Although it is rarely, if ever, seen in model railroad photographs, magazines, etc. trainwrecks do occur on model railroads. BMRC has several younger members and a large part of the wrecks happen to them. The reason, of course, is that younger members are prone to take more risks. But, in doing so they tend to learn the details of the hobby far faster than senior members. And they have a lot of fun doing it. However, under normal conditions of operating sessions, the younger members are reliable and dependable operators. Most of the photos here were taken by Joe Bonk.
A C&O freight made a high speed descent in reverse on the Big Sandy grade due to a coupler failure and massive brake failure. The BS tower escaped damage.
A C&O coal train entered this curve near Elkhorn City at an excessive speed, resulting in this wreck and wet engineer’s and fireman’s seat cushions.
The C&O Sportsman split two switches on an attempt at a high speed departure from Cincinnati. No passengers were injured. The engineer is now in the slammer.
A battle to the death occurred here between a PRR M-1 steam engine and a C&O signal bridge, resulting in the death of both.
Again, the C&O BS Tower at Catlettsburg, KY escaped damage when a flying freight in reverse made a crash landing at the junction.
A Conrail engineer, who had just been notified that he was being fired as a result of the NS merger, decided to take it out on an unsuspecting set of NS locomotives.
Two empty gondolas are squeezed out of a train hurtling toward the notorious BS Junction railroad junkyard.
A PRR flatcar decided to make an in-service adjustment, moving its front truck rearward to better handle the load.
A C&O freight decided to shed a few empty coal hoppers at the Ashland, KY depot. Waiting passengers in the depot narrowly missed being displaced by a wayward hopper.
Approaching the Armco Steel Mill, this C&O local dropped its passenger cars and deposited an RPO in the parking lot of a local business. After backing his engine to the scene, the engineer commented that he was unfamiliar with the leased Santa Fe Hudson and was not expecting this kind of speed in notch 4.
A Clinchfield hopper train was backing into Johnson City Yard when the dispatcher threw a switch under the caboose. The caboose decided to try both tracks while two hoppers writhed in agony.
After a brief dispute over who had the right-of-way, an eastbound C&O freight claimed squatter’s rights over another C&O train exiting a tunnel near Catlettsburg, KY. The resulting collision blocked main line traffic for a long time.
Another example of railroad wreckage decorating an otherwise beautiful mountain scene.
In HO scale, even over-zealous ground cover greenery can derail an SP cab-forward.
A C&O freight departing Elkhorn Yard is rear-ended by a CRR MofW train. There was only one casualty….a black eye on the CRR engineer, administered by the C&O conductor.
