Ever be running trains and you do something that in hindsight is really not smart?

Yes, indeed. I composed a too-long freight train with a Lackawanna FM as the engine. I had ignored that some of the more contemporary boxcars had weak couplers.

Sure enough, one of them let go, and while I was chatting with guests, the engine with part of its consist rushed right 'round most of its closed-loop and ran into its own caboose, which I believe you can see in these shots, on the center-track. Fortunately, none of the train derailed (which amazed me.)

So, I pulled the uncoupled rear of the consist out and off the (Stainless Unlimited ) bridge where the uncoupling occurred and ran the FM with its portion of the consist forward to where I could reach it and at least re-couple its three post-war gondolas to it. The offending boxcar was removed and gifted to a young visitor who had called out to me that the train had had an accident.

He and I had both been reminded that couplers can be finicky li'l troublemakers.

FrankM, Moon Township, USA

Moonson posted:

Yes, indeed. I composed a too-long freight train with a Lackawanna FM as the engine. I had ignored that some of the more contemporary boxcars had weak couplers.

Sure enough, one of them let go, and while I was chatting with guests, the engine with part of its consist rushed right 'round most of its closed-loop and ran into its own caboose, which I believe you can see in these shots, on the center-track. Fortunately, none of the train derailed (which amazed me.)

So, I pulled the uncoupled rear of the consist out and off the (Stainless Unlimited ) bridge where the uncoupling occurred and ran the FM with its portion of the consist forward to where I could reach it and at least re-couple its three post-war gondolas to it. The offending boxcar was removed and gifted to a young visitor who had called out to me that the train had had an accident.

He and I had both been reminded that couplers can be finicky li'l troublemakers.

FrankM, Moon Township, USA

 

Look away and the next thing you know!Oh!Oh no!OH NONONO! Yea cuopler seem to almost a mind of their own.But we both know that impossible right right.

Man, I've done too many oops to count.

I worked late one night (many nights) on my "Valley of Bridges" layout and was testing out newly placed track.  I must have been too tired and ran the Big Boy off the end of the track.  I am very grateful that it was not one of the many bridge gaps in the layout.  The Big Boy was my test engine for all track placed. If it made it without hitting a wall, bumping an 86' Hi-Cube Boxcar on a curve, or clipping a bridge abutment, then I knew the track could be fastened in place.  It has proven to be my best and most often-run engine. I don't think it has been off the layout since I started positioning track at Christmas 2015.  I took a picture of the Big Boy to remind me not to work late and do stupid things.  I now do stupid things without working late.  Sincerely, John Rowlen

 This spring, shortly after buying my Polar Express FT set, I made a colossal blunder. My layout has a loop that runs the perimeter of the benchwork, that is just a big oval with no connections to anything. Then there is an inside loop, that includes a figure 8 and a couple of spurs for parking trains. I had been running the FT on the outside loop, but at some point I decided to pick it up and move it to the inside loop. Rather than remove a train from the inside, I just moved both of them to the spurs and left them there. I guess it was the next day, I was running the FT, and I decided to release my RMT GG1 from the spur and send it around. As the GG1 approached the tunnel, the FT came barreling out of the same tunnel, heading in the opposite direction. Head on collision. Looked like the danged Addams Family. I couldn't believe the FT wasn't broken after running into that GG1. Felt like a total fool, and now know the exact definition of the term "brain fart".

I ran a double stack train at my local club without checking all the clearances. I heard a terrible sound. A signal bridge was too low and the stack cars ripped it off the layout and dragged the wires out with it. The train didn't derail but it was starting to struggle. I found out some of the stack cars were taller than the others. They never rewired the signal, but they did put some blocks under it to raise it half an inch. Embarrassed me since I was the youngest member at the time. 

My only major regret was running my new Lionel F3 passenger set back in the late 90s under a curved tunnel that I lined each side with poster board.I didn't secure the posterboard well enough away from the track and each time the engine ran through the tunnel,it rubbed off a bit of paint on the shell.I didn't notice the problem until the paint was gone around the number boards on the engine.I was able to touch up the damage pretty well,but I hated damaging such a classic model train.

seaboardm2 posted

 Yea cuopler seem to almost a mind of their own.But we both know that impossible right right.

Electroliner could have had a field day with that         (RIP)

 The derails, uncoupling, and tinkering is is part of the joy for me.

So is laughing at the whole thing through the bit of adrenalin as it happens

Sometimes, you get lucky too.

