So the subject line says it all- I finally destroyed my first decent loco.
Here’s how it happened. I went to work on my Bachmann J that I bought over 10 years ago because the wheels were not running straight and I wanted to make sure they were in gauge, plus some minor touch ups here and there. I discovered that the motor did not even want to turn the wheels anymore (it worked the last time I used it last winter- I put it up on a shelf and didn’t do anything to it). After getting the motor out and trying to get that to turn again the frustration got the best of me and now it’s in a bunch of little pieces on the ground. No matter what I did it wouldn’t go back together again and the motor would not work. I don’t feel that bad because it wasn’t a highly priced model; in short it was always a piece. The shell isn’t modeled correctly, the wheels the same, etc.
The model got the last laugh because it cut up my hand as it when crashing to the floor.
It’s not even salvagable. I don’t even want to try to salvage it. I wasn’t looking forward to all the work I had to do to it before it ended up in the junkyard.
Just thought I’d share my story and maybe get some laughs (but probably more head shakings).
It wont be the first or last POS item to end up into the dumpster regardless of pricing. I tossed out a few bad engines myself. I consider them lessons to learn to avoid in the future.
That was then. Today? If I got a engine that does not perform? It gets sold on Ebay and good riddiance. Usually just enough to cover the fees and shipping costs and gone. No more destructing. However, I wont say what the next owner might end up doing to it LOL.
Ah yes. I have a BLI and I won’t even consider working on that myself (if it needs a major overhaul). If I do need to do anything to it and I start to get frustrated, it sits overnight so I can think about it. Thanks for the replies.
if you wanted to you could always turn the mangled and broken shell and frame into a nice scene of an accident. Historically there were enough of them and it would add another interesting vignette to your layout. just a thought. if you were modeling Chessie, you could blame it on the ghost of the Chessie Cat.[:)]
Myself I prefer to throw tools around when I get frustrated. Why? because a screwdriver being hurled to the floor makes a rather satisfying thunk and can still be picked up in one piece. Everyone’s different though[(-D].
Sounds like what happened to one of my 0-6-0’s some years back. It now sits out beside one of my engine houses as a rusted derelict. It had a can motor but the drive train was very, very chintzy.
There’s a prototype for that near here in the Delaware River, a submerged but visible steam locomotive that derailed in the Delaware Water Gap and went into the river. You can put it just below the surface so your visitors can see it.
But if the body is decent, you can try to find the Bowser mechanism kit for it.
It was a (cheap) mobile phone for me - layout frustrations + irritating phone call. It arced across the layout room, shattered the screen on one of the windows and landed with a nice ‘thunk’. It was an old one I’d been meaning to replace anyway.
If his temper is anything like mine, I’d say we’re looking moe at a crown sheet failure than a tip-over.
I fear the day I’m gonna lose it. That said, f it isn’t too late, or is still gathered nicely in a trashbag, and not scatttered through it, you might see if the screws that hold the drive-rods to almost anything survuved. their tiny, and hard to replace, so if you have soem extra, you win in the long run.
I basically did the same thing with my Bachmann GP50. It’s supposed to be a NS high hood, but really, it’s a POS GP40 with ginormous handrails, oversized details, and a crappy decoder. It just stopped running one day, and the handrails were all bent and whatnot (when I got it), and it was a piece of crap, so I chucked it across the room. At that point, the handrails were broken, and the couplers snapped off, and the rear headlight would turn on, but would not turn off when I changed the direction, the front headlight still didn’t come on, and the loco did not move in either direction.
Never threw a engine, but some of the old timers will remember when I was learning this craft I threw a tank cars across the room! [:D] It now sits next to K-10 Mining storing propane, well that what I tell people that ask!
You could all so send it back to Bachmann and tell them the drive rods locked up in a turn and took the leap of death! For $15.00 it might be worth a try.
I dropped a boiler to a Bachmann Spectrum 0-6-0 and when I looked for it I couldn’t locate it…I got up to get a flashlight and took 2 steps and crunch! My heart fell to my feet…I had place a lot of brass detail parts on this engine.That fool thing bounce behind my chair and to the right by at least 12-14".
I made a diorama with a “dead” steamer, representing a crown-sheet failure that I saw in one of my books. I used a lot of small tubes there, it almost looked like a bowl of Spaghetti[:D]. I gave it to a friend to celebrate his Golden spike. It was very appreciated.
Thanks everyone for the supportive comments- I thought I would get a bunch of “what an idiot why would you do that sort of thing” and I found out that I’m not alone. Dumb POS is what it was anyway. Dealing with Bachmann to get replacement parts was right up there with fun too.
Its good to see I’m not the only one that gets mad, and breaks something.
I’ve broken a few boxcars/hoppers, but never a engine. Been close, but thats it close. I had a old Bachman engine that didn’t work and took the motor out. Now its a dummy engine.
I could see it now (me) at a train show. “This car keeps derailing!!!” (smash on the floor) "Ugh…Now its the engine!!" (smashed with my foot)
As I slowly look around and see smaller kids in tears, older train guys VERY mad, and shaking there heads. AND…The middle age kids saying…“Cool!!!”.