What's the worst accident you have had with a locomotive?

Bob:

 

Many years ago on my last layout, a train friend was visiting and I was working on a bridge that went over a stairway. He was having fun running trains and I warned him to avoid the bridge that I had temporarily taken down. Well he hit the wrong button and my prized MTH Challenger (the first ones they made from the 90s) went flying off the layout and dropped about 8 ft. onto a landing on the stairwell. To my disbelief, the engine and tender landed on it's wheels with no damage other than the coal load on the tender came loose. What a testimony to how solid this engine was made.

 

The engine still runs like new and is one of my all time favorites.

OK, How about the downhill run of my Lionel F3 AA and the Bridge was not in place....  33" to the concrete floor.  Very lucky to have only broken the flange off the driving wheel.  I think engines are like cats - they always land on their feet.....

 

 

Those are the kinds of stories that make me shudder.

 

Bob C.

The Flying Challenger above story does indicate that these locos are well made. Very

impressive...another reason to get one of the new single-stack Clinchfield versions.

 

Gee, my wallet thanks you a whole bunch.

In 1976 I bought a sealed 1950 version 773 Hudson and tender, as I was taking it out of the box for the first time, it slipped out of my hands and went straight down 5ft nose facing down.  Luckily the screw holding the cow catcher snapped and was a very easy fix.

 

Art

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In all the years I had two engines fall 40 or more inches to the floor. Approximately 1970 a 773 Hudson stumbled over a switch track on the edge of my table and hit the floor. Only the front boiler mounting screw was severed. About two years ago my Conventional Classic GG1 flew off a curve and landed on the floor. The pantographs had come off and the pilot truck on one end was crushed, but the truck had absorbed all the shock and there was no other damage.

One of my modern Lionel Hudsons took a 1 foot dive off my shelf when my mom wasn't being careful dusting, and the finicky tender draw bar chain broke off...the irony is she said it was my fault for putting it there in the first place.

 

Oh, and my prewar Blue Comet has taken a few overturns going to fast, even on O-72 curves.

I;m ashamed to admit this-I had a mint Williams scale challenger w/proto sound 2

installed-I had it in a glass curio cabinet-I wanted to move it to another shelf-you never know how solf brass is-it slipped out of my hands-heavy-and-and-the words that came out of my mouth would make a marine cry-the whole boiler was flatten to 1/2

the regular size-gave it a Viking burial-will not ever buy brass steamer again-

sticking to diecast-joe

The first engine I bought, with all of the latest bells, whistles and sound features, had a bad radio receiver and when I turned on the juice, it launched itself forward and fortunately I caught it, or else, it would have landed about three feet down, onto the floor and cost about another $450.00!!!

Ralph 

I had a lionel 0-8-0 fly in reverse off the end of a stub track down five feet to a cement floor landing on the cab roof which took the brunt...i fixed it with my vise and rubber mallet thats the good thing about oscale you can fix them with real size tools ! it wasnt how far it fell...it was the sudden stop ! CR john

"What's the worst accident you have had with a locomotive?"

 

It was the time in 1978 when I almost got run over by the Metroliner...  Oh, wait.  You mean model locomotives.

 

It was the time I was working on my 783 Hudson.  I had it on a soft foam pad on the workbench, upside-down.  I turned away to fetch a screwdriver and heard just the faintest trace of a sound.

 

Knowing that there shouldn't have been any sound, I turned back at once, to see the entire locomotive rolling off the pad, off the workbench, toward the concrete floor. 

 

My Emergency reflexes kicked in and I stuck out my knee, just in time to catch the 783, only inches from the floor.  Very, very carefully, I lifted it back to the bench surface with both hands.  No harm done at all.

 

Since that experience, I've never left a locomotive where it could possibly roll, even if I'm only turning away for a second.

 

I install an ERR cruise in a Lionel GP-38, the Dale Jr. unit. The TMCC control box was defective and as soon as I powered the track shot off like a bullet, missed curve and crashed to the floor (44"). Had to replace both motor trucks, couplers, side frames and pilots.

Dan

3 for me, two on the same locomotive.  1st was when my son was 3-4ish.  I'd run the train on the floor, and he'd run after it.  Once he tripped and fell on the train.  After I knew he was okay, I checked the damage.  Broken connecting rod on one side of the steamer, and popped both trucks off of the tender.  Got new rods ordered, but the tender I had to glue back together as MTH didn't have replacements anymore.

 

A couple of years later, I made a small layout that rolls under a twin sized bed.  The floor is tile in the bedroom.  I had my nephew in my lap driving the same train, when just as it got to the O36 curve he opened the throttle all the way.  Those PS-1 MTH locomotives take off.  Before I could slow it down, it left the track and hit the floor, sliding along the tile.  A dent on the boiler and bent handrail is all, and then you don't see it unless you look for it.

