout that command station controlled, but the other two command stations also quit blinking and everything was back to normal.
The local electronics expert could not explain it, NCE via phone could not explain it, no one could or can explain it. The railroad is running, back to normal and life is good again, except, I am paranoid over how that one needle nose sitting on one of three power districts could affect the other two. Every time now I power up I have that feeling of dread.
Bob
We shall ignore those events which occurred prior to the age of 12, when concrete seemed to have the ability act as a lens to gravitational force.....
A couple of years ago I stripped and painted an IHC 4-8-2. Was reassembling it and testing it out when I got interrupted, so I put the loco on the foam pad on the workbench. It must have been sitting a bit at an angle and was too close to the workbench edge because it rolled off. Cracked the boiler slightly and broke the motor mount which I was able to repair.
But that's not all. The loco was hidden under the workbench chair pedestal (it's an ancient office swivel chair) and so it took me several hours to find it. I thought I had really lost a lot of marbles. "Where the heck did I put it? It's not on the layout... I thought it was on the workbench...." Finally I moved the chair.
Any loco now on the workbench is placed a foot from the edge and on it's side!
Goerge V.
canazar A divorce happened.
A divorce happened.
Karl
NCE über alles!
one of my USAF boxcars bit it on the floor off my layout maybe I should put some nets or something by the layout edge interchange track. it's still busted I need a new bettendorf truck with a coupler.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
I have been very luckey not having anything hit the floor, but have small derailment and those are operator error.
Texas ZepherOr maybe that is ordering the BLI GN S2 all those years ago.
Don't feel bad, we (my wife and I) pre-ordered two of them. One in winter running condition and the other in summer running condition. Thankfully the guys at the shop took one look at how long it was taking and said, that we could use the down-payment as in store cash, when it became "obvious" that it was vaporware.
As for the worst disaster. Sending a Marklin SNCF 4-6-2 right off the table, into a block box. I wonder if finding the floor might actually have damaged things less. THANKFULLY the only real issue was replacing the pick-up shoe. UNFORTUNATLY this meant driving all the way into D.C. to find a hobby store to fix it. The ironic part? If we would have waited a month a new store in Phoebus opened up and we could have fixed it there.
Three so far, two in large scale and one in O
Years ago when I first built my indoor layout I had an LGB Porter, this one in fact, hit a closed switch which was right next to the edge of the layout, rolled over the side and took a dive, luckily my dogs sleeping mattress happened to be right under the spot where it dove of and it just kinda bounced and rolled, no damage, not so lucky with the second act:
This scratch/kitbash locomotive caught a shirt sleeve and took a dive 3 feet onto the garage concrete and disassembled itself into about a dozen parts, after I collected all the bits and about a 1/4 bottle of CA adhesive and alot of cover up "weathering" later, you really have to look to see where the damage is.
Last was actually very funny....after it happened. I was working on my small O Marxist layout. I had my Marx 999 above on the layout, which I bought as a show special train set for $25, w/ inch thick coating of attic dust no extra cost, I was fiddling with the power control trying to figure why I had no power to the tracks when I moved the trottle. in frustration I jambed the trottle to full. and the loco took off like a rocket, hit the O-27 curve and predictably - flew off! As soon as it took off I turned back the throttle, but too late before it hit the curve, so I reached out with my leg, caught it on my knee and tried to hacky sack it down my foot before it landed on the concrete, any other locomotive in any other scale would have been severly damaged if not totaled...didnt even phase this chunk of american iron, in fact the crash FIXED the light which never worked before now shines brightly! go figure!
Have fun with your trains
Tyco
Younger family members.
TG3 LOOK ! LISTEN ! LIVE ! Remember the 3.
Lionel wreck with me as well, though it was much less destructive (no damage, but caused me to do some head scratching), and a derailment on my N scale layout.
1.I had a Lionel 2026 test running on a Fastrack loop to see how well it ran. Ran fine. I then placed the tender on, along with some tinplate passenger cars. When I started the locomotive, I realized that I had forgotten to connnect the tender with the locomotive, and the engine went speeding through the loop and hit the rear of the train, causing cars to come off (not hit the floor, but it was already on the floor on top of some blanket). There are actually some dings from this on the observation car, but nothing major.
2. No. 1 was amature like compared to this one, but still not a complete disaster. Test running a Model Power metal 2-6-0 over the main line by the logging spur, picked a rail joint, and went nose down to the floor. No damage occured because the layout was on a carpeted floor, so I suggest that when one is planning a layout, they might want to put carpet down in case of this.
Best Regards, Big John
Kiva Valley Railway- Freelanced road in central Arizona. Visit the link to see my MR forum thread on The Building of the Whitton Branch on the Kiva Valley Railway
While a local tv station was filming me operating my layout, and I was running the train by the monitor , I ran a brass logging locomotive off the end of a siding and it hit the floor. Fortuately they deleated this part for TV, but my model RR buddies never let me forget.
