A friend saved some trains for me from the scrap heap and left them in my driveway (COVID). I totally forgot about them and you can guess what happened this morning when I backed out...
It was a very decent 1935 1700E set and I'm just sick that this is what happened to it.
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Oh man ...that a bummer.
OUCH!!!!!!
Very sorry 
Okay, so this probably won't be much consolation, but they ARE tinplate and can - very carefully - be bent back into shape and just tagged "restored". Other people here including me have done it with things that looked far worse. Take it as a challenge.
Oh No!!!!
How fast do you back out of the garage?
I would have thought that as soon as a tire touched something inanimate you would have stopped, not kept on going. I assume a tire ran over the tinplate based on the damage. I always back out of the garage at the speed of a snail.
Sorry for your loss.
Donald
Yup - that stinks. Sorry your day started in that manner.
I am willing to wager many of us have unintentionally destroyed a train item. I know I have - a rather nice Postwar UP F unit.
Paul
I destroyed my original Tyco HO set I bought when I was about 12 by storing it in Dad’s shop When I went out of state to work. I knew it got hot in the summer, but didn’t expect the cheap plastic To soften and deform.
Glad is wasn't a child. An expensive lesson learned cheaply. John
This is a lesson to all of us. Make sure nothing is behind /in-front-of a vehicle.
The "good" news is that object was a train, albeit a beautiful train... it's replaceable.
At least for me, this is a valuable reminder to always "Stop-Look-and-Listen" in a myriad of ways.
I feel for you. I almost threw up in my mouth looking at the pictures. Hope you day goes better than your morning.
@3rail posted:How fast do you back out of the garage?
I would have thought that as soon as a tire touched something inanimate you would have stopped, not kept on going. I assume a tire ran over the tinplate based on the damage. I always back out of the garage at the speed of a snail.
Sorry for your loss.
Donald
Unfortunately, it was a truck, and a little cardboard and tinplate was not felt at all. You are right, it was crushed flat by at least one tire.
@rattler21 posted:Glad is wasn't a child. An expensive lesson learned cheaply. John
@john in western pa posted:This is a lesson to all of us. Make sure nothing is behind /in-front-of a vehicle.
The "good" news is that object was a train, albeit a beautiful train... it's replaceable.
At least for me, this is a valuable reminder to always "Stop-Look-and-Listen" in a myriad of ways.
Yes, if this causes someone, even myself, to pause at a critical moment and spare something much more valuable than the most valuable toy train, then the price paid here will be so insignificant.
@artyoung posted:Okay, so this probably won't be much consolation, but they ARE tinplate and can - very carefully - be bent back into shape and just tagged "restored". Other people here including me have done it with things that looked far worse. Take it as a challenge.
Like many of us, I have so many projects. We shall see if, when, and what I can do with this.
I'm sorry for doing so but I just literally sprayed my computer screen with the iced tea I was drinking at the time I read this. I'm sorry for your loss but that's hilarious!
-Greg
Your incident may be selected by an ad agency for an automaker for re-enactment in a TV commercial showing the benefit of a back-up camera installed on cars. Your story may stimulate sales of camera units. If so, you should get a royalty payment!
Carry on ...
Mike Mottler LCCA 12394
Our Durango has a sensor that applies the brakes if anything is behind the vehicle. I have had it brake for a crumpled fast food paper bag. This includes anything moving into the zone
Shoulda, coulda woulda....put them on your porch or by your front door. SORRY for your loss!
A number of years ago I was heading to work, and set my month-old laptop down next to the car and went back into the house to get something. After returning to the car, in my rush, I opened the door (which shielded the computer from view), fired up the car and backed out while turning the front wheels. I felt the bump as the left front tire backed over the laptop. I hoped the padded computer bag might have helped, but I was dreaming. A $2000-plus mistake, including hiring someone to remove the harddrive and transfer the data onto a new laptop. Ouch.
As others have said, crushing the trains is a shame, but you can feel good knowing how harmless it was compared to what it could have been. Don't feel bad, but toast your good fortune!
I can’t tell you how many times back in the day I was so stressed about about my day ahead that I back into the garbage cans I put at the end of the driveway spilling the contents on the ground, which of course had to be picked by hand and put back in. The words expressed at those times are unprintable here. What a way to start a day that was already looking like a rough one.
Somewhat related, I am sickened that I didn’t secure my tv on a stand well enough and it fell on my floor layout putting a dent in two almost perfect 500 series freight cars. The iv is a throwaway, but 90 year old mint condish standard gauge trains are priceless. If it makes you feel any better, I feel your pain. We all goof up, part of being a human being. Could have been worse I guess. You could have had a train run over your car.
Cheers, W1
Oh, dear. Things like this are why I always back into the garage...'course, I did back over my gi-raffe bag once. Took awhile, but I got the one smooshed gi-raffe car and caboose back into service... ;^.^
Mitch
@artyoung posted:Okay, so this probably won't be much consolation, but they ARE tinplate and can - very carefully - be bent back into shape and just tagged "restored". Other people here including me have done it with things that looked far worse. Take it as a challenge.
Their tinplate not titanium. Now their toast! Sorry for your loss I’d be sick too.🤢
Sorry about your loss, if it was me, I'd probably still try and bend them back to shape (or buy a beater and do a heart transplant. At least it wasn't an Ives Prosperity Special set or a cream window State set.
Jim
As long as it's story time...
