As I was cleaning up the layout for last night's Xmas party, I noticed I had "parked" about 30 cars in the back part of the harbor a long while ago. The harbor is, of course, level, so all sorts of things get stored there and, sometimes, forgotten. As I put the cars away, I started laughing. My mind went back about 18 months, to the time a retired European model railroad editor visited me in Albuquerque. The main loop of my track had barely been finished--it was glued on pink foam, and minimally ballasted. Trains had been running very well in tests, but were stored on "dead" tracks. I was extraordinarily busy that summer, so I didn't have any time to set up a good-running train. We got acquainted, then went out to the train room. There was a 30-car train on a "live" siding. So I backed up my most reliable engines, hooked on, and off we went. And everything on that train kept derailing. Cars derailed on switches. Cars derailed on straightaways. Cars uncoupled on curves. I was nearly apoplectic trying to explain what was happening. Then I realized what had happened. Being away from the road most of the summer, I'd forgotten what I was doing. So I'd hooked up to my RIP track train--30 cars that caused nothing but trouble due to any number of problems. Loose kingpins, misaligned couplers, clearance problems, mismatched wheelsets--what a disaster! We had a great lunch, then went back and ran a proper train without any problems. How could I forget I had a RIP track? Why did I have a RIP track in the first place, when a box would do? How could I couple up to it without some bell ringing in my dim brain?
Well, I've seen worse! How about someone else forgetting to line the switch for a junction, and down the hill, above my head, comes hotshot freight 263. As a friend and I busily work the yard located directly below on the next deck, suddenly a loud kuh-BANG!!!!! Number 263 had turned off the main at that errant switch. And had barreled down the branch. Which happened to terminate at a wall right above my head! Fortunately, no damage. (How, we never understood!) But that fellow on the local, who forgot lining that switch, has never been allowed to live it down........ On that layout this has always been the top goof of all times. Boxcab E50
I did the switch thing this summer. It would have been bad enough for a prototype engine dropping four feet after it left the tracks. For N scale, it was tragic. All of those tiny 1/160 th guys with NTSB jackets rappeling first down the stairs to the basement and then laying out all of that yellow thread.
I can run trains for hours when by myself. The moment I have a guest to show my layout to the first thing that happens on the first train out of the yard the cars derail. This happens almost every time. I keep forgetting to check the switches. I blame it to senior moments. Now I park a train or two in my tunnels on the main track ready to go so all I have to do is turn on the controler and away we go. Unless I go to park one of those trains in the yard while the guest watches the cars derail.
I quit leaving trains parked on the main because I'm terrible about remembering they are there and I'll start switching somewhere else. Anyone ever see that picture of the wreck of old 97? That's usually the results.
I can attest to the problems that happen when others walk into the train room. I don't know how many times this has proven accurate. Hours of running solo, seconds while being watched. Happens everytime.
