Here is an interesting link to the Federal Railroad Administration accident database: http://safetydata.fra.dot.gov/officeofsafety/publicsite/Query/incrpt.aspx You can get summaries for every reportable accident and see the many ways the 1:1 railroads get into trouble. Broken rails, run-through switches, shoving without point protection, excessive speed, motorists on the track, insufficient handbrakes; it's all there. Here is a link the NTSB accident report database: http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/railroad.aspx where you can get an in-depth explanation for more serious or "interesting" accidents. I don't feel so bad after reading a few. I am in good company.
I enjoy the insight reading the various reports. When I am trackside I have a clearer understanding of what I am seeing; ties pumping mud, rail head shelling, fullness of tie cribs, to name a few. The reports give life to words like field and gauge side of a rail and "on sheet". There's a lot of reading, fasure, and some of it scary and exciting. All of the information rolls back into my enjoyment of model trains. With major trackwork completed I do a lot of running as I incrementally add to the scenery. My track structure is such that I have more operational errors such as misaligned switches and exceeding operation authority than I have derailments or stalls from dirty track/dead frogs. This situation puts the emphasis on managing the dynamics of train operation without having to worry about failing a mandated FRA drug test, not that I would actually do that...
