What is the best way to make a derailment scene? Would trees have to be down? Would loads from the cars have to be spilled haz mat etc?
That depends on where it happened. Check out railroadpictures.net ,look up train wrecks for pictures. Then again it’s your layout,you can do what ever you want to stage.
Patrick
Invite a few friends over and show them the layout.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist!
There are some photos of wrecks and derailments mixed in with other photos of Fallen Flags here: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/ You can look up your favorite (or least favorite) and see what is in the collection.
Depends on what and where you are modeling- the possibilities are endless!
I’m planning on modeling a scene where there had been a previous derailment and the RR had buried an unsalvagable tank car, However they did it in a fairly sandy area and the wind has blown the covering sand off do part of the tank and dome is showing.
As little or as much as you want. What kind of line do you have? A high speed mainline would have had a tremendous wreck if the train was moving really fast, but a slow speed branchline might have only a few cars derailed. I’ve seen pictures of clean-up efforts where trees have been knocked down, and others cut down by crews to get access. Freight would be spilled everywhere, grain from covered hoppers, wrecked autos from auto racks, boxcars in various states of damage, oh goodness, the list is endless. Oh, don’t forget, wrecked locomotives, the resulting fires, and the scorches left afterwards, spilled fuel, injured crewmen (or worse, depending on how demented you feel). Don’t forget bulldozers and wreck cranes, RR management, fire and EMS crews, police, and (in modern times) Haz-Mat and EPA officials. You might see damaged cars being loaded on flatcars headed to the shop for repairs, spare axles and trucks, and perhaps a scrapping crew with torches cutting up cars for scrap
A few years ago MR had an issue showing how to model damaged cars with pictures of wrecked cars. I saw one layout that had a scene depicting a grade crossing wreck, with damaged auto (smoking), fire truck and ambulance, and police. The emergency vehicles were equipped with working strobe lights, so it was a real attention getter. To add irony, the locos were painted with the “Operation Lifesaver” grade crossing safety slogans.
Brad
I have seen some twisted metal flatcar frames sitting in an old abandoned field after a wreck. The train and the tracks run parallel so when a train wrecked onto the road the wreckage was just dragged into the old field beside the road. A little junk like this might make a charming detail to a layout.
90% of all derailments involve less than two cars, often one end of one car, that is upright and parallel to the tracks and can be frogged on. Very, very few involve a release of hazmat.
Dave H.
Bump. Good topic
Upright, parallel, and covered up (right Dave?). I’ve frogged many a railcar myself.
Most of the damage to trees and the like, I’ve seen was done by Hulcher, to gain access to the derailment site. You’re also likely to see piles of dirt and ballast around where the cars went on the ground. Sometimes, there are wrecked trucks and wheelsets piled up too.
Nick