I have had this layout to the point of running trains for about 14 years now. I rarely get a derailment and that usually happens when some idiot fails to flip a switch.[:-^] When it happens it is usually just one truck that goes to ground. I am very proud of that. However, I did have one major wreck caused by someone’s sister [|(] waving her hands around pretending to know all things railroad when she brought some people in for show and tell. She caught a car and the rest is history.
Cause: Sister.
My one and only wreck.
So it is show and tell wreck day. How did it happen? Got any pics? How many wrecks have you had?
Four of us ran on our friend Tom Stacks’ layout on Friday nights. One night one train was running westbound and Tom was also running westbound. The signal was red for Tom so the other train could divert around Toms’ train. Tom was not watching and ran the signal hitting the other trains caboose. Toms’ engine, the caboose and four cars of the other traind derailed. My first comment was “MR MANAGEMENT WE HAVE A PROBLEM!” It was determinded by a board of inquiry (The other members of the crew) that the engineer and fireman on Toms’ engine, the conductor and rear brakeman on the other train were killed in the wreck. The board determined that Tom was at fault since he passed a red signal and was sanctioned with the penalty of not being allowd to run triains on his layout for 30 minutes. Tom took it in good humor and was careful to watch all signals there after. I still laugh when I think about that night.
This one was on a fairly long train, perhaps 40-or-so cars, and a couple of very strong diesels (8.3 oz. of drawbar pull each). One car apparently had a low coupler, which snagged either on the ties on the high bridge or maybe on the guard rails - the locos, of course, continued pulling, string-lining a number of cars on the bridge and a few that had already passed over the bridge, but were still within the curve.
I don’t recall how many cars derailed, perhaps 8, but none were seriously damage, despite quite a substantial drop (11" off the bridge - some hit the lower bridge, while those on the curve beyond the bridge, rolled down the embankment, narrowly missing a couple of vehicles and ending up in the dry riverbed.
The other incident involved two Bachmann Consolidations, a dozen hoppers loaded with coal (“live” loads, with each hopper weighing 8oz.) and a caboose.
I was in the same aisle where the bridge incident occurred, switching some industries, and couldn’t see the rest of the layout, but thought that I heard another train running somewhere.
I stopped the switching manuevers to take a look if anything else had moved, but everything seemed to be where it belonged, so I went back to the switching. A few minutes later, I heard something hit the concrete floor.
I never thought to take photos, but apparenty, I had not killed the power on the staging track where the coal train was parked.
Since I was doing switching, the
Ive had 2 incidents that I took pictures of, and have posted them befotre, but it’s been a while.
A masonite backdrop panel let go and fell into the layout.
The panel is leaned back up. Note the boxcars on their sides back by it. The little car repair shop took the brunt of the force. I gathered every fragment and sliver of it and rebuilt it. The movable masonite panels have been replaced by permanent sheetrock.
The other incident was probably more what you’re talking about. I was running a long caboose chaser around my layout just for kicks. I was watching intently one part of the train moving, not realizing that out of line of vision, another part had uncoupled and stopped, locomotives and all. Didn’t take long for the leading engines to catch up.
There were actually a couple of bent Kadee coupler shanks where two cars got all twisted up against each other.
I don’t have any pictures of this, but we had a train crash due to a coupler (not a Kadee!) that broke on a long slope. The strech is about 15 feet long, at about 2%. The plastic coupler on the loco just broke when going up the hill and the entire train just slid down. Many cars went over the curve at the bottom of the hill to do “the big leap” over the edge. By miracle, no one was injured (it was a modern train with no caboose [:)]).
The guys pretty much made Kadees the standard at the club since then.
Had a few “idiot forgot to throw the switch” ones, but 3 others stand out.
1 - Had a 8-40CW pick the points/frog on the main, and tumble towards the abyss. Because I was right close, I fortunately caught it prior to it’s crash landing. Bent handrails, but otherwise just fine. (The engine crew sure had a story to tell though!)
2 - Had a live-loaded coal train parked on the siding, and a passing train on the main had a car jump off (low hanging coupler snagged something) and knock into the two tail cars, dumping said live coal load in the process. (I no longer run “live” coal loads.)
3 - Had a Bachman 2-8-4 NKP (765) slam the bottom of the abyss, off of my programming/test track no less, breaking off the front pilot, coupler, bell, and damaging the piping/handrailing on engineers side. After replacing the pilot and coupler, she was tested and runs fine. I have yet to fix te piping/handrails, and have not yet reinstalled the bell.
But I did learn that a Digitrax PR-4 Programmer dislikes Bachmann’s Sound Value decoders, as they will take off randomly during programming using DecoderPro! [:|] (I was ready the second time around…)
Never thought to take pics of either of the “messy” ones.
Reading about these disasters is another reason I’m glad to have added the masonite fascia BEFORE running locos and slightly above the foam sub-roadbed. I also have track at least 2" away fro the fascia. While the locos can’t live in a bubble, can def avoid falling to the abyss from being a klutz.
Since I am usually the only one running trains on my layout and I usually am running only one train at a time, don’t recall having any wrecks. But I did have an equally painful incident when I dropped my NCE power cab on the concrete floor. It now has 1/3 of the view screen no longer working. Ouch.
Well I have to correct my previous statement. I just remembered that when I first set up my layout about ten years ago, I had one of my grandsons running a train. I could see that he was about to wreck and kept telling him to stop but he did not react quickly enough. One boxcar took the long trip to the concrete floor but only suffered minor damage that I was able to repair. The worst part of it was the look on his eyes when it happened. I had to work hard to convince him that I did not blame him and he should feel welcome to run trains in the future. He eventually got past it.
A occupancy detector malfunctioned and gave the engineer clearance to proceed through a diamond crossing. It also gave another crew clearance. So a main line freight, traveling a bit too fast I’ll add, wrecked with the crossing local[:'(]
Anywhoo, a wreck ensued and after a thourogh investigation, it was determined to be the crew of the local’s fault, as they were not wearing approved boots.[:D]
Several years ago, we had an earthquake that was centered only a few miles away from our house. I ran out to the garage (California basement) to find that almost every car on the layout was at least off the tracks or completely on its side. Fortunately, only one old AHM tank car fell off the layout but suffered minimal damage. After discovering that most everything was OK, the whole situation became rather comical. Further examination showed that at least 80% of the trains were on their sides. The sugar beet plant scene looked like a real trainwreck. Probably because of their lower center of gravity, all of the flat cars were still on the rails although those with loads lost their loads. Check out the mayhem.
I’ve completed a lot more work on the layout since these photos were taken and, thankfully, we haven’t had any quakes strong enough to do any damage since (although I’ve made it a point never to park trains where they might fall off the layout.
I did suffer one rather embarrassing wreck at a Los Angeles Model Rairoad Society ops session but there wasn’t a thing I could do about it! I was runnning a train up a looonnng grade when the back half of the train broke away. The elevated track was well out of reach so I helplessly watched the back half of my train accelerate down the hill. The track enters a tunnel near the bottom of the grade below the narrow gauge yard in Rico, then reappears along the main aisle as it exits the tunnel. I actually caught three of the cars as they shot out of the tunnel and into the aisle! Unfortunately, two other cars did hit t