 

A couple of months ago, I got a new K-Line GG1 with TMCC.  I bought a used base and pair of Cab-1s to try command out with.  Well, ended up the base was off frequency, and the handheld wasn't completely together so light leaked into teh speed control.  The GG1 took of when I tried to slow it and it came off the curve and slid along the bare concrete floor.  I was luck in that the ladders stick off of the body, so the black got scrapped off of them, but the body was fine.  I still need to touch that one up.

 

So new rules at my house, kids only can run trains on the carpet layout, no running is allowed, and new to me equipment gets tested on same carpet layout.

IC Special #4421 was about 20 minutes behind schedule pulling 1 baggage and 7 passenger cars. As it approached the Watchout Bridge, the engineer was distracted and missed the signal that the bridge was up and the interlocks failed. By the time the engineer saw it, his fate and the fate of all aboard was sealed.  I can still hear the screams as #4421 plunged off the tracks pulling most of the cars behind him.  Oh, the humanity!  The screams when #4421 hit the concrete floor and crumpled into dented brass. I can still hear the scream of the RR owner.    Accident investigation concluded that the engineer was speeding and highly distracted by female visitors.

 

I sure am glad I was running the local freight that operating session.

 

Larry

About ten years ago my then young son decided to throw a switch at the front of the train board just as the local freight was approaching, dumping a diecast steam loco and at least half a dozen cars onto the floor.  The headlight and pilot broke off the loco and one cheap car was a loss, but the rest survived.  With glue and a little paint the pilot was restored, but to this day that loco is limited to daytime operations.

Several years ago a MTH camelback took it upon itself to throw itself to the floor.  If was as if it hit an invisible wall, rolling along one second, on its way to the floor the next.  Never found a problem with the dead straight track it was on at the time.  No visible damage to the loco, that section of the layout now has a 4 inch plexi glass shield.

I dropped the guts of the hogarts express from about 7 ft, as I was putting it up on display track, but had forgotten to put the chassis screws in. I haven't tried it yet...

Lift Gate, Lift Gate, Lift Gate. Never again. On my current re build in progress I gave up space just to avoid one. It's not the Gate necessarily, it's just you can't fix stupid.

Two:

I had a Legacy ATSF Northern snag on a small sabre saw blade that had fallen near one rail and jump off the layout.  It was repairable but instead I used its chassis as the basis for my Legacy 2900 Northern that I bashed/made. Never did discover how the saw blade got there.

 

I ruined a Legacy U30C that needed a new sound board, which i had, breaking the shell into pieces trying to get it back on.

not to me personally...

 

but i do cringe whenever i see this picture of Peter Knott and his beautiful Berkshire on their worst day ever.  apparently a slug of water got past the throttle and into the superheater where it turned into uncontrolled expanding steam with enough force to drive the locomotive into the turntable pit.  good news is that the locomotive was back running (sans pilot) that same afternoon.

this would all make a great book.

 

Bob C.

My first raised layout was done with open grid work. I ran a 628 center cab locomotive off the end of a section of unfinished track, and down to the floor it went. No damage.

 

Fast forward a couple of decades. My young son ran a turbine off a curve on the upper loop of my train layout, about five feet up. The boiler front broke. No other damage.

One of the thru house layouts I built, started in a long sun room where the yard was located.(on glass) The track exited the sun room by going  thru a wall,  than traversed over the top of the kitchen cabinets, went thru another wall into a series of bookshelves located in a foyer. The track then exited the foyer thru a wall and emerged into the living room, that was  open to the kitchen. The trains travelled along 3 walls of the living room thru a closet, across a hallway(on glass) and then entered the sunroom on the oppositite side from where the yard was located. The track then made a 180° turn at the end of the sun room and the trains would then enter the yard. All of the controls where located in a closet on the back side of the wall where the track re-entered  the sun room.  Lighting for the sun room was by way of a low voltage light system that was very remininscent of a  Catenary system and the flooring in the sun room was 16" square terra-cotta  tiles.  The attachment point for the low voltage lighting was a chrome post that the electrician installed with out giving much thought to it's location and after I had finished doing multiple tests with all sorts of locomotive power and rolling stock.   A short time later I received a phone call about a problem.....well, turns out during a dinner party one night,  the Lionel command equipped B&A  that had been running without incident, decided to waggle instead of wiggle and hit the chrome post for the low voltage light system. Only the locomotive came off the track and fell nose first to the terra-cotta tile waiting below. The locomotive only suffered a broken cow catcher which actual cracked the tile.  To this day, the loco  still runs with only a replaced cow catch but the tile remains cracked.

There is a member of this forum that had an accident so famous he had to change his name. I hope will come forwatd and share his story

Must be me.

i was actually the engineer on the real NKP #765 pulling four freight cars including the caboose. The entire story appeared in Railfan Magazine. Long story short, the ties were not in sufficiently good shape to keep the rails in gauge with such a heavy locomotive and the loco, tender, and the first three cars derailed.

 

Not many fellows get to sit in the cab of a steamer in steam, let alone run one.

I not only ran it, I derailed it.

 

Rich Melvin consoled me by saying it would have happened to anyone. I was then told to be out of the State of Indiana by sundown.

