Lost half my train collection.

I feel you, man. Sandy wiped me out. We had never had a drop of water in our basement, either, until water starting pouring in over the sill plates at 7:23PM; by 7:29PM, I was walking on wet rugs on my first floor! Wouldn’t wish this on anyone. Good luck, and your daughter is a trooper.

Sympathy extended. What a tough loss. Tip of the hat to your daughter.

Jim K

WOW, I feel your pain!  That is really a terrible happening!

My advice is to IMMEDIATELY disassemble the affected engines and thoroughly rinse them with clean plain water.  They're already wet with some real nasty water, clean water will help flush that out.   You will want to then immediately dry them totally before assembly and future testing.

So very sorry for all your damage, Merlin. I’ve had water in my basement a couple of times over the last 26 years, but fortunately haven’t had such a tragic loss - and I just had water, no sewage. I was really sweating out Ida, but fortunately I never lost power and the sump pumps handled the 8” of rain. I hope you are able to recover from this tragedy.

I'm sorry that this happened.  We've had some close calls, but nothing like that.  Hopefully some can be salvaged.

I was watching a scale battleship video, where they go out in a pond and try to sink each other. The ones that sink they pull them up and take apart. Then spray the electronics with an aresol can, put them back together and they're back in the battle.  Be nice to know what that stuff was?        

Sorry for your loss. My basement storage can handle 2 feet of water. After that it's a loss.

Sorry to hear about your loss.  Hope that you get something from the insurance.  Where I live, sewer backup costs extra, so many folks don't have it.

As has been mentioned in other damage threads, be sure to document everything as best you can, and keep track of the time and materials that you use during your cleanup efforts in case your insurance will pay anything.  (A local club had vandals break in and shoot off the fire extinguishers - the insurance company reimbursed them for cleaning supplies and each hour they spent cleaning stuff.)

Hoping for the best for you.

OOHHFHA!

WOW that's gotta hurt. Hope you can recover most of the damaged equipment.

Hi Merlin, I am also sorry for your loss and must commend your daughter.

The advice offered above is spot on. Clean Fresh Water as soon as possible on the impacted items.

I'm afraid this will become more and more of an issue for our hobby community.

For the first time in my life, I now have Flood Insurance. This basement has never flooded (either in the last four years since we have been here or since built I was told) but the storms have never been this frequent and severe. We live a mile from Narragansett Bay but I decided I had to proactively protect all our belongings (read my trains) that are in the basement. I pray that is a policy I never have to file a claim.

Let us know how it goes Merlin, keep a undamaged train where you can see it to give you an occassional smile.

All the best,

Paul

Merlin, lots of great advice here.  Kudo's to your daughter of course, let us know how you are after things settle down, we can learn from you next.

Sorry to hear of your flooding problem. One thing it won't hurt to try. Go to your local Gov. office. Take pictures and dollar amounts of loss. I know where I worked, they took a kinder hearted look when it was their sewer water that did the damage. It is certainly worth the effort. At least if nothing comes out of it, you went on record with the city to what happened. Just in case God forbid it comes again. Ask the Waste Water Dept. to install a back flow preventer on your line. We had done that in different situations, and they worked well. Take Care, Dave

So sorry to hear of this.

Peter

I agree with others that the first thing to do is take the engine apart and wish them with fresh water. After they are clean, use canned aerosol cleaners (like the ones they sell to clean keyboard) to get all the water out of electronics,  gears and any other nooks an crannies then set them in the sun to dry.  I have a friend who had  about 30 of his engines floating is water.  He used this method and saved all the engines.

Good luck with your recovery,

Don

All,

If you don't have it already, buy a train insurance policy.

There are a few carriers that advertise in the TCA Headquarters news.

For the price of one engine, you can cover your whole collection against theft, fire or flood.

Basement storage of trains is an often-cited place for them, although high humidity may be a constant problem. However, that can be mitigated with a dehumidifier. You didn't mention a TRAIN LAYOUT in your basement. That would be an additional disaster, depending on its height above the floor -- a vindication for those who set their layout at 40 inches, not 30 or 36 inches.

Comments by other hobbyists indicated your trains could be rescued by following proper procedures. I hope the BIG BOY locos can be resurrected as successfully as the UP prototype. Sad to say, the original boxes may be reduced to paper mache mush.

Mike Mottler     LCCA 12394

This is my "insurance" against flooding coming up farther than the carpets, which would be a PITA all in itself. The ground slopes away from the house, hopefully protecting me from any massive floods.

sorry to hear about that, I got through Ida okay, my french drain/sump pump system worked fine.