Peter Smith, Memphis
MarkVIIIMarc ... What is the worst railroad disaster you all have had? ...
... What is the worst railroad disaster you all have had? ...
I've mentioned this in other postings and it probably doesn't qualify as a true "disaster" since no physical damage occurred. But it was a serious blunder that delayed my construction of a layout by four years while my trains sat unused in boxes.
I bought a new house in July 2000, and my wife and I agreed that the two-car garage would be all mine for train-related use. However, I neglected to research the requirements for climate controlling my would-be trainroom - and I didn't discover until 5 months later (and the profit money from the sale of my old house was all spent!) that my central heating/AC system didn't have enough BTU power to heat and cool the whole house plus the garage.
Being low on funds due to my wife losing her job, it took another 4 years for me to accumulate enough money to insulate the garage, run extra electrical circuits, and install a heat pump. Lesson learned!
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)
Two disasters, both Loinel related.
1. when I was a teenager, I had some Lionel stuff (50's-60's vintage), the pride of which was a GP7. I had my prized loco on a friend's layout one night and it took a trip to the concrete floor from an elevated track, some 50+ inches to the deck. It broke an entire coupler assembly off, all moulded plastic. Back then I knew nothing about working on equipment, not to mention contacting the manufacturer to see if I could get, in this case, probably a complete truck assembly replacement. Additionally, I knew nothing about adhesives, but I tried to glue it together with white glue, which, of course, stayed for a while but would soon come apart.
2. After getting married and having this "set" in a box for some time, I decided to ressurect some of the equipment and run them under the Christmas tree, and I had done this for several years, from about 1985 through 1991. Then, back in the Christmas of 1992, after a home move the previous summer, I went to the storage area over my garage to look for the Liionel equipment - - not there!! One of the moving crew had gotten their hands on it and stole it.
I have undergone several moves since that time and I have to say, I havent EVER let any moving help, hired or otherwise, help move my, now HO collection, and I never will. Especially now, it's way too extensvie, and too expensive as well.
oh also bought a new atlas loco and forgot to aline the switches she hit the floor and in peices took it back to the store and they gave me a new one. rambo1
house hit by lighting while in vegas. My kids were home it knocked the telephone out and the layout is under the wiring. my son called a repair man who had to stand on the layout to gain access for the repair. Buildings were mainly damaged most was removed before the repair.Also i drank too much one day and decided to clean the cabinet on top were all the lococs are three protos hit the ground but could be repaired. Learned my lesson, wife and kids laughed their heads off since i allways told them never touch. rambo1..
The gf's cat was over for a visit. Cat jumps up on a shelf, Proto 2000 E6 and Bman Niagra come down. Still have the gf and did grow fond of the cat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PtFwlKfvHI&feature=relmfu
Talk about Karma- - - we have a large field out back and the "neighbours cat" just got picked off by our resident bald eagle, the eagle has quite a record of eliminating free roaming cats in the area, but I'm not telling anyone how their cats are disappearing, I know most of these cat lovers would shoot the eagle, for sure. Karma says : if cats destroy the most birds in North America, it's OK for birds to eat cats, seems fair to me.
My disaster wasn't that big, but it was alarming. All day my wife and I had smelled an electrical burning smell on one end of the house. The next day I went into my layout room and found the remains of a melted Athearn SW-1500 which I had custom painted. It appears that I forgot to turn off my DC controller and the throttle was cracked just enough to heat the motor. We are fortunate that it didn't start a fire in the middle of the night.
That story reminds me of the time my AC adapter for my laptop suddenly caught fire. While I was unplugging it and putting out the little flames all that was going through my head was tomorrow's newspaper headline: "Firefighter's House Burns" I think I was surfing the MR forums at that time, too!
The Cedar Branch & Western--The Hillbilly Line!
I just received my new Atlas Master Gold series Dash 8 after waiting and finally getting this unit out to give her a run on the test/programming track. Everything was great sound was amazing, lights beautiful. I then got relaxed and was sending a program command to set the address...........The Digitrax controller in one hand the book in the other.......in a matter of split seconds the locomotive literally shoots off the 3' programming track, throwing the book and reaching for the locomotive before it smashes into the concrete floor I smashed all the detail parts with my grip and cracked the shell in three places. I was hot and a slurry of colorful language ensued..... After several hours of putting this thing back together and "Fixing" I was really impressed at how well I got it to look. I was then gluing the sun shades back on. I got lazy and was standing over the loco glue in one hand tweezers with sun shade in the other, yep you guessed it the glue tip came off during application about ten drops of thin CA all over the cab windows louvers and that was that. Now I need a new window and I think the only way to finish it and cover it all up is to rust it real good with some heavy weathering....