Large Scale Central

I fumbled my NW2 today.

General Discussion
#1

My beloved Patriots football team forgot to show up for the second half against Miami this afternoon so to console myself I decided to run some trains. After a few laps I thought my custom painted NW2 could use a quick drop of lube on the axles so to the basement shop I went. On the way back I had the engine tucked under my arm like a football. Half of my RR is inside the dog area and is surrounded by a low wire fence. I stepped over this fence caught my foot on it and went down tossing the NW2 like a fumbled football.
Assessing my damage, a scraped leg, not bad but the engine broke 4 screw mounts that hold the hood down, the rear headlight doesn’t work now and one of the cab windows is busted out.
It could have been worse it could have been my shay or something else that would be really hard to fix.

Has anyone else wrecked some equipment by doing something stupid like me?

#2

Not too long ago I was working on one of my Porters in a fixture I made on the bench. I reached across it to get a tool and with tool in hand my elbow hit the Porter and it tumbled to the floor. The fall knocked a corner off the roof ( I glued it back on and repainted), and had to search on my hands and knees for the left hand cylinder valve cover and rod. It’s all good now.

#3

Years ago, the grandson wanted to see the engine stored in it’s box, tucked under the railway. Of course that’s the one he wants. The twenty right in front of him is not the one? So I have to get it out and show him. Then he wants it to run. I told him it can’t because it’s not been converted to command and won’t run with my layout as is. He gets mad and I shut down the RR for the day!
So I leave the thing on a table. As I’m vacuuming I feel the hose get stuck. So of course, I just pull it. I see the engine go flying in the corner of my eye. It hits the floor and snaps off a corner of the roof!
The only good thing is it’s one of those starter set engines that wasn’t worth upgrading with a board. It taught me several things. Don’t cave in to the grandkids. Put stuff away. and most importantly…
If the vacuum hose pulls back, maybe look first and see why!!

#4

Yeah, Todd, I wasn’t watching carefully enough and ran my NW2 off the end of a siding that terminates at the edge of a 4’ high outdoor table. The NW2 nosed dived onto a brick and broke the same four screw mounts that you broke, but everything else is OK. I just have to be careful to pick it up by sliding my hand under the fuel tank. No more lifting it by the cab or engine housing. Sick feeling to have a crash like that.

#5

Bummer. I left one of my lift-out bridges open and forgot it. Ran an engine into the concrete abyss 4 feet down while not looking; was a Bachmann 45 Ton. Needed to replace the entire frame and the one I found free or cheap was a different color than the original so I now have a unique color scheme!

BTW; if anyone has a black with white stripe frame like this one they want to get rid of; please let me know. I’d like to re-do my red one in this same scheme. I already have the yellow body sections thanks to JB!

#6

Last Fall I had a fall. I was running trains on a nice crisp Autumn day. With the remote in one hand I stepped off the patio in an awkward location. I blacked out for a few seconds. When I got up my left shoulder felt like it had been dislocated. I moved my arm and felt some pain, but not too bad. The next day I couldn’t get my arm up past my shoulder. Long story short, turn rotator cuff tendons, or whatever the proper term is. Had to go to physical therapy and all that. Shoulder just now getting back to almost normal.

Good news is the Spektrum transmitter suffered absolutely not a scratch!

#7

Yikes. These stories make me nervous!

On and around my layout, there are so many potential places to fall and nothing but very solid, jagged rocks or concrete stairs to land on. Even coming down from the layout onto the patio, it’s concrete blocks for steps and of course the patio is concrete. Cris already fell off the bottom step once and got banged up. She tends to be a bit clumsy for some reason, so now I don’t even let her come up to the layout unless I’m holding onto her.

#8

As we all get older, the need to be more careful as to how we move and step around our layouts becomes paramount. I know that I surely do not heal or recover as fast as I did when I was 25 years old (40 years ago)! Outdoor railroading certainly has it’s hazards. Be careful and enjoy the hobby for many more years to come guys.

#9

Todd H, the broken standoffs can be fixed with computer stand off hardware.

Sean McG did this and it works great.

#10

I bough a NW-2 that had fallen from someones ceiling layout!
You learn how to make things work!

#11

Once again, gravity proves it is far more reliable than I am.
So far, at least so far, a grand disaster by my hand has been avoided and only a couple minor dings have been suffered.
Damage by housecat, on the other hand …

#12

My LGB Mogul fell off my moduler layout. I had just set it up and my little one was bugging me to run the train. I let him do the first test run but i forget to check the tracks before. All of a sudden I saw the engine run over the wire hookups drapped across the tracks. The engine took a 4 ft fall onto a concrete floor. I was afraid to look at it but when i did, only two handrails broke. I got lucky.

#13

My test train fell off the high trestle when I was testing to make sure it was level/aligned/etc. It wasnt. :slight_smile: Fortunately it was the 45 tonner and a couple plastic Bachmann freight cars, so not much damage.

#14

Happily , I can say I have yet to seriously drop a loco .

But I was party to an expensive fumbled drop . Hong Kong , 1955

On one of those hot lazy days of youth , I was the senior tech on duty on a jet fighter squadron . A recently arrived Wireless Tech (there aren’t many that are wired) was itching to get his hands on a real fault on an aircraft . We had already shown him round , but there he was , white kneed and keen to do something .

