First a bit of background, to help set the stage. My Norfolk Southern modular layout has been make a few appearances here in the New York area with the help of the " Dunkirk NY. Model Railroad Club ". So far we have had a ball. We have been to 5 shows now and its been a lot of fun. Well 2 weeks ago was our last show for this year, I think. But any way it did not have the great start and almost ended before we got going, then once we got going we almost couldn't get started. Here is what happened: . Loaded the trailer Friday night and got off to a late start. As soon as we loaded up and were reedy to go we found we had a ded battery, then we found that the cable to open the hood on the truck was broke and we had a time getting the hood open. Ok so we have jumped started the truck and we set off for Hamburg NY. Only 40 miles down the road. We are a bought 10 min. from the train show when the trailer hitch snapped / broke / gave way and the trailer decided to come up and rear end the truck while we were stopping for a red light. Lucky for us one of the other club members who was fallowing had a truck and in a few minuets, the trailer was hitched up to his truck and what was left of my trailer hitch was wired up to the bottom of my truck, as not to drag on the ground. Well we were supposed to be at the show for setup at 3:00 and we did not get there until 3:30. OOOOOOOOO! As we prepared to unload the trailer, every one took a deep breath and we opened the doors, to our great surprise, there was no damage to any of the layout! For the most part the rest of the show went ( Should we say ) " went off with out a hitch !?! " The layout went up and was running in an hour and a ½. Not bad as it usually takes us 3 ½ hours. The last hurtle came just as they were asking us to go home for the night and telling us we could come back the next day and finish up any lose ends, early before the show. Well at this point someone notice that the main control panel was smoking just a tad. Well the next morning we found a short in a basic lighting circuit and all was fix and the trains began to roll! We had a few good train wrecks and one that I could not believe, we call this one the flying U- Boat! Here are a few other shots of the show. Thanks for viewing our pics!
That fists pic looks like the pics from Minot a few weeks ago! What happened? It looks like a rear-ender, but I can't tell for sure.
Officer of accident review report: South points down and out of photo, North points up and into picture. Train 1 is NS Southbound freight. Train 2 is northbpund slowspeed MOW crew. Engine A is NS Lead Unit Caboose is end of MOW. Car A is MOW car wit Tractor cabs Car B is MOW car with dump beds Construction equipment north of Car A is unrelated to the accident, and there is not rail nor car under them. Twisted metal is overhead signal that is hanging a bit over edge. Possible active collisions: Southbound has hit northbound MOW, and MOW is heavy enough to withstand it and leave ALL mow almost completely on the track. Likely until you factor in the Caboose and the twisted Metal. The caboose has perhaps picked the switch which in turn resulted in the caboose Northbound was backing up, whrn caboose picked a misset switch, which sent it into the pile of Twisted Metal. Not too soon after this, Car A hit Southbound, which at this point is stopped at the signal. By natural deflection, Engine A is derailed. As this Southbound is headed by three engines, it is pretty safe to say that Engine A was deadheaded, as it has not completed the dive so it could be real light. That, or it is slower speed and both trains have enough combined force to send the powered unit over the edge. Of course, it could also be "held up" by a little "something" (trick photography). Likely, but it could be a fast camera (why oh why did camera man try to catch it instead of taking the picture?). Because none of the cars in the northbound have been disturbed, it is almost pretty safe to say that Southbound was sitting at rest.
Did the caboose and south bound "A" crews survive? Did you get any shots of the Big Hook hauling the "A" back over the cliff, or did they just cut the coupler and let 'er go to the canyon floor????
Benny, I like the way you have studied the photo of the wreck. You have very good observations. Thanks for the laugh. Here is what happened : This is all one train. It seems that a 30 + car train with 3 -8's and one U- boat lost the last 10 cars of its train, and on the second lap it found them one a gine. Oddly enough right where it left them. imagine that?!?! When I came back around to see what had happened there was the U-boat hanging in mid are, so I went and grabbed the cam. And shot it. As no one would have believed it. A another photo shows that there are many other cars derailed up around the corner from this one. I guess I should post that photo to. Thanks guys, for the humor!
Does the NMRA mandate 'tight-lock' couplers for newer power like is required by FRA on the real thing? No other way for that lead unit to hang on other than sh%@ luck. And to think that I was told once that you can't run into the back of your own train! (lack of a loop is a minor detail)
