Derailments in both one to one and HO scale happen fairly natural so I don’t have to stage any.
CZ
No, but it is a cliche.
I’ve seen a few diorama’s that depict crashes - not jus railroad accidents - NASCA, trucks, hillclimbs and a big city motorway pile-up as well as a traffic safety diorama taken around schools to help with the intersection crossing message. They’ve all been effective in their own way. They can be quite complex or very simple, but the idea is to tell a story, if you can do that then you will receive some satisfaction from your modeling efforts.
The matter of good taste or not lays entirely with you - if others are offended by your work then that’s for them to deal with their own bruised sensibilities.
Bruce[:)]
Your questions are very legitimate and thoughtful.
I was at a train show recently, and there was a freight wreck modeled in n-scale, it drew a lot of positive attention from children and adults alike, from what I gathered, no person was offended, it took a lot of creativity actually, the way it was done.
Personally, I think its fine if its freight and no passengers are involved, but again, it all depends on context. If you chose to model a specific crash that did indeed involve serious injuries or fatalities, it could serve a historical purpose, although tragedies of any sort are usually depicted in paintings rather than in dioramas.
Also, putting emergency crews at work in the layout would represent bravery, optimism, and hope in response to a disaster, so thats not a bad thing either.
Jessie my steel rail brother. I see nothing wrong is doing a wreck. My self, I like the ideas of a old wreck where cars where left. K-10 model trains have a few freight cars sitting around the bench.
I have done two models of wreck rolling stock on flat cars.
And a F7 A that would never be ran again, old pancake LL.
Glad to see you posting again my friend, Ken
Thanks too all who weighed in on this question, after reading these replies I think maybe just a rusted out Train bone yard might be better.
I didn’t want too model anything where people were injured or killed, that’s just the EMT in me.
I didn’t even like reading about the one where the cattle were maimed.
I was looking for a way too use some of the crappy rail cars I have in my collection that will never see the tracks.
The pics were cool, thanks, and Ken I love the one with the F-7? On the flat bed.
I’m waiting for the warm weather too return so I can get back too my layout.
Thanks again guys, some real good points were made here especially the wrecks being a temporary thing in real life for the most part.
On my very first layout I did a vacation place using all cabooses as cabins I think I could revisit that Idea and build some houses out of box cars, I have one on my layout now.
Be well my Brothers of the mini rails.
Jess Red Horse,
The “transitory” argument is a difficult one to defend. How long do cars remain on city streets? How long to people remain on sidewalks? Every night, they pretty much go away.
As for the “Is it right” question: we are modelers. We model reality. (or try our best) That includes the good and bad. How many times have you seen nude sunbathers on beach scenes, or prostitution in urban scenes, or hold-ups in urban scenes. Or buildings on fire?
As long as it looks natural, you are doing your job as a modeler. For that matter, they sell UFO’s in Walthers catalog. And people put them on or above their layout.
At the train club I belonged to, we used to quickly photograph derailments on the club layout before they were put back on the track… Just to tease the train ‘engineers’ over a beer later.It was part of the fun of the run night and the camaraderie.
I wouldn’t disagree. I think what those of us who pointed out the issue is that traffic is a “normal” and daily, hourly, and minute-by-minute event that has a purpose. It is life in that it is living. Railroad accidents, particularly where there is massive destruction and death, is not living, although it is about life. In that respect, one is highly unlikely to witness, let alone encounter, a railroad accident, something to ruminate over, than one is to encounter an old dilapidated water tower, or a coaling tower, or a roundhouse and turntable, say. One is more likely to encounter an incident of road rage. One could model the death of a child in a pretty suburban neighbourhood as it crosses the street in front of his well-kept house. What we are cautioning Jesse is that it isn’t often favoured, often raises more questions and eyebrows than coos of admiration, and it is once again highly ephemeral…a nasty pause in time where the quick have to put away the dead. Not really a pleasant thing to contemplate, even if it is realistic.
But, we sure could model it…[:D]
-Crandell
I’d just say, maybe, that it would be more difficult to justify modelling a ‘transitory’ event such as an accident, if & only if, one isn’t all that interested in it in the first place. I won’t be advocating a shoot out in a crowded mall being modelled myself but I guess someone else might do it----[:-^]
[quote user=“Great Western Rwy fan”]
This is the wreck next on the Great Smokey Mountains Railroad. This was a staged wreck for the motion picture “The Fugitive” and as of 2006 it was still there. I took these photo’s from the tourist train as we rolled by.
Jess,
Here’s a little different idea for you. The CNW had small yards at Belle Plaine, Iowa and East Clinton, Illinois where they parked wrecked/damaged cars waiting either to be scrapped or repaired. A line of banged up boxcars wouldn’t look out of place on a siding. Keep in mind, they hauled them there on their own wheels.
Stay Safe…
Chris
(former EMT/Paramedic)
Transitory? Not if you’re modeling the SP of, say, the 1960s.
Back in that era, SP had a major derailment out on the main line near Salton Sea, California.
After apparently salvaging the trucks and whatever other parts were worth saving, The Friendly left some wrecked covered hoppers along the right of way for what seemed like a year or two.
Perhaps the guys on Market Street thought that such a scene would serve as a safety-first message to the operating crews, kinda like one of those “drive sober and safely” exhibits with a smashed automobile!
For some reason I recall a railroad using an automobile or automobiles from train v. auto crossing accidents in a railroad crossing safety campaign.
I often wonder how long they kept some of those old passenger cars around that had been telescoping accidents. I am sure there were some that were put on display during the late 1800’s (1890’s) since viewing the macabre became a fascination of many people then.
Red Horse - A few summers back we had the Howard Street Tunnel fire, in Baltimore. CSX (former B&O) has a line that runs from Camden Yards out to the Maryland Institute of Art (Mt Royal), and one of its freights derailed, caught fire, and wreaked havoc for a day or so. All this drama was out of sight, and no one was injured. But there were a godzillion pieces of fire apparatus on hand…and then they brought out the charred freight cars…gettin’ my drift…?
Crashes are fairly easy to model…throw together some track as close to the ege of your table as possible… pick your finest loco and as many cars as you can spare… and apply maximum juice. If you’re lucky you’ll see it go round and round for a little while until your bad track kicks in and your train goes plunging off the table and onto the hard cement floor four feet below. Now that’s a crash…
I agree that since its a transitory event, keeping a wreck there for a longer time would be unreal and boring. I have a fascination for MOW yards and can picture how it would be interesting to feature an event for a incident. But I probably would just make it simple like a car off the tracks. Also its interesting to haul off a locomotive that has been wrecked. But I am thinking being able to create that would be hard. More likely an engine fire is easier to model.
You mean, like this?
CNW Boone, Iowa. May, 1993
Stay SAFE…
Chris
I remember Model Railroader sometime in the 1980s showed a picture of a flatcar with something like that on it. Had a crossing signal mounted on it as well.
Kevin
John Allen was perhaps the first (aside from Gomez Addams) to stage a train wreck on his layout
http://gorre-and-daphetid.witt-family.com/Western_Model_Railroads_c70.jpg
warning BIG picture