So his opportunity duly came when a jet (Venom) started up and the young jockey in the bang seat indicated no w/t . Quite an easy fix , take a large general service screwdriver and undo the flip up latches on the w/t access panel , open said panel , and give the T/R a thump to encourage the channel changer to turn over . So our young moron with me hovering does his openy up bit----and placed the screwdriver on the nearest flat bit , the engine intake . At first , I thought he was lucky because there was no obvious happening , but I was quickly disabused by the very loud sound like some kid running a metal bar along railings , which indeed it nearly was , but it was a metal screwdriver running against compressor blades , and I was quite startled to see the pilot leap over the front of the cockpit before I could move . The noise got worse , and I confess , I ran . Stopped behind a handy refuelling truck , peeped round it and there was this white kneed and now very white faced tech peering down the intake for his screwdriver .

As you may imagine , half the squadron was alerted to this strange noise and we managed to attract young tech’s attention and he then joined the pilot in the monsoon ditch , almost in one leap , it seemed . Now the fun began . Rotor blades came whizzing out of the casing hotly pursued by spurts of steam (atomised fuel actually)

We started edging toward this rattling , shaking monster that we had all loved moments before , now shooting shards of expensive metal at us and causing quick retreats , then a hesitant edge forward and a quick leap back as another spurt of fuel came out of this monster that was disembowelling itself contemptuous of the erks approaching , fire extinguishers at the ready .

Finally , silence , with the odd hiss from the now seriously ill aircraft and loud clanks as it cooled down and the more timid of us running for cover again . We , brave lads who had promised to defend Queen and Country , running from an innocent but suddenly malignant looking piece of hardware .

“WTF do we do now ?” sez an erk .

" Can I have my screwdriver back?" said another .

Well , it was a promising start to another day at the office .

Mike , with fond memories of a misspent youth .

PS If I should ever drop a loco , I shall report it here .

#15

Great story!

#16

My son, much younger at the time, was helping me bring in the tender of an aristo 040. In the basement, as I reached out to take it from him to put it away, my hand hit it and it fell onto the concrete floor. Boom - the axles broke apart (the plastic that was holding the two metal axle rods). I replaced them and all was fine. To this day, my son is very nervous helping me carry any engines out for a run. I keep trying to force him to help, because he has to learn mistakes and accidents ARE going to happen. He does help out - by opening the doors :-).

#17

Todd Haskins said:

My beloved Patriots football team forgot to show up for the second half against Miami

This alone was bad enough, but I had the pleasure of getting to watch and listen to my wife dance around all afternoon decked out in her Miami fan fare…
Football season is rough at my house on Sunday afternoons!

#18

Vincent D’Agostino said:

Todd Haskins said:

My beloved Patriots football team forgot to show up for the second half against Miami

This alone was bad enough, but I had the pleasure of getting to watch and listen to my wife dance around all afternoon decked out in her Miami fan fare…
Football season is rough at my house on Sunday afternoons!

Ouch!

#19

I tend to stay away from the trains when the Jets are playing. Win or lose, they never seem to mix.

Vinny,

Next time we meet, I’ll tell you some stories when I was a season ticket holder and married to my first wife. I made the mistake of taking her to the games. That marriage lasted two years, the longest two of my life !!!

BTW, you’ve got a great woman, just a bit mislead (Fish Fan). I think its the team colors, seems lots of girls root for the Dolphins for that reason.

J-E-T-S

JETS
JETS
JETS

Couldn’t resist, I’m sure I’ll be licking my wounds next week after The Pack get them at Lambeau.

Pat

#20

I have yet to “fumble” a locomotive. I did drop an LGB boxcar once. It had Aristo roller bearing trucks on it, and 3 of the axle end caps popped off. I found 2 of the end caps, the third one is probably under a workbench in Iowa somewhere. So I put Aristo Bettendorf trucks under that boxcar. The Bettendorfs are more appropriate anyway, since the boxcar has full height ladders and roof-walks.

My (then) new style Pacific went for a romp in the weeds once. I was trying to figure out why she wouldn’t climb to the summit with 4 streamline passenger cars in tow. I was fiddling with the track, trying to see if it had settled in one spot. I raised the track a little and checked for proper super-elevation. She climbed the hill with more enthusiasm the next time she came around. I didn’t even have to call out the 0-5-0 pusher to help her. Then she rounded the tree and picked up more speed then I was used too. When she entered the switch to get back onto the mainline she didn’t make the turn, she went straight, right off of the switch, over the small embankment and into the bog. I went down to where the power controls are, to shut off the power, and noticed that the voltmeter read 18 volts, instead of the 14 volts I always ran her at. I asked the neighbor kid if he had turned up the power when I wasn’t looking. He told me “no”, but in a voice that I didn’t believe. I told him that the voltage is at 18 volts, but that I had set it to 14 volts. How did that happen? His face lost all its colour and he took off for his house as fast as his legs would carry him. After cleaning up the Pacific and making sure there was no damage, I started shopping for a Train Engineer, so that the power controls would always be within my reach.