The Wreck of the Wreckers

Now, I can say that ole’ Mark ran a safe railroad, and he’d actually be the first to say it, modest as he is, but he would have been right until that first week of June. Sure, a derailment here and there when testing rolling stock, or when dealing with that pesky crossover at Granite Junction, but all-in-all his trains stayed on the track. But that all changed last Tuesday night.

We all knew it was a month for them maintenance trains. (I think ole’ Mark was showcasing them, for what reason, who could guess?). But all them cranes and searchlights and whatnot were taking precedence over our revenue makers, and I for one was tired of taking the siding so often. The week before, ole’ Mark was showing off that fancy CNW boom, but he noted that the cab would swivel a bit too eagerly, and told the hogger on that Geep to keep it slow on the curves. Well, telling Macky Fergurson not to go fast is like telling a fish not to swim.

So that brings us to Tuesday. Macky was taking the CNW MOW around the yard on Track 3, the construction crew train was stopped on Track 2 awaiting orders, and Sven and Rudy were incessantly piloting that handcar on Track 4. Ole’ Mark was in the tower, but busy working on some 100-year old documents. The stage was set.

Macky broke into the southeast curve and that boom shifted outward. First it knocked over the fuel tank at the substation, causing it to be dragged and then land right on Track 4. Then the back of the crane cab hit the rear of the construction train, ramming the caboose and plowing that tie car off the track. The impact forced the crane off the track and into a downward angle. Then along came those ninnies in their handcar, and managed to get stuck on the crane’s hook.

So we called in a wrecker crew to right the wreckers. The Geep and construction trains were righted and chuffed out to the engine house on their own power. Sadly, Sven and Rudy’s beloved handcar may have had its last pump. The 671, anxious for its own turn to shine on Track 4 next month, was called in to push the handcar back to the engine house, and that may have been Handcar #1’s last trip on the silver streets. But ole’ Mark isn’t one to give up easily – having a place for us to pilot these steamers, tin cans and dingers is proof of that.

Keep those rails shiny for good ole’ Sven and Rudy

The 6-6 disaster from the south

The two-crane wreck, seen from Granite Junction

The comparatively gigantic, 70-year old steam turbine preps to push the handcar (perhaps) on its last voyage

Addendum: The above-described wreck was NOT intentional, it was a real accident, and one that warranted its own posting, because the results were spectacular, and I could not have "engineered" such a set up myself. I never ever condone crashing model trains intentionally. (Or full-size trains, for that matter.) The two MOW trains survived unblemished, but the handcar has major electrical and/or mechanical problems to resolve.