Did You Ever Drop A Locomotive?

Yep.  Just ran a Williams Brass K4 Pacific off the edge of the layout and onto the basement floor.  Four cars followed it.  Luckily the only damage was to the loco pilot and the cab roof corner (which straightened easily).  I had to leave the room and go settle down.  Oh, you asked how?  I brought some vintage catalogs down and set them on the edge of the layout and then forgot about them.  The k4 hit them and launched...

Chucking one against the wall definitely counts. Please sir, tell me more!

I'll get the popcorn.....

Killed my first Pennsy steamer back in 1968, when I dropped a lead boilered Penn Line  L1s  off my folk's hutch onto a hard tile floor from about five feet.  Boiler was blasted and I had no knowledge of Bowser parts back then.  The chooch was parted out and the remainder scrapped.  The remains of the boiler became a CNJ styled sand tower, after a fashion.  Dropping chooch is NOT a good idea!

oh yeah ,i dropped a g scale diesel about 5 feet off the floor.i was p....d .i never fixed the issue it had after that.

The new cat, while climbing, knocked my 1950 736 Berkshire steamer off the mantle, 6' to a tile floor. Broke the pilot, one of the marker lights and the rear truck. Replaced them all and the engine ran without issue.

Back then, the Lionel engineers had just converted from making stuff for the war effort and over-engineered everything. Would be nice if that was still the case.

Sure did drop one. A very expensive one at the time. Back in 1996 a client brought his brand new MTH Challenger to me for service. As a result of the "high-dive" the boiler cracked in two places. The cab roof cracked and the frame bent on one side. I was lucky to have such a understanding customer. It took me one month and almost, $315.00 to make it right. He remained a repeat customer until his passing. A very precious man.

"Pappy"

You don't have to drop them to break them.

The engine that went flying was a K line S2 from the Christmas set sold at Boscove's in or around 1990. The engine was infamous for being a dog. I tried and tried to get it to run better but to no avail, the last draw one day after taking it all apart and putting it back I started up the transformer  went about 6" and started to smoke, shortly it became airborne, it did a lovely impression in the drywall in the garage sinking half way through it, I was going to leave it there but the wife disagreed with me and made me take it out.  I took it out and put it in the trunk where I knew I find it when I went to the range where I emptied a mag from my M1 30-30 carbine into its worthless Caracas.

I was at a train show a few years back.One vender had some brass o gauge trains.He had a track to run train back and fourth.I started to check out the other venders.Then I turn around to see a o scale k4 hit the floor followed by passngercars.The guy look like he was gonna have a heartattack.I hear him say he could do something with the cars.But the locomotive was a write off.Man talk about a bummer.

Dropped? NO, knocked off a shelf or the layout? YES   

Don't have to worry about dropping locos when your layout is located on the carpet!   

Seriously though someday when I have a "real" layout I'm paranoid that something may take the long trip down to the floor.

Not so far (fingers, toes and eyes crossed), but have come close once with a self induced de-railment. Fortunately the train was going slow enough and did not leave the table. Close enough for a good scare and accelerated heart rate though.

Just once!

dropped a Lionel santa fe diesel on some carpet out of a somewhat new train set that brought me back into O smashed the rear coupler and bent a few handrails so had to run it backwards till i could get it fixed but other than that have been somewhat drop free (knocks on wood) and the engine still runs as of today 

A few weeks ago, I put on an extra flannel shirt - untucked and unbuttoned - over my T-shirt since it was a touch chilly in the train room.  When I reached up to get a train off one of the upper shelves, my flannel shirt managed to snag a poor little 401 Marx, which promptly took a nose dive to the floor, scattering the plastic shell.  Not a big loss, except it was a pristine example of the common little 401.  Nothing to do but salvage the motor, motor mount and coupler, then throw the plastic pieces away... and shop for another on FleaBay!

I once dropped my first Lionel, an 8020 Alco.  It needed a new rear coupler but was otherwise unscathed.

