Sad Train Stories

[rrinker]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TA462

I was installing my very first decoder in a Proto GP9 and couldn't get it to work. I was sitting at the kitchen table and had the Loco on a piece of 3 foot flex track. I cranked up the throttle to full on my Digitrax Zephyr and it still wouldn't move. I phoned up a buddy of mine and asked him if he had any idea what I did wrong. He asked if I put it in forward or reverse on the Zephyr and of course I didn't. I turned it to forward and the Loco took off like a bat out of hell, knocking a container full of Kadee couplers, springs and screws on to the floor before it flew off the table crashing into a chair, leaving a nice gash in it and finally ending up on the floor. I still had the cordless phone in my hand and my buddy says to me "well, did it work?" I let out a big YAHOOO and told him "yep, that was the problem." I didn't mention anything else though, lol. I'm just glad the body was still off.

That'll teach you to program in some momentum [:D]
Good thing the body was off, I have several P2K's and with all that detailing I really don't think they could stand a trip to the floor. Sans body, it would be hard to damage that massive metal chassis.

--Randy

[rrinker]

I have 2.

First happend MANY MANY years ago. We used to have a 4x8 plus a little we set up in the family room from november through january. My Dad did most of it, but I helped with wiring and I was the only one able to run trains without running switches and derailing. The year my Dad passed away, I wanted to keep up with setting up the trains, so I managed to get it all set up myself (I was about 10 that year) and operational. So I'm runnign a train with our MDC boxcab diesel - anyone that has one of those will know, they are kind of slow and noisy. So it's chugging around when all of the sudden it takes off at warp speed and flies off the end of the layout...WHOA! Smahed to bits. I still have the parts, plus a complete new loco I got a few years ago, I have a good kitbash project in mind for that - the new one runs just as slow and just as noisy as the old one - how it eveh got to warp speed liek that I'll never know.

Number 2 happend a few months ago, before I had a mainline loop complete on the current layout. I was runnign a train back and forth over the completed section using my father in law's Atlas Trainmaster (with sound). Got near the end of the track so I cut the throttle - only the drive train in Atlases is SO good it coasts - for a LONG time. Shoved 2 of my Kato covered hoppers right off the back of the layout and onto the floor. This things mostly snap together so it was pieces everywhere - luckily nothing broke and I was abe to round up all the pieces to reassemble them.

--Randy

[stokesda]

Prior to my most recent move, I spent a lot of time (and more money that I'd care to admit to) trying to scratchbuild/kitbash a double-track Warren Truss bridge for the layout that I'm currently building. I spent many long hours cutting and gluing together Evergreen styrene sticks for this thing.

Come moving time, I decided that space was a premium in our overcrowded car, and that the bridge would have to go in the movers' truck with the rest of the household goods. I tried to prepackage it a little to protect it from damage....

When I was unpacking boxes in the new house, I was alarmed to find my bridge in about a hundred pieces in the bottom of a box where it had no business being. Fortunately, I think I can put it all back together, but that was about the saddest sight I think I had seen in a while. It reminded me of the part from the movie "A Christmas Story" about the broken lamp: "... so the old man gathered up the shattered remains of his major award..."

[selector]

No stories to tell, but I sure have enjoyed hearing all of yours....I mean, enjoyed the sharing, not the outcomes. I haven't opening up my throttles because my 22" radii are not conducive to that speed, and because I would be highly deflated if I damaged either of my two steamers. They're not brass, but I had to part with a whole bunch of it in order to get them, just the same!

Randy is right; program in some inertia and momentum settings to get a more protoypical acceleration and deceleration if you have DCC. The former saves the zipping off the program track phenomenon, but the latter makes for some interesting accident pictures when two trains collide at low speed at a crossing or at a turnout. Yup, been there.

