I had gotten a RailKing Cab Forward. After getting it running again, I put it up on my kitchen table so I could lube it up for service. It was laying belly up on an old laptop sleeve I use. At the time I had my RailKing PRR Turbine running on the carpet loop in the living room. I heard it stop, so I got up to see why. While I was bending down to see what was going on I heard a thump and a bang behind me. I whirled around to see the Cab Forward sitting on the tile floor under the table, on its wheels. After a close visual inspection, the only thing I found was some flat wheels.
The only thing I can figure is that it rolled off of the table onto my cushioned chair, bounced off of the seat and rolled the other way to the floor. It must have had enough momentum that when it hit the ground on the wheel edges it finished its roll to sit on its wheels. After regaining my breath and the heart slowed back down I put it on the tracks and ran it. It still runs just fine, and everything works as it should.
I had a somewhat similar experience to yours, with an even happier -- but just as hair-raising -- ending. I had my Lionel 783 Hudson on its back, on a foam pad on my workbench. I turned away to look for some part or other that I was ready to install, when just at the edge of hearing, there came the faintest sound of a heavy weight turning over on a soft surface.
While my attention was elsewhere, the 783 had rolled on its side and kept on rolling, right off the pad, off the workbench and was diving toward the concrete floor.
Apparently my Mutant Spider Danger Senses had detected it just in time, for I reflexively stuck out one knee and intercepted it in mid-air. It balanced there for a split-second, just long enough for me to grab it and put it back on the foam pad. Crisis averted.
But like a lot of you guys, I'm paranoid about dropping locomotives, even though I never have. I'm always a fanatic about carefully transferring them from shelf to track or back again, but there's always that first time...