I agree with others, the big thing is to open the engines up and to flush them with clean water (distilled is ideal), then spray them with a hydrophobic fluid like contact cleaner, it will flush the water out and let them dry.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

This is my "insurance" against flooding coming up farther than the carpets, which would be a PITA all in itself. The ground slopes away from the house, hopefully protecting me from any massive floods.

Agreed, Walk out basements are the best!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

This is my "insurance" against flooding coming up farther than the carpets, which would be a PITA all in itself. The ground slopes away from the house, hopefully protecting me from any massive floods.

You must have a can of Flex Seal behind those boxes.

To the OP, this is a bummer but as a few others have said you can save these trains with soap and water. The sooner the better.

Pete

I feel your heartbreak as I was sick over my damage.  I'm sorry you are going through that. 

I went through that a few years back.  My warning:  have GOOD insurance that covers trains.  My agent told me an added jewelry policy would cover my trains and I paid that for years.  But then, when I called after my basement flooded, I was told it doesn't cover water damage.  Needless to say, I dumped my insurance company entirely (house, 2 cars, motorcycle) after 25 years.  My new insurance company, State Farm, covers basement flooding (with or without sump pump failure) and my hobby collection.  It's a separate policy and I was thorough in presenting what ifs to them.  This isn't a brand endorsement, just an example of a known company that seems to meet our unique hobby needs.

I am sorry for your loss it stinks. I used to have issues with water in my basement do to a leaky back door and bad grading up many night making sure the water drained properly one might we got 7 inches and lost dome stuff as well fixed that problem 2 ways got the basement door nd grading fixed. I also bought husky shelving from home depot keeps the trains 2 to 2 1/2 feet off the floor will take alot of water to get to them and if it does I got a bigger problem.

I am really sorry to hear about this. When I was in my first home 3 times I had water in the basement due to a leaking window but it only ruined boxes. However, that is nothing compared to what you have to deal with. I sincerely hope you can save those Big Boys and any other trains damaged by water. You will get through this and if I could help in any way let me know.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

This is my "insurance" against flooding coming up farther than the carpets, which would be a PITA all in itself. The ground slopes away from the house, hopefully protecting me from any massive floods.

It is extremely helpful, but not fool proof. I've had 2" or so of water in our walk out basement when our water heater went. Put things on pallets, as it keeps everything from flooding (and only a few boxes showed water damage).

To the original poster, hopefully some of the items survived. Hopefully you only end up losing boxes.

I just wanted people to know that over the years (23) I have made my basement water proof from hearing about horror stories like this. I had French drains installed with 2 sump pumps. All appliances,furnace,water heater,washer and dryer are all installed on cinder block. As you can see in the pictures I put shelving all around the walls of the bsmt with 2 feet clearance. Anything placed on the floor had to be in plastic containers. The one thing Mother Nature got me was the sewage. You think you can plan for everything but you can’t. I am having a back flow preventer installed on the sewer line next friday but I have to say the pressure was so strong that I hope this will help if it happens again. In NJ Home Insurance does not cover flood. You must purchase flood Insurance which cost around 2 thousand a year. My mistake was not insuring them. I did look around last year and received a quote for a 125 a year. I felt confident that nothing would happen and it came back to bite me in the end. I do agree the storms are getting much stronger and will start affecting more of the communities unfortunately. Thank you for all your responses. I am following your directions and have 4 cans of air cleaner and some gallons of distilled water so hopefully I can post some videos of some running trains. Thank you everyone.

I honestly feel the pain many of you had due to sewage backups in the basement.

I had a home which would backup whenever it felt like it.  Mostly due to tree roots.

The sewer line was cleaned out TWICE yearly to prevent it from happening using 8" cutters.

Backups are so very bad and it is a major job to not only clean but disinfect.

Someone wrote that the TCA offers some form of insurance.

If so then it may be a good idea to have the trains insured through them.

Does anyone on this site use them for that purpose?  If so how is it structured and priced?

Someone gave me a prewar 258 and a postwar diesel that were flooded out by Sandy. This was about a year afterward. I flushed with water dried then used contact cleaner. redid the eunits new brushes and both ran fine. Still running today.

Jim

Merlin:

This is terrible news. So sorry for you. Hope you are able to salvage your Big Boys. Loved the fact that your daughter helped you save as many of your trains as possible. God bless her.

