Step away from the layout and no-one gets hurt . . .

[Dayliner]

Ever had one of those modelling days?  First off, I decided I didn't like the finish on a recently-painted car, so spent the day scrubbing the car back down to bare plastic to start again.. In the process, I also removed the painstakingly-applied Gold Medal Models ladders.  So I'm pretty well back to the beginning of that project.  Then I was running a train for bit of stress relief.  I never have derailments (except when I do) and I was across the layout room when one of the wheels took umbrage at a turnout and I could only watch in paralysed horror as a GP35 and InterMountain covered hopper took a nose-dive off the layout four feet down to the floor.  Surprisingly little damage to the Geep, and it was due for a repaint anyway, but now I've given myself another project fixing that covered hopper.  Arghh!   Leaving the layout room now, before I cause any more damage.  Time for a cup of tea and time with my wife.

[mokenarr]

Been there and it sucks  :(

[Rastafarr]

Sorry to hear it Dayliner. It does get better! 

I would have lost a beloved 4-6-2 hudson in similar circumstances a few months back if it weren't for the quick action of my son, who dove our of his seat to act as train cushion. So that's why I had kids...

Here's to a smash-free Tuesday for Dayliner!

Stu

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I used to have (many years ago) a double deck layout that had a manually operated whole train elevator. It's operation was quite simple. Snap a turnout to run a train onto the elevator. Stop said train. Crank the winch handle to lift the elevator to the upper level or drop it to the bottom level. TURN OFF SWITCH TO CUT POWER TO TRACK LEADING TO ELEVATOR! Got the elevator to the upper level and drove the train off onto the main. Meanwhile another train is merrily running around the bottom level and runs into the open turnout to the elevator. Only there's not an elevator there! I didn't know an Athearn PA2 frame could snap in three places like that.

[caldreamer]

Don;t blame yourself, it was "MURPHY" at work again.  Remember his 1st Law "The worst things will happen at the worst time and in the worst way"

[cudaken]

 So Stu, you had kid's so you could throw them under a train? Not a bad idea!

 Boy I have had a few of those days! Change just one car in a train and the whole layout lost it Mo Jo! Month ago I added 6 free wheeling coal car's too a train. They are part of a 40+ coal train I drag with my Y6b. Seems they did not being pulled by a AC 6000 and they kept derailing. One time head long into a on coming 40 car train, you can guess the rest!

 Cuda Ken

[Mr. Dispatcher]

They are part of a 40+ coal train I drag with my Y6b. Seems they did not being pulled by a AC 6000 and they kept derailing. One time head long into a on coming 40 car train, you can guess the rest!

Welcome to the Adam's Family ( Que the music Lurch )

[gondola1988]

I had one of those days too, was showing a friends dad how my trains run until a new Kato Conrail sd 80 mac kissed the floor. The 8o mac picked the switch and the second loco pushed it to its doom. Took a week to go back down to the layout

[peahrens]

Santa brought me 7 Walthers UP passenger cars (I think he got them on sale) and I gleefully put them on the track, which has run really well with my 4 locos and 20 freight cars.  Problems started:

- the cars are really too long visually for my 25"+ curves (I knew this)

- the cars accentuate a slight bump at a bridge entry, which means I really need to flatten that flaw out before proceeding

- the dining car always derails just past that bump (on a curve) but I suspect inadequate clearance from the truck to a ladder rung may be the issue

- the tail-end dome car trailing truck likes to derail when entering the divergent (narrower radius) 7-1/2 curved crossover.  Could be the too-tight radius, or it's just better at picking the point, or the truck needs adjustment

- the (train) abrubtly stopped at two places.  I thought at first I was getting shorts somehow with the new cars, but then noted the instant halt of the train.  The Mountain engine I was using had pilot droop that was catching at a 90 crossing as well as my bridge guard rail

Other than that occurring within about 20 minutes, all went fine.  And I had to leave town at that point.  It went opposite to the mostly good luck I've had so far.

Of course most of us have had a boss who said "these are not challenges, they are opportunities".

I'm going to start a maintenance list. 

[georgev]

After all these tales of rolling stock taking the big dive.....

Maybe a new layout design philosophy is needed.  Rather than eye level as some folks build their layouts, we need to stress the aerial view.  Track about 1/2" above the floor (or lower?).  Maybe someone could write a Model Railroader April Fool's article about this idea. 

May your New Year be derailment and big-dive-free!!!

George V.

[BroadwayLion]

LION has only one place where the big dive can occur, and that is end of the line at 242nd Street. And those subway trains come in there pretty darn fast. I have new resistors planned for that track to slow them down. There is also a rectifier guarding those tracks so out bound power only beyond the platform edge.

Problem is that leaves exactly four inches between the nose of the train and the end of the track. There is a station house there which could guard the trains, but it is not attached to anything yet. Once a train knocks that down there is only about a foot of table before the plunge to the floor. And with draw bars between each car instead of couplers, the whole thing will go over. I haven't done that yet, but upgrades at 242nd Street have a high priority.

ROAR

[cjcrescent]

Only time I can remember a piece of my equipment hitting the floor was about 35 yrs ago. I had just picked up my first piece of brass, an Akane 2-10-2, and was showing it off at a friends layout. I had come with one other friend and as he was standing at a yard, he reached across the track to point and ask the owner about something just the other side of the yard.

Trouble was my Santa Fe was occupying the same space he was pointing to and the entire loco took a 3' dive on to a concrete floor!

Fortunately, the only damage was to a tender step, and that was repaired in short order.