[willy6]

During the holiday season last year, I spent about 3 days detailing a blue box GP-38, and I must say It turned out good. My buddy came over one late afternoon and we shared some liquid holiday cheer. after he left, I decided to tryout my newly detailed loco. and when (hick-up) I fired it up at max throttle and forgot to set the (hick-up) turnouts right, I had said loco and parked boxcar on wooden floor(hick-up), the loco did not recover from it's injuries. So i have learned "don't drink and throttle".

[cspmo]

My first week with a new Atlas Dash 8-40C, with a decoder.It derail on a switch by the time, I got over to it there was smoke pouring out of the *** thing, and part of the shell melted.

[rrinker]

And people laugh at me when I mention 'resistive' short circuits.. prime example right there, it didn't draw enough power to trip your booster's circuit breaker, but it sure was enough to smoke the decoder.

--Randy

[trainboyH16-44]

I should learn my lesson, although I haven't had a tragedy in 3 years. I've wrecked 2 athearn SD40-2s, unknown SD40-2, SD40-2 dummy, Mikado, P2K FA2. the FA2 was my most recent tragedy, and my worst. I once dropped a kato SD40-2 on the floor, but I was able to reassemble it.
Matthew
Hope this isn't too boring or strange or unreadable.

[Anonymous]

Key Imports Brass Bigboy rounding a turn it had passed over at least a 1000 times derailed, rolled down a 15 inch enbankment and then 45 inches to the floor. We are holding the funeral Thursday.

[cspmo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rrinker

And people laugh at me when I mention 'resistive' short circuits.. prime example right there, it didn't draw enough power to trip your booster's circuit breaker, but it sure was enough to smoke the decoder.

--Randy

What is 'resistive' short circuits ?

[rrinker]

Something other than a dead short - which would be 0 ohms. Such as what you might get with a derailed wheel contacting the opposite rail but not being pressed down by the weight of the locomotive. You can figure out the powe rinvolved with a few simple calculations. Let's say the track voltage is 14.5 volts. With a 5 amp booster powering the track, you can get down to as low as 3 ohms of resistence and STILL not draw more than the 5 amps - thus the overload protection at 5 amps will not trip. 5 amps at 14.5 volts is over 72 watts. Try touching a 60 or 75 watt light bulb.. or set your favorite plastic locomotive on one and see if it melts. If ever there is an argument for using power districts with some sort of additional protection at a lower current level rather than powering the track directly from the booster.... Imagine using one of those 10 amp boosters! You cna go as low as 1.5 ohms in the 'short' and still not trip a 10 amp booster. And that generates 145 watts of heat!

--Randy

[selector]

cspmo, Randy will answer, but please also see jfugate's nifty new thread "12 years of DCC". He and Randy understand that activating a small automotive light bulb in a resistive circuit reduces the effects of any short on a section of track to which it is wired (and to the decodered (expensive) loco that probably caused it). Some boosters have their short circuit detection set higher than the "woo, that's hot!" range that'll fry your decoders. But, the auto bulb wired in will glow during the short and resist the current from going to the next best thing...your decoder innards. The bulb acts as a buffer, or current sink, during the short, and it saves your trains.

Did I come close, Randy and Joe?

[StillGrande]

In college a guy in the local club build a really nice layout in a spare bedroom. The scenary was fantastic (had a scratch built baseball stadium that made it into the Walthers catalogue. It even had crowd noise and an announcer). The club used it for a promo for the news before a show. Anyway one night he noticed it was smoking and called the fire department. They laid into it with a high pressure fire hose. Goodby layout. Took about 2 seconds to destroy everything (even the benchwork). At least he has the pictures and the video from the news.

[cheese3]

One of the lionel locomotives i just got stopped running. I do not know why. At least it is not the prewar. I am sure i will get it running again though.