Pat

@Allegheny posted:

Does anyone on this sight use them for that purpose?  If so how is it structured and priced?

I don't have insurance on the trains, but I do have a $25,000 rider on my insurance for sewer backups.  I'm not far from the community pumping station, and I figure if that ever goes south I may have a problem, and I'd like someone to foot the bill for the cleanup.

@Allegheny posted:

I honestly feel the pain many of you had due to sewage backups in the basement.

I had a home which would backup whenever it felt like it.  Mostly due to tree roots.

The sewer line was cleaned out TWICE yearly to prevent it from happening using 8" cutters.

Backups are so very bad and it is a major job to not only clean but disinfect.

Someone wrote that the TCA offers some form of insurance.

If so then it may be a good idea to have the trains insured through them.

Does anyone on this sight use them for that purpose?  If so how is it structured and priced?

http://www.jabash.com/tcaindex.htm

@NJCJOE posted:

http://www.jabash.com/tcaindex.htm

Crunching the TCA's insurance numbers based on the application on this link and comparing it with my policy, the numbers are competitive.  Interesting.  The fact that they specialize in our hobby and cover everything makes it even more interesting.  Has anyone had any major claims using them? Care to share your experience?

Joe

@NJCJOE posted:

http://www.jabash.com/tcaindex.htm

Thanks Joe for the link.

Indeed as Iron Horse asked, it would be nice to know of anyone who may have had an experience with the TCA insurance claim - especially with flood or sewage backup.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

This is my "insurance" against flooding coming up farther than the carpets, which would be a PITA all in itself. The ground slopes away from the house, hopefully protecting me from any massive floods.

What he said. About 15 years ago I block-paved our front yard and (being an engineer with construction experience) I know about ground levels and falls, so I made sure it all sloped away from the house to a run-away. We had the worst storm I can remember, a few months ago and it worked a treat. Same goes for the back garden, although that wasn't my doing. The sewers over-loaded and flooded: we had a stream of sewage running down the path and a wide, shallow puddle of it covering much of the lawn. Still, a couple of months of raking, mowing and general weather and all is well - "I am the grass; let me work"

Please have your daughter get a tetanus shot immediately.

@Keith k posted:

Please have your daughter get a tetanus shot immediately.

Easily the best advice here, for both of you. Tetanus shots are only good for ten years, so if it’s been awhile, go to your doctor.

Having had a similar loss from Sandy, I know your pain about the lost hobby collection.

Talk to your doctor about also getting a Hepatitis B Shot. From being exposed to raw sewer. Possible infected body fluids. I know gross. Dave

Sorry for the flood.  I feel your pain to a degree.

After about 6 months in the house I had a toilet line break while I was at work.  My trains up until a week before were still at my fathers house on pallets.  I always put everything on pallets regardless of the situation.  Well some of the trains were on the floor because I still had stuff sitting on the needed pallets at dad's.  So I had all box damage fortunately but learned a valued lesson, have pallets at the destination before moving the trains. The only casualty was the VL Big Boy.  It was sat on end in the box when moved to safety and smoke fluid leaked all over the boards.

Needless to say again everything goes on a pallet now.  Unfortunately from the sounds of it, pallets would have been little help it your situation.  I hope everything works out for you. 

@MartyE posted:

Sorry for the flood.  I feel your pain to a degree.

After about 6 months in the house I had a toilet line break while I was at work.  My trains up until a week before were still at my fathers house on pallets.  I always put everything on pallets regardless of the situation.  Well some of the trains were on the floor because I still had stuff sitting on the needed pallets at dad's.  So I had all box damage fortunately but learned a valued lesson, have pallets at the destination before moving the trains. The only casualty was the VL Big Boy.  It was sat on end in the box when moved to safety and smoke fluid leaked all over the boards.

Needless to say again everything goes on a pallet now.  Unfortunately from the sounds of it, pallets would have been little help it your situation.  I hope everything works out for you.

Good advice.  When I finished my basement, I put all of my outlets 24" above the floor after reading that was code in parts of Canada.  It may look a little odd, but I'm glad I did.  I keep my train stuff now in plastic boxes and everything I store on the floor sits on top of 2 x 4s, which is the equivalent of pallets.  My only flood was about 1-2 inches, and pallets would have saved everything.

Even before Sandy, I had everything in my basement, pertaining to trains, up on 2 milk crates, never imagining that I’d be faced with a storm surge that would put my first floor under 8 inches of water in less than 15 minutes. Some things you just can’t prepare for.