Many years ago I was leaving for work one morning and I took one of the kids' car seats out of the back and set it on the roof (reason why I did this is lost to history). Went back in for some things, got in the car, and drove down the road. I saw the car seat in rear view mirror as it flew off the roof into the street and was promptly run over and destroyed by traffic.
Probably not as expensive as those contraptions that exist today but still a pricey item. And of course the best part was that the seat was unoccupied. 
Like Arty said can probably be salvaged at the very least could be a "shelf Queen" cause one side will most likely turn out ok. Failing that you now have a life long search for specific parts. Cause there are very limited train shows now it will be a challenge and take longer. All is not lost.
But we all here make mistakes.
Steven Taylor
The King of Re Work
These stories remind me of a quote from John Wooden - "be quick, but don't hurry".
That man was full of wisdom. I suggest his book "Wooden".
I'd try and restore them to running condition. They may not come out looking like a pristine set but, when someone asks what happened to them you'll have a great story !
Okay, I'm going to look at this a bit differently: What kind of moron puts a small box behind a parked vehicle?
Did he feel that he just couldn't dare risk getting Covid from you by placing them on the porch???
Sorry, but a small box sitting in the blind spot behind a truck is NOT something you think to check for each and every day.
I think the guy that placed the box is an idiot.
Andre
@johnstrains posted:As long as it's story time...
Many years ago I was leaving for work one morning and I took one of the kids' car seats out of the back and set it on the roof (reason why I did this is lost to history). Went back in for some things, got in the car, and drove down the road. I saw the car seat in rear view mirror as it flew off the roof into the street and was promptly run over and destroyed by traffic.
Probably not as expensive as those contraptions that exist today but still a pricey item. And of course the best part was that the seat was unoccupied.
Another good thing is that the fallen car seat didn't cause an accident. There are many car accidents every year in this country, with serious injuries and deaths, attributed to people swerving to avoid hitting something that has fallen off a vehicle.
from the pics, to me it looks fixable
@laming posted:Okay, I'm going to look at this a bit differently: What kind of moron puts a small box behind a parked vehicle?
Did he feel that he just couldn't dare risk getting Covid from you by placing them on the porch???
Sorry, but a small box sitting in the blind spot behind a truck is NOT something you think to check for each and every day.
I think the guy that placed the box is an idiot.
Andre
I don't know if I'd go so far as to say idiot, but I agree, he should have found a better location. If you don't blame him, and it seems you don't, you are a good friend indeed.
We all make mistakes! "To err is human; to forgive divine." A wise old saying! What's done cannot be undone, and we move on. Nuff said!
About 30 years ago did the same thing and backed over a Hornby locomotive, tender, and two 8 wheel passenger cars. Marty Fitzhenry was able to bend everything back into shape and you can hardly tell that there was damage.That's the beauty of tinplate.
Lew Schneider
If that had happened to one of my state cars, my OCD would kick in and there would be NO way I could accept a "repair"! I would have to sell it for junk!
If I left my toy/bike/etc in the driveway, I lost access to it for a while.
The habit was broken permanently 
It's always a bad spot. Last week I had a big driveway layout going and blocked the driveway with a big garbage can. Murphy lives just around the next corner 
@Will posted:I don't know if I'd go so far as to say idiot, but I agree, he should have found a better location. If you don't blame him, and it seems you don't, you are a good friend indeed.
His friend must be an Amazon delivery driver in my neighborhood. I would go so far as saying idiot.
Definitely not the brightest thing to have done, but we all have done something goofy at some time or other!
Use it to model a railroad scrapyard on your layout . Lemonade out of lemons so to speak.
I made a sickening mistake with the exact same train set. I was around 13 and my grandmother gave me that set. It belonged to my uncle. I couldn't get it to run and since I was into HO back then, I jumped on the Q-44 bus and marched into a hobby store on Sutphin Blvd off Jamaica ave (Queens, NY) and traded them for a Tyco Pacific steamer (Southern) and several Amtrak arrow coaches. The shop owner even called my mom to make sure it was ok to trade. The regret set in about five years later.
At age 16 in 1958, I had my dad sell my Gilbert Flyer collection of five engines and twenty-eight cars plus multiple Lionel and AF accessories, a Lionel ZW, and loads of track and switches. With the payment we received, I then purchased a top of the line Webcor Royal Coronet reel to reel tape recorder. I had discovered girls and rock and roll! At that time, I did not look back, but years later, I certainly DID!
@351_DD-1 posted:I made a sickening mistake with the exact same train set. I was around 13 and my grandmother gave me that set. It belonged to my uncle. I couldn't get it to run and since I was into HO back then, I jumped on the Q-44 bus and marched into a hobby store on Sutphin Blvd off Jamaica ave (Queens, NY) and traded them for a Tyco Pacific steamer (Southern) and several Amtrak arrow coaches. The shop owner even called my mom to make sure it was ok to trade. The regret set in about five years later.
@Tinplate Art posted:At age 16 in 1958, I had my dad sell my Gilbert Flyer collection of five engines and twenty-eight cars plus multiple Lionel and AF accessories, a Lionel ZW, and loads of track and switches. With the payment we received, I then purchased a top of the line Webcor Royal Coronet reel to reel tape recorder. I had discovered girls and rock and roll! At that time, I did not look back, but years later, I certainly DID!
Hey, you guys did better than the kids who are selling their kidneys for an iPhone
Have you broke out the leather, rubber, & wood mallets yet?
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