[Anonymous]

As a youth, I would "hang" at my favorite LHS most Saturday mornings. I got to know the "Seniors," some where colorful characters, and one in particular had a substantial drinking habit. He always had a lit cigar in his mouth as well. Unfortunately, both habits joined on one illfated evening as he was cleaning his locos and rolling stock with gasoline (can you imagine?). I mean, a hurricane couldn't provide "adequate ventilation!" Anyhow, nothing was salvaged from the ashes except the Modeler. He escaped unscathed minus his eyebrows and one shoe which was later found in the debris. Perhaps the old addage, "Providence protects fools and drunks" has some truth to it afterall. When you think of it, this is a happy story.

[Sunset Limited]

In 1996 I purchased two E-9's in the Southern Pacific daylight scheme. Once they arrived I ran them on my test track and was so impressed with these Proto 2000 with their mars light. I put one away and the other one was still running. I turned off the power, but did not know that these things have good flywheel action! well it was too late, I just saw it fly off my test track and fell to the floor. AAAuuughhh!!![:O] I picked it up from the floor and saw that the shell was cracked! [:(!] I ordered another one, but now I have a running chassis with a crack shell!

[1shado1]

Does a "Sad Train Story" have to be about an accident involving model trains? Or can it just be a story of me doing something STUPID with my trains?

Jeff

[Anonymous]

well jeff, it can be any unfortunate, sad, or stupid story relating to the destruction or near destruction of a model train.

[1shado1]

QUOTE: Originally posted by csxguy

well jeff, it can be any unfortunate, sad, or stupid story relating to the destruction or near destruction of a model train.

Thanks. It was unfortunate, sad, and stupid. But didn't involve destruction, only selling (on more than one occasion). I should probably save it to be posted elsewhere...

JEFF

[Anonymous]

There's one story I'll never forget, it 's some 30 years back now, I was 15 yerars old and had a small H-O layout, mostly Fleischmann stuff ( I live in The Netherlands, Europe )
I got hold of a rare steam railcar from a manufacturer ( Merker + Fischer ) that was very exclusive in those years. I paid a lot of money for it and I wanted to paint it for my own fantasy railroad company.
I asked a friend how I could get rid of the paint on the model so that I could paint on a paintless shell. He advised me to put the shell in a jar filled with car brake-fluid, that would probably take the paint off....
I did as he told me and after one day I took the lid of the jar with the shell and brake-fluid in it......all that was left from the shell was a molten ball of plastic.....[:(]

Ron

[jeffshultz]

I was 8 years old and I got the HO Scale Lionel "Bicentennial" train set, with a GP7/9 in it for Christmas. My dad and I set it up on the traditional 4x8 board in our daylight basement and I had fun running things around and around.... until one day someone called me upstairs and my foot didn't clear the locomotive as I crossed a corner of the board. Busted the flange on one of the wheels.

Never could get a replacement - by then Lionel was out of the HO business again. Eventually everything ended up in the trash.

[railroadyoshi]

Well, my first time was very discouraging.
This was three years ago, when i was 9 years old.

Important lesson learned:KIDS YOUR AGE DO NOT SHARE YOUR INTERESTS
sadly enough

we held a party and a bunch of kids came down to the train room and started crashing stuff
those stupid kids will never be allowed near my railroad.

The worst part happened to my Amtrak F40.
The train was coming up to a 2% gradient trestle.
The stupid kids put a hemicylinder portion of a pillar for a Bachmann kit on the trestle just before a turn.
The loco was throttled up to full and the locomotive leaped off the track and hit the wall
Obviously they do not understand the seriousness or expense of this hobby.

I did not play with my trains for some 8 months

Siddharth

[Anonymous]

You want sad. I got a sad one for you.

I'm an N scaler, and out in my train room I have two storage cabinets mounted to the wall where I keep all of my rolling stock and engines. I've never been 100% happy with the cabinet that was one the bottom of the two, so this past Saturday evening I decided to replace it with one I found at Target that matched the first one. Seconds after removing the lower cabinet I didn't like, the upper cabinet came crashing down and hit the floor at full force... I just got up out of my chair and walked outside for a minute and did everything I could to keep from having a stroke. When I finally got the nerve up to go back in and see how much damage was done, I found that about half of everything that was in the cabinet had something broken on it. I spent the entire next day repairing things and reinstalling the cabinets so nothing like that would ever happen again.

trainluver1

[Marc_Magnus]

Yes I have one.