Don't get so complacent, you floor runners!  Years ago, I have a 4x8 Christmas layout on the floor under the tree in the living room.  It was an 027 Figure 8 surrounded by an 042 loop.  On the loop was a train made up of MoPac Baby Madisons and my customized MPC 2-8-4 Berk lettered for the MoPac.

At the end of the layout--that is, across one of the 4' ends--was our couch.  On either end of the couch was a recliner foot-rest that came up at the pull of a handle.  The foot rests were spring loaded, you see. 

My son--three at the time--was enjoying the trains running but wanted to lie back, so he grabbed the handle and pulled, just as the Berk came around the very end of the loop.  The foot rest caught the engine and tossed it across the layout, past the tree, and into the kitchen, tender still attached (remember:  the MPC Berk, like its PW progenitor, is NOT a light engine).  The passenger cars simply rolled to a stop, not even derailed.

I rushed into the kitchen to survey the damage only to find that there was no visual damage at all!  One of the tether wires was pulled loose out of its socket, but even the add-on parts I used to make the engine more closely resemble its MoPac prototype remained solidly attached.  I stuck the wire back in, put it back on the rails, and ran it the rest of the season and many hours thereafter.  The sound is sometimes quirky because of that loose wire, but it runs like a . . . well, like a Lionel engine ought to run.

At the time, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but I didn't get too heavily onto my son--just warned him to leave that lever alone.  Now, we laugh about it, of course.

The moral of the story:  floor running is NOT without its perils!

I'm sure you meant M1 30 caliber, and not 30-30.

I can't top this, but I did repeatedly throw a Railking K4 to the basement floor.  Why did I throw it more than once?  Because nothing came off the first time.... Then it became s challenge.  Ironically, the boiler, frame and drivers got through that unscathed.  The can motor, however,  was toast as magnets in the can disentigrated .  So if ya got a spare motor that will fit that POS, let me know, I might buy it off you just to make the bastage run again...

Hmmm... a 30-30, I knew I was missing something for the train room

Sorry about your luck but thanks for the story - I think leaving it halfway in the drywall would have been pretty cool too.  You could have built a little display shadow box around it with a plexiglass front.  It would serve as a good reminder to the rest of your locos to co-operate!

Must have meant .30 cal M1 Carbine ... .30-30 was a lever action rifle by Winchester.

Never have, and hopefully, never will! 

Being somewhat OCD helps!

I never did,but someone at my dealer droped a K-Line tank engine and put it back on the shelf..not cool,but i got it for a good price and it's still running,maybe a little quirky but running....

how come I pictured this....

Owned a train since before I was born! You know it!

Picking one up can be an issue too. Yep if you pick up Grandpas red top Lackie Trainmaster by the shell, you rip out mildly cracked screw holes!  

I cried when I dropped my fireman critter for its last time.Poor little fireman

Enough on the rug rat....grown up stuff..

    GG1's are slick, my toe is healed, a pilot had to be tweaked back, pantographs popped back on no damage there. Their coming off easy used to bother me, not after that.

Had a General sitting on a speaker. An "enthusiastic" music listening session vibrated it off the edge in reverse, breaking off 1/4 of the roof. I'm smarter than that, so I count it as me dropping it. 

Would it count stepping on a 1950s plastic Scout tender new in box, after used one hour ever?   

Have had 3 dives off a ceiling layout inside of a curve. Thank God for cast metal, lost only the remaining class lamp off a k-4. Till I land a new boiler plate, I choose to lower them to the upper boiler level with a drill bit, and clear airplane canopy glue, for working class lamps a la' Santa Fe Hudson.

When I was a kid I picked up dad's MPC C&O Hudson & I didn't have a tight grip on it & it slipped out of my hands & bounced off the track, knocking the drivers out of quarter. Felt like an idiot to this day about that one. Then, a couple years ago I got caught in the Made in China packaging trap. I was in the process of removing an Athearn GP-60M from those stupid clear plastic sleeve inserts with the button snap things on each corner & it popped right out of the clamshell holder & landed on my workbench stern first, knocking in one of the two rear LED headlights. Ooooo I was soooo mad!

