You know that sick bottomed out feeling you get in your stomach when one of your pieces of rolling stock hits the floor?
How about this:
I was running GM&O E7, Train #101A, pulling 6 passenger cars to the upper levels and back. 101A had made this route several times during the day along with other trains. Just after the start of the decent and on the return decline, my BLI E7 started to derail and then plunged to the depths below (5 feet); dragging 5 of the 6 passenger cars with it to the concrete floor. CRASH!!! CRINKLE!!! TINKLE!!!
I slowly and dreadfully, started walking over to the accident scene. "OH (choice words)!" My E7 was completely knocked out of its shell, the rear truck was detached from the frame, the worm gear and shaft were lying on the floor. The shell had a sizable chunk broken out of the lower left front, including the number board, and there were many itsy-bitsy parts everywhere.
I grabbed a hand light and spent the next hour on my knees searching and retrieving parts. Then it was benchwork time. I first removed the decoder and started to install the drive shaft and worm gear, but realized the truck drive gear had been dislodged from its mounting holes. Now, I had to completely disassemble the rear truck to put the gear back in place. Once the gear had been installed and the side plates put together, there was a bind in the gearing. After looking with magnifier, I saw a slight burr on a couple of gear teeth. Careful filing removed them and now the gearing is smooth again and continued assembly is ongoing.
I'm only a few hours away from testing the unit, but the cause of the wreck is very much under investigation. The track and rail gauge are all in spec. All trains following this event have traveled this route without any incident or hint of a problem. The train was going a restricted speed, about 45 clicks. The engine obviously landed on its nose; why did the rear truck and drive have damage and not the front truck? What happened? Did the holding clip for the rear truck come loose and the truck locked up? I would welcome any opinions that could help solve this mystery. BTW: There were no dead cows, deer, mice, or spiders found, so it is unlikely the train hit any wildlife.
How about this:
I was running GM&O E7, Train #101A, pulling 6 passenger cars to the upper levels and back. 101A had made this route several times during the day along with other trains. Just after the start of the decent and on the return decline, my BLI E7 started to derail and then plunged to the depths below (5 feet); dragging 5 of the 6 passenger cars with it to the concrete floor. CRASH!!! CRINKLE!!! TINKLE!!!
I slowly and dreadfully, started walking over to the accident scene. "OH (choice words)!" My E7 was completely knocked out of its shell, the rear truck was detached from the frame, the worm gear and shaft were lying on the floor. The shell had a sizable chunk broken out of the lower left front, including the number board, and there were many itsy-bitsy parts everywhere.
I grabbed a hand light and spent the next hour on my knees searching and retrieving parts. Then it was benchwork time. I first removed the decoder and started to install the drive shaft and worm gear, but realized the truck drive gear had been dislodged from its mounting holes. Now, I had to completely disassemble the rear truck to put the gear back in place. Once the gear had been installed and the side plates put together, there was a bind in the gearing. After looking with magnifier, I saw a slight burr on a couple of gear teeth. Careful filing removed them and now the gearing is smooth again and continued assembly is ongoing.
I'm only a few hours away from testing the unit, but the cause of the wreck is very much under investigation. The track and rail gauge are all in spec. All trains following this event have traveled this route without any incident or hint of a problem. The train was going a restricted speed, about 45 clicks. The engine obviously landed on its nose; why did the rear truck and drive have damage and not the front truck? What happened? Did the holding clip for the rear truck come loose and the truck locked up? I would welcome any opinions that could help solve this mystery. BTW: There were no dead cows, deer, mice, or spiders found, so it is unlikely the train hit any wildlife.
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