(Cross fingers), that was the only time I've had one hit the floor.

[HaroldA]

Oh yeah.......

I had a section of lfex track that had expanded creating a kink that needed to be repaired.  So, I cut the track at the rail joiner to repair the track - then the phone rang.  I went upstairs to answer it and forgot completely about the now disconnected track.  On Christmas Day my brother asked the magical question - 'how's the trains coming?'  So down we went to the basement, turned on the layout and,,,,well, you can imagine the rest.

This was definitely one of those or moments.

 

 

[galaxy]

There are those days when things just go "wrong".OR, when "Murphy" visits your train room.

I had to watch, also in horror, and tried to catch beyond my reach, as my treasured IHC Mike went off the edge because I had taken down the border edging {secured in place for just those reasons} to do something else, and it happend to get jarred and derailed at a speed fast enought to sail it right to the edge and over....taking 2 cars with it. Mind you, the cars sustained NO damage, but the front end of the engine, taking all the brunt of impact made it become an "0-8-0 real fast!

I don't run trains anymore if the "bumper guard" is not up anymore...WHat WAS I thinking doing so???

One day things will go right, I am sure of it... and I shall faint when it does!

 

[Burlington Northern #24]

My SP&S Alco RS1 took a plunge off the layout, amazingly the loco and the MTL coupler survived in 1 piece.

[dm9538]

Many, many, many, moons ago I was running my, at that time fairly new Atlas (yellow box) Illinois Central GP-38 on my dad's layout with a buddy of mine. Well the bridge across the doorway had been removed or not installed yet. Well needless to say the Geep which was my favorite and really the only good loco I owned went sailing to the floor. The front pilot, walkway and steps broke clean off and I could never really glue the shell back together. All was not lost, a couple of years ( I think ) later I found a guy selling undec Atlas shells at a train show. I bought a new shell and the unit went to a custom painter and returned wearing ICG orange and gray. I still own the engine and it still runs and is still one of my favorites. Not bad for wipeout that happened 30+ years ago..

[CTValleyRR]

Many years ago now, I was running a TGV at prototypical speeds (more or less).  The cat, which likes to perch on the controller stand watching trains go by -- and by this time had done this for years without a problem -- suddenly decided to take a poke at the train as it flew by.  She barely touched it, but even that gentle nudge was enough.  The train rocked a couple of times, then derailed, fell off the edge of the benchwork and headed for the floor.  I managed to snag the second passenger car, but that only snapped off the unpowered loco at the rear of the train as well as the powered loco and the first passenger car.  All 3 hit the concrete hard.  The powered loco and the passenger car were total losses.  I could have salvaged the dummy loco, but it was kind of pointless with the powered one in a thousand pieces.

[Burlington Northern #24]

CTValleyRR

Many years ago now, I was running a TGV at prototypical speeds (more or less).  The cat, which likes to perch on the controller stand watching trains go by -- and by this time had done this for years without a problem -- suddenly decided to take a poke at the train as it flew by.  She barely touched it, but even that gentle nudge was enough.  The train rocked a couple of times, then derailed, fell off the edge of the benchwork and headed for the floor.  I managed to snag the second passenger car, but that only snapped off the unpowered loco at the rear of the train as well as the powered loco and the first passenger car.  All 3 hit the concrete hard.  The powered loco and the passenger car were total losses.  I could have salvaged the dummy loco, but it was kind of pointless with the powered one in a thousand pieces.

ouch,  I cringed maybe it's not such a bad thing that my sisters cat is scared of my trains.  

[BMR777]

I've had days like this the past few times I've used my layout.  My track is built in 6 modular pieces so that I can get it out of my apartment when I move.  Unfortunately due to this setup sometimes the track likes to shift, or if I bump into the table it can get everything out of alignment.  The past few times I've used the layout I've spent about an hour each time getting the track back into alignment.

I'll have a train that will go around and uncouple at certain spots or derail and I'll have to make adjustments.  Somehow the height of the modules got messed up, started to sag, so everytime the train would go to the bridge on the module it would uncouple.  I solved this by propping up the module with a boxcar. :)

Luckily no swan dives - yet.  There's a lip built into my layout to prevent this from happening, but it could happen, but I hope not.

[fiatfan]

A couple of years ago I was doing some switching and having a problem with getting two cars coupled.  One car was equipped with Kadee 158 and the other with a McHenry.  I've been converting all my cars to the Kadee so I though "This won't take long."  

Take the truck off, get out the needle nose and start prying the coupler cover off.  Boy, this thing is -SNAP- stubborn.  Well, it was.  Honest.

OK, let's drill and tap the box and be on our way.  Find the 2-56 tap and drill bit (that I bought to replace the ones I bought a few years earlier and never could find again).  Get the car in the drill press vice, carefully protected by cloth.  It won't sit square.  Ah, a couple of loose screws (on the vice!).  Tighten those up and drilling and tapping proceed according to the manual.

Now it's time (finally) to install the new coupler.  Oh, and be careful of the nice delicate stirrup.  Place the coupler in the coupler box and hold the cover or the box.  Coupler won't move.  OK.  The cover plate needs to be filed down.  It's too thin to hold against the sander so I have to press it against the face of the file to get it to the proper thickness (after multiple test fittings).

Finally ready to attach the coupler -SNAP- there goes the stirrup.  Get the coupler installed.  Reglue the stirrup.  Reglue the other parts that fell of because Front Range kits "don't need to be glued."

45 minutes later the car is equipped with Kadees and I'm ready to shut the lights off for the day.

Tom