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One of the great fears is that while transporting a locomotive around is that it will fall out of hand or off tracks and take a big trip to the floor.I especially have this fear with the big heavy Big Boy.

 

One time I had an MTH GG-1 sitting on a table and I was wearing a sweater when I walked by it as i had done many times. On one of my pass bys for some reason the sweater sleeve grabbed one of the pantographs and before i knew the loco took a 5 foot trip to the floor. I was devastated but was glad to find that the only damage was that one of the couplers wouldot fire.

 

I was wondering if any members have had "loco drop" experiences.

 

Bob C.

Last edited by Robert Coniglio
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I scratch built an 8ft operating lift bridge.Before I had an idiot system installed,that would kill the approaching track power while the bridge was up,I ran a train off the edge and into the river(ok the floor)It was baaaad.NickOriginally Posted by Robert Coniglio:

One of the great fears is that while transporting a locomotive around is that it will fall out of hand or off tracks and take a big trip to the floor.I especially have this fear with the bib heavy Big Boy.

 

One time I had an MTH GG-1 sitting on a table and I was wearing a sweater when I walked by it as ihad done many times. On one of my pass bys for some reason the sweater sleeve grabbed one of the pantographs andbefore i knew the locotook a 5 foot trip to the floor. I was devatated but was glad to find that the only damage was that one of the couplers wouldot fire.

 

I was wodering if any members have had loco drop experiences.

 

Bob C.

 

Last edited by rockstars1989

I had just given my son the first train engine that I had. (1948 Lionel Turbine).  I told him I would carry it in from the car to the house very carefully for him. It just slipped out of my arms and dropped to the concrete driveway. I bent the cab and smashed the boiler front.  I couldn't have felt much lower.  It wasn't our best engine but had real meaning for me to pass it on. It is still alive with new boiler and straightened cab.  My son is now expecting his first son. I hope he can give it to his son without dropping it like I did.

I've dropped several in my many years of model railroading, probably more than I remember.   I dropped one of the Lionel Hall-class steamers several years ago.  I'm not quite sure how, actually, but it was near the edge of my workshop bench and I think it caught on my clothing, much like your case.  It had a bent cab roof which I straightened using recommended methods (slowly, with pressure, over days) and filled and sanded and painted.  The Hall class is a hardy little thing and it seemed none the worse for wear after that, but it was a lot of work.

 

I had a Legacy ATSF Northern, 3751, drop off the layout while running - I had left a small razor saw near the tracks while working on scenery and did not see it it time.  If caught the front truck and the loco jumped off the rails and the layout, 40 inches to the floor.  This loco too is fairly hardly, but it hit wrong and had a good deal of damage.  It went in the spare parts bin where ultimately, it proved very useful to me, but that's another story, and at the time I was very down about that accident. 

I put an ERR system in a GP30 (Dale JR.) just to see if I could and the "new" TMCC controls I bought where in fact defective and the signal was lost. As soon as I put power to the track the engine raced off at high speed and "flew" off the layout, hit the leg on the other side of the isle way and crashed to the floor. I though I was going to throw up. One truck destroyed and the other messed up pretty bad but the cab and frame still looked good. Bought 2 new trucks with motors installed and tried again with a new command set. YA, everything still worked. All new items are now tested on the floor level tracks.

Dan

Last edited by drodder

I dropped a Lionel dockside switcher onto my desk from about a 1 1/2 feet above and the only damage, believe it or not, was the smoke unit, go figure.  I ended up taking it apart and found the smoke unit piston rod was broken.  I replaced the piston and rod assembly and it still works like a champ.  I got lucky!!

 

Paul

Believe it or not, I never have (knocks on wood). However, my Dad has run a couple trains off the edge of the layout. The worst was the 675, which got a couple scratches and a broken marker light from the experience. The interesting part about this is that while Grandpa babied his trains, his Dad used to run them until they derailed too! I guess that skips a generation in my family, so if I ever have children, I better be very careful letting them run trains lol.

I do recall my k-line mikado getting some damage.  It was quite a while back.  I think i ran it off the layout, but it only had a slightly bent marker light and some small paint loss on the front step, so I may have just dropped it when taking it out of the box or something.  I did run one or 2 k-line mp-15s off the layout smashing the couplers and front steps/couplet guides.  I always sort of hid those hoping my dad never discovered them.  A couple years back I looked up a parts dealer, spent about $10-$15 and had them both looking like new.  At that time I mentioned it to my father and he told me he had paid very short money for them at the time anyway.

One of the advantages of running a "carpet central" is that there's no place to go if the train leaves the layout - it's already there  However, I still have to GET the trains down there, which is just as dicey if not more so.  I've adopted a "Hand Under The Engine" approach for all of my transfers, but even this isn't fool proof.  I suspect at some point I will drop one while stooping to put it on the layout... and I will be gutted.  The bigger danger for me is kicking one...

 

 

At my previous layout, I had a friend over (who was a train guy) and introduced him to TMCC one evening. He was running trains at the other end of the layout while I was installing a bridge over the stairwell. He had a mind lapse and before I knew it, my Challenger was racing towards the stairwell and over it went in free fall, some 6 ft. down to a landing. The engine landed on it's wheels and the only damage was the coal load came off the tender. This was one of the original MTH Challengers and it still runs today as good as it did then. 

As a kid I ran the o-27 curves too fast plenty of times and ended up with a train on its side - it was always a contest in my head to see how fast is just fast enough not to fail - but that was on a carpeted floor.