Guess how the rectifier ended up pushing.  Lehigh Valley #2 doesn't shake hands with other hoppers long ,but it is fine with 2 NYC gondolas behind it instead A mind of it's own . Maybe

I was having a meet at my house when I lifted a walk through to get to something I saw on the other side not noticing that a friends train had just entered the walk through.  I flipped his engine on its side and sent his gondola crashing to the floor.  I had one just like it so offered to swap my load for his broken one.  I felt like an idiot.

Dennis

"Ever be running trains and you do something that in hindsight is really not smart?"

Sheesh; happens on a pretty regular basis. Just check my recent thread about an accidental "smoke unit".

Rod

Yep, I sure have.  On my upper loop I have a 90 degree crossing, the train goes through the crossing then loops around.  Well let's just say if the train is too long the locomotive will go around the loop and hit the end of the train that is still in the crossing.  Yep, cars went crashing onto the lower level.  Funny thing is, the locomotive don't derail.

Forgot to close the lift gate once and ran a GP9 off the edge.

I made the mistake of bringing a prized engine to the layout of a friend who does not have complete control of his blocks. 

I've been helping my friend getting all his engines running (after a long lapse) and with his (big, unfinished) layout. Before one of our work sessions, I decided to bring one of my engines to watch it run on a huge layout. Mistake. The engine in question is a Postwar Jersey Central FM Trainmaster. As we all know, originals are extremely pricey and I had no interest in buying one, although I love the colors of that JC shell. Well, a couple of months ago, I found one on the Bay that had a PW FM chassis (in excellent shape and then tuned up my me) and a repro, gorgeous JC Lionel shell. I grabbed it for a relative song and it's been a stump puller of an engine and......a beautiful sight. Anyway, I brought it to his house and after a couple of hours of work, we decided to take it for a spin. The problem is.......he has two transformers controlling his layout with numerous blocks and every so often, he loses control of what block is controlled by what throttle. My engine took off on one of his elevated loops and started accelerating alarmingly on a downhill headed for one of his dicey Atlas switches. I ran over there and lunged for it, but I was too late. It came around the turn, hit the switch and tipped over and crashed down onto the layout (about 6 inches down). Oh man!   I picked it up and found two rather large scuffs on the paint. I was upset to say the least, but when I got home, I used some of my cleaners and polishes on it and totally removed the scuffs. Lucky. But it's going to be a very long time before I bring anything but a "beater" to run on his layout.

Roger

I'm trying to remember a session where something stupid didn't happen.

The most utilized accessory on my layout is the circuit breaker.

Geez...where do i start. I can say beer was involved

Running 4 trains with a ZW and beer......

Not a good outcome  

I am still kicking myself that this happened.I should have been more careful.If only I was faster if only I was closser to the transformerIf only I had longer arms!!!Thats a lots of ifs to be sure.

SeaboardM2 asks:

Ever be running trains and you do something that in hindsight is really not smart?

First my story, then my answer.

Story: When I was a teenager, I landed a 352 Icing Station at a very good price from a kindly local dealer.  I put it proudly on my layout.  Not even a few weeks later, I was crawling across the top of the layout, soldering connections.  I rested the soldering iron on the table top and crawled a little further to work on something else.  Unbeknownst to me, my disproportionately large teenage boy foot dragged the soldering iron cord and the iron swung around and began melting the red plastic base of my prized 352.  I didn't notice until I smelled that unmistakable smell of burning styrene.  I stared at those scars for almost 40 years until I was able to buy a replacement base a few years ago at a NETCA meet out of some guy's junk pile.

So my answer to the question is: Yes, of course.  Many times.  Playing with trains is a microcosm of living this life.  You make mistakes, you learn, you make new ones.  You forgive your friends and sometimes you forgive yourself.

But it's all still really fun.

Steven J. Serenska

My wiring a double Ross crossover with independent control.  If I had been smart, I would have done it the way they say.  All switches throw one way or the other. I must have smoked ten Z stuff relays in the process.  I'll never forget that smell.  I miss my layout...  

Oh, yes, certainly!

Twice in the past 25 years, I left a tool that fouled the tracks and I ended up with a locomotive hitting the concrete floor. One was an MPC steam locomotive that thankfully landed squarely on the wheels, and the other was a 1920's-era Hornby clockwork locomotive that landed on its cab. (It was tinplate, so it  was easy to straighten out the cab.)

Then, on a number of occasions, I had multiple trains running, and I was watching one when the cars on the other separated, and it ended up rear-ending itself. There wasn't too much damage in those cases, but they made for some spectacular derailments.

One time I went to run my Dad's Big Boy for guests. I forgot that I had never put away my Dockside Switcher from the previous operating session. A guest pointed it out to me 5 minutes later. Thankfully, they both ran the same direction and apparently are geared about the same, as they did not collide.