Because of the expand of my family in the eighties, I had to move to a new home.

My railroad room was not ready when we moved in.

So a lot of my running models were put in a cardstock box in my bedroom above a wardrobe.
The box was a little bit greater than the top of the wardrobe.
But at this time I was sure of the security of the place.

Than a very bad evening comes

My two little children, a girl and a boy; comes to play in the bedroom.
After a while they begun to play on our bed and make a strike with the pillows.

I never know which one send the pillow to the top of the wardrobe, but the fact is the box come down on the floor, with a results of more than 20 N scale Rivarossi steamer broken in some level until the coupler to the whole boiler, with wheels deformed or dexaxed.
Some cars where by and with the same results.

Overall more off my roster was out of service.

But I beleive in fact it was a good thing. I never like to sold my old models.

By this damaging evening, I was oliged to buy new locomotives and buy some first generation diesel avaible at the moment.
They all where better runner than the Rivarossi steamers and this was benefict to my railroad.
Since there I now have a good roster of first diesel and I am in the way to make a new roster of steamer with all the excellent model and runner avaible on the market now in N scale.

[Anonymous]

Why were the kids even near your trains? I'm curious to know whether you forgot about the trains or just didn't care...

[railroadyoshi]

i was there

except its a bit hard to control 10 children
when your having a friendly conversation with one and somebody does something stupid

kinda wierd though.
-SiddharthAnd why wouldnt i care?
My trains are my saviour(uhhh, im scared of my brain, but its true)

[randybc2003]

This happened about 3 to 5 years ago. I was working on the edge of my layout - doing I don't rember what, and had one of my IHC Woodburners parked ona spur 2" back from the Edge. Yup - you gussed it - "Down the Creek" she went. [:(] Several parts scatered 6 ways from ACHERON, and the Diamond stack beoke off. But strangely, after recovering all parts, with the jucicus application of plyers, spring hooks, and a little ACC cement to the stack - you can't tell the difference. I have been a lot more carefull of pads & edge. [:I]
R.B.C.

[Anonymous]

i had built a temorary bridge across a 3 foot gap in the front og my layout. I didn't secure the track really well. my beauitful pair of CNW SD60s went over along with the first car in the train. i swear it happened in slow motion watching those 2 SD60s plunge. I got one repaired so far. the other one needs 2 new trucks and some shell work. II royally crushed the steps on the firemens back corner. and the front pilot is almost broken off. I just couldn't belive it. if any one has any spare Proto 2000 SD60 trucks i can have/buy email me please

[Anonymous]

Jay, i know how you feel. I watched my loco plunge to the floor (stupid buffers) . i almost died!!! Luckily, it was ok and is now back in service.

[Anonymous]

Years ago at my club layout, I received a phone call from work to report a problem to me that I needed to look into. I was on the phone a few minutes and when I returned to the layout, at least two members were packing up their engines and cars and most of the group were upset.

When I received the phone call, I turned over my train to a member to run it into the next siding, but my train was following the famous coal train of Ray Brown down a 2% grade. Yes that is the same Ray Brown of the Brown book. He was a wonderful person, but when something like this happened on the layout, he did not take it quietly. My train was a twenty car reefer train with a Santa Fe Texas class 5011 that was weighted to the maximum and the other member rearended Ray's coal train, which knocked every single car of the coal train off the track. It was a mess and no one was talking, just packing up. I was the indirect cause, but had no idea what had happened at the time.

Actually, no equipment was damaged and it was just ego, but Ray and I laughed about it the following week as we would meet and eat before the club activities.

We had many small disasters over the years, but got over them quickly as we were a close group and enjoyed running the layout.