For many modelers there is a morbid interest in modeling a derailment. Twisted metal, splintered wood, trucks, wheels and couplers strewn about makes for an engaging and attention getting scene on a model railroad. However so few modelers actually attempt to make it look realistic…why?
At best, you’ll have a rusty boxcar down an embankment, too inaccessible for scrappers to recover it economically. This is acceptable as there are a couple places in Canada, Alaska, Washington State, and other places where this has occured.
At worst, you’ll find some cliche, cheap tyco car in dayglo-red lying on it’s side with a few figures around it, if that.
Accurately modeling a derailment will undoubtedly take a lot of effort and time, but the results will be worth it. Even suggesting a that a derailment once occured somewhere adds interest too. You could have a broken coupler, perhaps a few bit of handrails, roofwalks, or brake rigging lying in the weeds. Sculpting the slide marks in the earth where the cars and locomotives slid into the dirt would be interesting. Perhaps a severed telephone pole or a damaged signal bridge lying trackside for a stronger suggestion of what might have happened.
A couple of things to realize when planning to model a derailment would include:
-In real life, the trucks support the cars only by their bolsters and gravity. There isn’t a giant 2-56 screw holding the trucks on, so they’d rarely be attached to the car if the car tipped over.
-Metal has a tendency to bend when put under stress. While this would be somewhat hard to model, modeling dented metal would pay dividends in realism when modeling a derailment.
-Wood loves to bend, then splinter. Wood freight cars aren’t too durable in a derailment and are prone to telescoping in on each other or just ripping apart. cutting away a portion of a wooden car and replacing the damaged area with damaged scale lumber would enhance realism.
-Weathering is a MUST when dealing with derailments. From mud to scratch/gouge marks and dents to missing handrails or ladders. Chipped and rusty paint, sooty and rusty roofs and other details bring it to life.
-Wrecked Locomotives almost always show signs of damage in even the most minor derailments. It’ll take some serious modeling skill to accurately model a wrecked locomotive. Although it has been done quite nicely by Jerome. Here’s an example of a Wrecked SD40-2 in HO scale.
This Selection from Railpictures.net is a good break down of different types of derailments.
Cornfield Meet (Head-On collision)
Rear-End Collision
Spectacularly destroyed Conrail SD40-2
NS Sd70 bashes coal gondolas aside
High Speed Derailment
Ever wonder why there’s a cross at the tehachapi loop? This is why.
Conrail Pile-Up, spectacular results!
Twisted mess of hoppers and coal
Deadly PRR passenger train wreck in 1951
PRR Steam tender ripped apart in derailment
Washout
Fishing covered hoppers out of the Mississippi!
Jackknifed coal hoppers create a twisty mess
Completely Decimated CV Geeps with punctured grain hopper
Sideswipe
UP AC4400 loses half of its cab enroute
Down an embankment
UP frieght turned into crumpled mess after rolling down embankment.
Into a River
What happens when a wooden trestle decides to give way?
DME Sd40 slides into the Mississippi River
Big derailment with modern cars in a photogenic location.
CSX SD70 slides into a river for a drink
Trucks vs. Trains
What happens when a locomotive and an inflammable tanker truck meet.
MP-UP Caboose poking a hole in a woodchip truck trailer
BNSF freight hits frozen pizza truck, local teenagers flock to help cleanup.
Conrail freight hits gravel truck
Switching Accident
Splitting a switch with an SW 1500
Shoving Empty Cars is a no-no.
Tank Car shoved off the end of a switchback
Bad Track
NS hopper with spread rails in a yard
Tank cars on the Ground in a siding
UP Coal Hoppers derail, almost undamaged
Coal Gondolas flop on their side and take out a building!
Finally, a really modelgenic scene:
N&W Caboose shoved off the end of a spur, then just abandoned, with the siding repaired.
Is the photo with the steam engine on the side of a hill from the Walnut Creek Model Railroad?
Yes Indeed. They have some pretty interesting scenery, I honestly wonder why they were so lazy when creating such a scene?
Why model a derailment, mine happen naturally all the time
Here is a famous derailment in Maine:
http://lincoln.midcoast.com/~wwfry/pics/engine8.jpg
It’s the derailment that brought the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington to an end in 1933. The crew walked back and that was the end of the WW&F.