 

just two right now...

 

my 2046 hudson took a tumble 3' to the floor, bouncing off a wooden chair. was trying to set up a photo with my scout and wanted the headlights of both locomotives to be on. the 1130 scout on the siding got a little jealous and t-boned the hudson. only damage was a marker light that still isn't quite right... and a sizable dent in the chair.

 

I was handling my WBB GP9 when i had just got it, marvelling at the construction, details and all-around sexyness (don't laugh... i actually felt aroused ) handling it by the dynamic brake vents, holding it about 4' off the floor when the vents popped free and the locomotive took a dive. good thing my foot was there to cushion the fall (ouch) and i learned to never handle it that way again.

When I was filming my layout I was testing a new K-line scale Berkshire. Forgot there was a open switch to a siding that dead ended next to the side of the layout. The engine hit the bumper and flew off the table on to a cement floor. I took about six month to have fixed but they fixed it. Don

Eliot, Great story!!! But "for the rest of the story"....Is it true that because of your "Real Train Wreck" you not only had to get out of Indiana never to return but but....YOU CHANGED YOUR NAME SO AS NOT TO BE FOUND!!!!!

 

Great Story scrapy!!!

Carefully removed my prewar 260 plus freight cars from the display in my office and brought it to the downstairs layout. Showed it off to some guests, particularly the friend who got me into prewar Lionel. Always loved the way it ran, seems it was a factory add ball with fiber gears which made it very smooth and quiet. After bringing it back upstairs we were chatting as my son and I put it back in its' place of prominence in the collection. I went to again take down the 810 crane to ask my expert friend a question and hadn't realized my son had diligently latched all the couplers together. Yup, the 260 came crashing down. not smashed, but it seemed something was binding it up. Sent it out for repairs, but now has replacement gears, and it seems the frame is now bent a little so it doesn't sit on the rails right. A lesson learned, no running the good stuff after a few glasses of wine.

It's a tough act to follow Elliot's story! So far a locomotive has not left the layout, but a lot of rolling stock has due to being rear ended by a locomotive. The list of victims hitting the concrete include:

Lionel Hiawatha Cedar Rapids (Skytop dome car);      

A string of coal hoppers;

A Pennsy cabin;

A 20th Century coach.

All of these trains have permanent but fixable damage such as cracks, broken windows, bent axles, etc.

Dropped a Penn Line L1s Mikado off a 4 1/2 foot shelf onto a linolium floor back when I was around 16 years old.  Did not know that Bowser had replacement boilers for sale at the time and scrapped the remainder of the chooch.  Many years prior to this, I dropped my girlfriend's  (that's right - girlfriend!) Lionel F3 2343 A unit on the basement concrete floor. The front truck was blown off the previously Exe.+ dummy A unit....and I was now in deep do-do with her and the whole family !   Years later, in high school, there were still reverberations over this sad affair! 

Great but horrible stories.

 

Bob C.

Yep...concrete and trains don't mix well....been there done that.

During a public show with a club one annoying unsupervised child reached over and threw a turnout that caused one of my engines to go flying down to the concrete. It had so many bent up and broken areas it was essentially a total loss. It was not expensive but it still hurt me. We resolved the issue going forward with guards to hopefully prevent future disasters like that one.

While setting up last year on my Christmas layout I test a Lionel 44 tonner, from the MPC era. It was a track test to see if I had corrected a fault, so no cars. It didn't run, so I turned to where the fault was and adjusted the wire. With the throttle still at max. It went up the incline made the turn and launched itself gracefully over the edge. From the inside track, nothing but air. As I stood just out of reach of the throttle as I watched it.

**** thing is built like a tank. Coupler ate it but that was it.

I crashed the PE Berk into a Williams Sharknose through some particularly stupid switch and block tending, Shark went over the edge, only damage was 1 of the horns. I did find both parts.

Table was I think 33".

Frank

I haven't(knock on wood)had any accidents. had a couple tumble off the sons shelf layout but I was there to catch it.

 

When my grandfather had my layout up, I found a tinplate loco in a box. As soon as I cracked the throttle open, it was full bore to the curve and hit the lip on the table. That loco flipped end over end for 15 feet before it hit the floor. I had to switch the wiring on the transformer to the 11 volt max to run that engine. Guess that Lionel from 1938 wasn't designed for the 1033 wired normally.

My second shelf layout (HO scale, mounted above room window height).  Bachmann Acela with head and rear end power plus six cars.  Running at track speed when the lead unit picked a switch.  With drawbars firmly attached the entire train set launched itself off the shelf, down off the top of a roll top desk, and on to the floor.  The lead and trailing power survived, but all 6 passenger cars were a loss.

 

Passenger rail in high terrain is hazardous.

 Back in the summer I put two NS 8000's on the ground when the rail spread ,and an older gp-38 about 20 years ago when it picked a switch

 

 Other than that I flew,and I mean literally flew a Marx 666 off the table back in the late 70's and boy was my Dad mad when he picked up the pieces . I guess it was trying to get it's wings