I have never had a layout above the floor.  I like the floor.  Nothing ever falls off of the floor.

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

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

We drove a 682 off the tracks and onto a concrete floor, about a five foot drop. By some luck, the only damage was to the boiler front, which shattered. Turbine boiler fronts are quite common, so it was easy to get an original replacement.

Boy!! did I.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...-mth-inperial-bigboy

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 dropped my Marx powered bud car (2124 Boston and Main) showing someone at a train show in the late 80's. The car hit the floor and cracked/broke the shell. Made ne sick as this is one that I bought for myself with my Christmas money when I was a kid, memories. Still have the car and always looking for a new shell but they are hard to come by.

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...

I dropped the tender of my Legacy Crescent Limited; now the remote uncoupling mechanism does not function properly

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. 

No but I did run one off the end of the counter at P & D. I was showing an MPC Geep to a customer and it would not move. But of course as soon as I touched it off it went like a bullet. Some bent railing was the worst damage. It could have easily become a parts loco.

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.

eh  *#&%  happens... 

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.

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.

Have a Williams ABA F3 Texas Chief Yellow War Bonnet set. Dumped the

lead loco on the floor. My heart sank!!!!!!!!!!

I did not want to look. Picked her up off the floor and all it did was bend one of the

side ladders..............Whew!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate to think what it would be like to drop a Visionline Big Boy.

Bob C.

One thing i would recommend is NEVER lay anything on the track.  I set a car on the track once, and the transformer wasn't all the way off.  My ZW got things a little warm before I realized that there was a problem.  

Q: Did You Ever Drop A Locomotive?

A:  I've given it some consideration but decided against it.

Nope!!!!

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.

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

dropped a 8700 Rock Island 0-4-0

from my sons Rail Blazer Set.

Parts went every where!

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.

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.  

While reaching for an engine on the top shelf I dropped a brass remake of the Lionel #5 7' onto the wooden floor. Ouch! Bent roof and broken headlight and I haven't opened it up to see if anything else went awry.

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.

Fortunately, I never have.  I make it a habit to always lift a loco with both hands.  So far, that has served me well.

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.  

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. 

Droped one off the layout once and does chucking one against a wall count?

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.)

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

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.

Yup, i dropped my Lionel JLC GG1 down the stairs yesterday. It was still in the box but no less shocking. Fortunately nothing was damaged