Model Railroading on the Cheap

A few years ago the hot box detector stopped a train right in the middle of the busy highway crossing. Of course I had to get up to where I could see what was happening. I think an axel had broken off at the truck side frame! The emergency repair crew used a log chain wrapped around the frame of the hopper car and the truck side frame to hold things together till they could proceed forward at walking speed to the next trailing point spur to set the car off about 5 miles ahead.   The balance (tail) of the train was pulled out backwards about 5 miles to the crossover to clear the roadway crossing by the standby local engine.  The following train ran around us.  Thankfully there was no derailment.

Here is how I replicated this event for photos on the Y&H.  I felt that the road train crew exhibited great ingenuity with the log chain hitch-up enabling the slow continuing of the run on the busy double track main line. The Train Master was a bundle of nerves till they got this cleared up!

Hospital Train:  Heavily damaged cars were carried to repairs on flat or gondola cars. This car is for the ‘hospital train’. Its wheels have become lost so we will send this hopper from a wreck site to the wreck repair or scrap boys without any more damage to the bottom side. I had no HO scale chain so I used brown thread instead as a tie-down cable.