This afternoon I had a train rolling while I worked on finishing the wiring of a run through industry siding. I had just setup a electrical “block” so I could shut down the siding by flipping a switch. The train was coming so I threw the turnout which brought the train into the siding I then threw the switch to kill the track and nothing the train kept going. I then grabbed my TE to hit the emergency stop and since I hadn’t touched it in like 15 minutes it had shut itself off to conserve the batteries. The train just kept on rolling right through and back onto the main. It was a good thing that the other 3 turnouts inside the industry site weren’t thrown which would have sent the train with 3 tankers in tow into one of 3 dead ends!
Human error I had wired the kill “block” switch the wrong way. That was a close one. Don’t tell the Boss.
I hate when theat happens. Its even worst when your 3 year old has the controls and your on the other side of the layout when it turns off.
Hello Todd,
I think you need to think about installing a DERAILER so you don’t obstruct the main line or cause a WRECK.
That sounds like what happens on the club layout sometimes. There’s nothing like a visitor telling you (when you are “busy” talking to another visitor) that your train has derailed!
Jon That looks like it hurt.
Ron I already have enough derailers in the form of pine needles, leaves, pine cones and there is nothing like a squirrel chewed acorn to stop a train dead in its tracks.
No harm done I just wanted the train to stop and it got the heart beating a bit more when it didn’t.
It was a good thing I didn’t have 2 or more trains running. Sometimes one catches up to the other so I will time it and pull one into a siding adn stop it to let the other pass. If that were the case it would have gotten UGLY.
Garden RRing is an adventure.
Jon hope that looks worse than it is and nothing was broken.
Folks that have been here a long time will recognize the picture. I post it whenever relevant 
It was a long time ago and damage was actually minimal; a few detail parts and one bolster broke. My youngest was running the train when a coupler let loose on a steep grade. Turning it into a news event and photographing the wreckage helped me to not get angry at him for something that was beyond his control. I still think he felt bad because that was the last time he ran a train on my layout. That area looks totally different today, but is still known as Coal Dump Curve. Edit to add current photo:
Jon Radder said:....;)...
Folks that have been here a long time will recognize the picture. I post it whenever relevant :)
Hmm, looks like there would be a lot worse damage if a train left the rails in that same spot now, what with hitting the concrete and gravel.
Ray Dunakin said:I've had run-aways down the hill since the changes. Part of the changes were to drastically reduce the grade and ease the curve since that crash picture. The cars will go around the curve without flying off now. They sometimes make it all the way back to the basement :)
Hmm, looks like there would be a lot worse damage if a train left the rails in that same spot now, what with hitting the concrete and gravel.
I have a long back side run of over 80 feet at a 2% grade and it has been a time since I had a run away there but it has happened. Around the half way mark I have a lazy S curve and things usually derail there but on occasion I have had a caboose make it all the way to the end and it sure picked up some serious speed with metal wheels. I saw it break loose and off it went and I was in no postion to get to it. It landed in leaves so luckily it wasn’t damaged. That could be why I generally run trains heading down that long grade instead of up.
Most of my RR is on a grade and it is kinda fun to see just how far a car will coast. You never know where it will end up.
That video Victor posted was really something.