 

As an adult I launch Thomas of the end of the layout onto a concrete floor and fortunately only broke the coupler.  I also have a Lionel Atlantic, 6-28071, I can't remember exactly what happened but the tender went to the floor.  The one corner marker light popped off and that corner of the tender is dented.  The LED still works.  This was many years ago.  I still run it on occasion but never did get around to trying to fix the damage.

Last edited by jhz563

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 worried around to see the Cab Forward sitting on the tile floor under the table, on it's wheels.  After a close visual inspection, the only thing I found was some flat wheels.

 

CF flat wheels

The only thing I can figure is that since 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 of had enough momentum that when it hit the ground on the wheel edges it finished it's roll to sit on it's 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.

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Originally Posted by Robert Coniglio:

One of the great fears is that while transporting a locomotive around is that it will fall out of hand or off tracks and take a big trip to the floor.I especially have this fear with the big heavy Big Boy.

 

One time I had an MTH GG-1 sitting on a table and I was wearing a sweater when I walked by it as i had done many times. On one of my pass bys for some reason the sweater sleeve grabbed one of the pantographs and before i knew the loco took a 5 foot trip to the floor. I was devastated but was glad to find that the only damage was that one of the couplers wouldot fire.

 

I was wondering if any members have had "loco drop" experiences.

 

Bob C.

Have a friend and his policy is absolutely no coats or sweaters when viewing the layout. Seemed draconian until I'd seen the disasters these garments have caused. Same policy for purses, cameras, and glasses on a rope. Either catching structures, passing rolling stock or engines.

 

Luckily no drops but have seen the results of some 4' table run offs. Not pretty.

Last edited by Lima

One thing that has amazed me, coming from the HO and N scale world, is how O scalers (both 2 & 3 rail) seem to run trackage very close to the edge of benchwork.

 

And I think it is getting worse, as more modelers run scale length equipment, and desperately try to stuff mega-radius curves into limited layout space.

 

Jeff C

Derailed an ABBA SP&S Alco, which headed off the layout and toward the floor.  For some reason the tethers held and it ended up dangling, still coupled to the long freight, with the leading A unit stopped 2" short of the floor.  Talk about luck!  I have snagged engines, cars, and scenery with clothing to the point I now wear a t-shirt, or short-sleeved shirt, in the trainroom ... with pants of course.

Originally Posted by leikec:

One thing that has amazed me, coming from the HO and N scale world, is how O scalers (both 2 & 3 rail) seem to run trackage very close to the edge of benchwork.

 

And I think it is getting worse, as more modelers run scale length equipment, and desperately try to stuff mega-radius curves into limited layout space.

 

Jeff C

I am with Jeff.  I ran HO and N for years, and they were so light, they could derail easily.  I am amazed how some folks run O trains right to the table edge.  I dropped an N steamer once.  Smashed the front of the boiler.  It was a good thing it was the most cheaply built engine I had.  Having many problems with my hands and my eyes, I have embraced O gauge.  However, I am extremely careful moving the engines.  I will have both hands operated on this winter, so I hope I will 'get a grip' as a friend at my church keeps telling me.  

I bought my 736 thru the mail from a friend. We live in a rural area, and if your mailbox isn't large enough for a package, the carrier will leave the package in one of those plastic shopping bags, hooked on the mailbox. I looked out to see if the mail had gone, and sure enough there was a package hanging from the mailbox.I went out for it, and I was just a few steps away when the bag broke and the box hit the ground. Naturally it was my 736, and it had hit the ground pilot first. The cowcatcher broke off, as did one of the markers on the boiler front. The post office replaced the broken parts, and I bought a bigger mailbox that day.

Had a PW Fire Car take a turn too fast and dive to the floor.  

Had a bump and go trolley take out a bumper and dive for the floor.  Both sustained some shell damage.

Forgot I had taken the screws out of another loco and picked it up by the shell.  The bottom dropped out "literally" when I turned away from the layout.  Haven't even tried to see if it survived yet.  

Originally Posted by sinclair:

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...

 

Apart from an old Bachmann HO Santa Fe caboose and a Bachmann Plus (?) HO Great Northern 2-8-0 locomotive that I dropped by accident when I was nine, I take extreme care when carrying my locomotives and rolling stock around so that will never happen. It would be terrible to see one of my locomotives or freight/passenger cars suffer a fall and sustain damage due to a blunder on my part. 

We O-types run them "close to the edge" because we're much more manly - even the women - than the effete types in the wee junior scales. They invented the phrase "living on the edge" just for us.

 

OR:

 

It could be that we only have so much room and the stuff we run is just so big that every

32nd of an inch counts.

 

This (poor) photo shows the plexiglas that I installed years ago on my layout on all "open edges" of my layout. This applies to straights and curves. The locos never fly.

(Note the exquisite masking tape switch machine reinforcement in the foreground; it was wobbling, so "temporarily..." And the steamer on the ground behind the Centipede!

Always a layout in progress, though "progress" never seems appropriate, somehow.)

 

DSCN0010

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Yep, bought a "new"1986 Berkshire from my LHS (in 2014), (he said it was new), I bought it because it was a Louisville & Nashville engine. Getting it home, I took it out of the box, the Styrofoam inside the box was upside down and before I knew it the engine was hitting my toe and then the floor. Yes a little damage to the top of the engine, no doubt, the toe cushioned the fall, thus the small amount of damage.

 

Brent

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