I have been going back and forth on my current layout. I start to build it and then I see something I dont like then I get rid of it all and start over. I was thinking of doing a train wreck over the side of a cliff or mountain maybe or a wrecking yard of somekind. I have some misc engine parts that cant be used as a engine and 2 engines that are not worth spending the funds to return and fix (bauchmans). So, i was going to do one of the 2 ideas.
I am sure others here have done them but I cant find them by a search. Lets see your wrecks, engine junckyards and grave yards.
I’m going to model NRE in Silvis IL. They overhaul and repurpose used engines and lease them out or sell them. They have a huge facility and hundreds of engines onsite. The facility used to be Rock Islands shops.
I have scarfed up about 50+ engines at flea markets to use as scenery at the site and also as traffic enroute to the NRE site. I’m probably at least a year away before I can start modeling that industry though.
Back in the 1960s, when I was stationed at Eddie’s Airpatch (aka Edwards AFB) there was a rail equipment scrap yard just south of Mojave, CA. Just a couple of tracks, a small locomotive crane with a lifting magnet and a few piles of things like doors and handbrake mechanisms. Can’t describe it in detail because I never stopped to get a really good look.
That would be one way to ‘recycle’ damaged rolling stock.
I remember te railroad scrap yard there at Mojave, the burned freight cars having wood in them making it easier to scrap the steel. Back then you could do that!
In my mind, anything more than a small derailment involves death and I don’t need to model that. Horrific accidents were common in the late 1800’s.
However I too like the idea of a railroad salvage yard. Someone recent posted a youtube of Larry’s Truck and Engine. LTE. the other variation I am thinking of is an abandoned salvage yard, overgrown with weeds, trees and barely visible engines and railroad stock. There are youtube videos of Russia or eastern Europe of such places. You wouldn’t have to worry about dropping feeders either. [:D]
It was called “Purdy’s”. Just place a bunch of railcars minus their wheels side by side and you should be set. I think an ancient wooden passenger coach saved as an office would be a nice touch, but that’s just me. To add to Steamage’s comment, Purdy’s was conviently located just across the border in nearby Kern County, where the air quality stardards were more lax, and you could burn the cars to remove the wood. A bit of realism I suspect you’ll want to skip.
One thing about a wreck scene, as compared to a scrap yard or similar, is that wrecks are cleaned up. Even things that look like steel pretzels and accordions are cut up and taken away, to be recycled for their salvage value and to comply with those pesky environmental laws. That puts them in the same category as rubber-wheeler wrecks, and the cliche, ‘cop chasing the burglar (in striped shirt and domino mask) down the alley,’ things that wouldn’t remain static for my whole modeled month.
Businesses, even those in the business of recycling scrap metal, have a lot more lasting power. And a more modern operation can give you an excuse to model all kinds of interesting machinery. Metal shredder, anyone?
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - wrecks cleaned up promptly to clear the track for scheduled traffic.)
OK, heres some ideas and thoughts. Here in North Carolina where I live is a train wreck that was not cleaned up, but left as a tourist attraction. The movie “Fugative” was filmed here and the staged wreck was left and still there. Also unless it is a passenger train wreck, most do not produce deaths or injuries unless it involves the locomotive or in the old days cabooses. There are places I have seen where frieght cars derailed and slid into ravines or down mountains and were left, as it was too costly at the time to retrieve them. Another idea is model part of an abandon line that because of a flood a bridge was washed out and building a new bridge to retrieve the rolling stock was more costly then said cars were worth and just left to nature. Possibilities are endless. Ken
Paint them and heavily weather rust them. Put them on a weed covered over grown track behind the locomotive shop. Call them spare parts engines. Very common sight on railroads of all eras. . vines can cover the worst parts of the model