  Worst thing I ever saw was a guy at a train show accidentally take out an entire rack of O Gauge locos. No joke, they were raining down from the table making sickening cracking & breaking sounds. The vendor guy was really upset & there were little parts flying off everywhere. All conversation & noise came to a sudden stop throughout the entire room & everyone just gasped & groaned as they realized what had happened. The guy that did it felt terrible & apologized profusely but it was really embarrassing for him. That was just terrible. I had just been standing there a few seconds before it happened & I was just relieved it wasn't me.

Adriatic:

Sounds like more than a bit of bad luck! 

My luck runs ice cold, or red hot, not much between.

I had one week in the 80s you could've used to write three albums of woe is me county tunes out of. Home, girl(ring in pocket), dog, two cars, both jobs, and my closest friend. Nothing came with any warning.

 But... I've never had a job that wasn't fun in some way. Made good money, (lost good money), I have my trains, and am living in a paid for family home, three generations old.

Not totally satisfied, but I can live with what do I have... if I can manage to keep it  

Hardly seems enough of a reason to open fire on the Capitol of Venezuela!

Simon

I had a Gilbert 342 take a dive of about four feet from the layout to the concrete floor. Damage to the headlight visor and the motor shaft was bent. The engine was probably 50 or so yrs old, still runs but with a limp. A friend, running his new Legacy Big Boy for the first time, had it take a dive of about five feet from a trestle to a carpeted concrete floor, some bent and a few broken parts, but repairable and now running on his layout. I'm glad I was not there at the time it happened, I would probably have been traumatized.

Ray

That's a Model 92 in 44-40. (actually he probable is using 5 in 1 blanks).

Shelf collapsed a few years ago with my JLC 3977 Greyhound Challenger and matching auxiliary tender going with it. 

Fortunately there was no mechanical or cosmetic damage to the locomotive itself, but the tender and auxiliary tender had a few nasty gouges in it.  

Was not a happy camper, and this happened a few years ago, when the JLC Challengers were still fetching some serious $$$, needless to say, my heart jumped a beat when it came down. 

Not the whole thing, just the chassis. I was cleaning and adding lights to a steamer. I put it up on my 7' off the ground trolley line to test it and shut down for the night. Next day I lifted it off the track and now I try to remember to put the screws back in each night....

luckily, I tapped it on the way down with my knee and foot and it landed on the carpet and it was only a Hogwarts Express engine. No damage, runs fine.

Not me but the cats did.

One jumped up on a shelf and it came crashing down with 4 locomotives on it 3 of the loco's NO damage guess which one took a hit-- yep the most expensive in the bunch= the Lionel Legacy GP-35 Union Pacific. It fell 6 feet onto a thin carpeted concrete floor.

To Lionel's credit only the rear railing system was broken off no other damage!!

I wonder if Lionel does "crash tests" of their products to check for survivability?

On the 2nd shelf all the polar express cars fell off to just one was damaged the trucks on one of the cars was obliterated and I had to replace the whole system.

I bought a used Allegheny off of fleabay and when I opened the box,I discovered the foam packing was all busted up as the engine fell to the floor, landing on my rubber mat in front of my milling machine. It landed face first, breaking off the cow catcher. It runs but looks crappy.

.Lionel does extensive crash testing before releasing their products to the public. I found this pic from the archives of a test in progress.... 

YES 

Well, I got a GG-1 in the pit of my stomach once at a train show when I asked one of the other club members to slow it down...

Since then, I don't use LW transformers at shows.  They're nice and all, but their throttle handles are counterintuitive...  

Mitch

Before we moved down to Florida, thought it would be a brilliant idea to play Demolition Derby on a very large slope at full power with a Pennsy Flyer 4-4-2 from a starter set. Needless to say it only took me 2 seconds to figure out how badly it would end when it flew off the higher section of fastrack and straight onto its poor die cast back. It now lives a sullen life without the bell which was broken off.

Thankfully that was 10 years ago and I don't play demolition derby with electric trains anymore.